only in her dreams
A snippet from “The View” documents the immaculate jawline and unfortunate Keely Smith diction of The Diva of the Future. In keeping with the season, she sings the classic “Awl be whom faw Krismuss.”
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I think Barbara (Cook, not “the” Barbra who got her KC Honor and its on tv tonight) is better in person than on record. My understanding is they needed a gardrillion takes of “Glitter and Be Gay” to paste together for the Candide Cast Album.
Windy: Given that the standard method of recording an OCR was to spend a single long day in the studio, there are only so many takes that could have been made of La Cook during that time. I am willing to guess that there were about as many or fewer patches made to Cook’s “Glitter and Be Gay” as there were to your average Decca recording of Joan Sutherland in a coloratura aria.
This clip is unfortunate. There is nothing unfortunate about the fabulous Keely Smith or her diction.
Renee Fleming has no more “right to sing the blues” than Eileen Farrell did, but at least she looks better doing it.
A decent crossover performance by an opera singer usually means he or she isn’t an opera singer.
What on earth do you mean by that Farrell comment, Amnerees?
If she didn’t have the right, no one ever has had. She was a mistress of the style, had a long and sensational career singing on the radio, and I — and very likely you — am not worthy to unfasten her girdle for her.
And what is you final magisterial dictum above supposed to represent? Do singers regularly apply to you to find out if their knowledge of a variety of styles is too “decent” for them to qualify as opera singers? You must not be very familiar with the work of many of our best singers (by which I don’t always mean the best-known or most-discussed).
Hvor: Keep away!! He’s mine, you hear???
Alto,
Are you sure you aren’t confusing Eileen Farrell with Kate Smith? I’m sure we wouldn’t have wanted to unfasten the girdles of either of them. The remark is hilarious though. Good for you!
I agree with you that our best singers aren’t always the “best-known or most discussed.” This blog-site furnishes ample evidence.
Remember when she used to be AMAZING, and worthy of our praise? I remember her 2000 recital in Boston, when I was in high school and studying seriously. I LOVED her! I thought she was doin everything right. And she did, for a while.
Then she started doing all the publicity crap- the MT, the Jazz, the roles that were AWFUL for her. I remember seeing Rodelinda and people actually laughing at her coloratura, especially compared to Blythe, Daniels, and Relyea.
She’s not Kiri- she can’t do that many different styles and survive.
Now it’s just a hot mess, but the marketing people dont’ know any better. She’s a frikin joke, and it’s a shame that people only know HER as a representative of American opera talent. Shame.