Whatever happened to Katia Ricciarelli?
POSTED at
11:28 AM
04 January 2008
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19 Comments:
What is she singing?...and other than those earrings, she don't look so bad!
That's one of the 2 good numbers from the early Puccini opera 'Edgar'.
I blame von Karajan for this-- in that 'Turandot' recording, you can hear her larynx shredding.
Judy: Let's be fair here. Singing Turandot in a recording studio doesn't hurt a voice nearly so much as the kind of wildly unstable personal life Ricciarelli suffered during the 1980s.
If that Turnadot recording hurt her half as much to sing it as it did me to hear it, then the damage is at least appreciable (and that's not even counting the fact that he conducted it like it was Parsifal).
She MUST have been crazy to let Count von K talk her into doing the stuff she sang for him.
I try to remember her as she was in the 'Maria di Rudenz' clip which is close on YouTube to this Peggy Lee mess.
The wobble is hardly there, and the high notes aren't teeth-grindingly flat.
Going off at a tangent .. I had a box of delightful Ricciarelli almond biscuits over Christmas. No, they aren't named after Katia. How many foods are named after singers/composers?
Hmmm, Peach Melba, Chicken Tetrazzini, La Diva Renee (a chocolate dessert)...
If you need a good cry- get yourself a recording of Leontyne singing this- by the time she gets half way through I'm an absolute mess.
There is the All Beef Patti, and the Erna Burger.
My guess is that this clip is at least 10 years old.
Is that all there is?
I also wonder how old this recording is. If it's a recent performance, her voice isn't in as bad a shape as I would have thought (though there is no line and the phrasing is choppy). But she does kinda look like Peggy Lee.
While I haven't heard her Turandot, I agree that a studio recording of a fairly short role is not going to wreck one's voice.
The clip is nine years old ... from a 1998 performance in Lecce, according to YouTube.
Please...she wishes she was Miss Peggy Lee, who sang a hell of a lot better over 50plus than Katia did
It is indeed "teeth grindingly" flat on top. There is still plenty of temperament (that's about all that's left), but 2.5 minutes of singing seems too insistent upon her voice. If that was 9 years ago, just imagine what she sounds like now. I wonder: Is this what RF will be sounding like in a few years?
max, lol
anyone else listening to ballo today?
Yep, listening to Ballo. I adore this opera and am wondering if it's going to be a long afternoon.
Licitra has no support. He used to be able to coast on some impressive sounds (the actual instrument had great potential). The Oscar's first aria was way too plodding. Hvorostovsky is the only good one. But I'm looking forward to Blythe's Ulrica.
Yes, but I bet there's more to it than singing Turandot's music once straight through in real time and then going for a mani-pedi.
The fact that von K heard what she sounded like in that loud bit after the Riddle Scene and didn't pull the plug on the whole project makes him a not so innocent bystander in my book.
I heard she hurt her vocal chords not so much by singing Turandot but by sucking Jose Carreras' cock. Of course I was outraged by that comment when I first heard it but in retrospect I think it is a serious issue to consider. Can sucking cock lead to vocal decline?
LOL....then Carreras must be hung like a horse (what a bizarre thought). I wouldn't think fellatio could damage your voice unless you're sticking in down your trachea, which is the WRONG way to do it anyway (Not that I would know...*GRIN*), Maybe she was singing with her mouth full...
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