more edgardo
This is from last night. La Cieca should note that she was not at this performance (1/29/2009), but a member of the cher public armed with an iPhone was. The clip is presented for the purposes of discussion.
La Cieca will begin the discussion by noting that the scene is performed down a half step.
Alto,
You chose to read my words as if I was belittling the quiz, which is not the case. I was simply comparing a few minutes of hosting a quiz to the pressure of singing and acting a difficult role on the Met stage and the impact these two separate performances would have on his career. If I can make an imperfect analogy: how many people (including tournament directors and other purse string holders) cared today how eloquent and thoughtful Federer was during his interview? How many even watched it? Federer’s business is tennis and he lost.
Just a quick correction.The highest note in Una furtive lagrima is Ab. The note is written twice and the optional one in the cadenza. I have never heard a tenor dare to go up at the end of the aris, the only place where a Bb could actually be sung. Quanto e bella only goes to G unless the cadenza is sung and then there is an optional A natural.
Lindoro:
here is a Bb flat ending to “Una Furtiva”
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=3uvYZmJAEX0
Lindoro:
here is “Una Furtiva” with the Bb ending:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uvYZmJAEX0 by Bulent Bezduz
L. x
Good heavens. It isn’t even wise to diagnose oneself from the internet, yet here people are diagnosing poor Rolando Villazon with a quick google search. It’s all very interesting but relies a bit too much on hear say and telepathy for my liking.
ArmerJ, Thackeray, I’m with you on Kraus and Gedda. Gedda occasionally crops up in something sounding glorious, but the overwhelming majority of his standard recorded repertoire turns me right off, even his Tamino for Klemperer. I think Kraus is impressive as the Duke on the Solti Rigoletto with Moffo, but it isn’t very beautiful, and must have been downright offensive to stand next to. As for this widely perpetuated MYTH that his voice remained beautifully intact into his 70s due to his infallible technique, let me just say that I saw him at the Barbican in, I think, the late 90s or very early this century, and discovered what that meant: he could still do solid high Cs, 9 of them in a single aria if required by circumstance, but very little else. Stuff like ‘Ah fuyez douce image’ was woefully out of tune and ugly of timbre. I’ve seen other singers in advanced years for whom no special claims were made, and who were in far better shape.
Let me toss my Kraus experiences into the mix. First of all re CK@142, I wouldn’t want to hear Kraus later than the mid 80s, the time when he was entering his 60s. He was a singer I more admired than really loved; I heard him as Ernesto, Edgardo,
Hoffmann, Alfredo, Romeo, Faust, Tonio, Werther, the tenor in Favorita and maybe one or two other things. I always thought it was a very fixed sound without much light or shade. He sang firmly, accurately, and stylishly with a very accurate top register. His French and Italian were both good and he never was sloppy. But he always sounded sort of “fierce” to me, rarely “melting”…which is the sound I love to hear from tenors. And as he aged, his tone became even more muscled and less free.
And I stayed away from seeing him after a fairly charmless Tonio to Sutherland’s late in the day Marie around 1983 at the Met.
On Gedda, I have to admit an illogical weakness. He was a most ungainly singer, it often sounded as if he used a different production method for each note that he sang. This caused some pretty weird effects
but he could be really on and the results could be thrilling. And he had a lot of presence on stage, he did a bonkers Hoffmann, a perfomance I loved as opposed to Kraus’ more correct one which I merely admired. He went on too long also and his “ungainly” sort of morphed into “clumsy” as he would negotiate his way through his phrases. But he could really sing with a soft , melting tone as well as brilliant (when he was on) tops
Thanks for the Bezduz clip. I had been curious about him. Dare we say that he should be sent back with a $500 encouragement grant in the hope that he learns where some of the OTHER notes are.
In 2007 (summer, I think), I saw a television quasi-documentary with RV and French pianist Helene Grimaud, filmed in Berlin. They chit chat, talking about how they spend their day when not performing (“Oh, you go the a gym? Me, too.”) and commenting on their favorite spots in Berlin. What struck me was how troubled RV looked, struggling with the often inane conversation, staring out of the limo–until they got to Philharmonic Hall. Grimaud sits down at the piano and starts playing Ich grolle nicht from Dichterliebe and Villazon literally comes to life. He sings with passion and genuinely beautiful tone. His recitals are compelling and ideally suited to the smaller recital hall. I hope for the best tomorrow night and Saturday afternoon. Madamina, are you planning a chat for tomorrow evening??
This Bezduz character has a very fine voice, but one must agree with Wotan – I’ll chip in for the $500.
Lindoro, sure there are written a-naturals in the major section of ‘una furtiva’ in the second verse – ‘di piu NON chiedo’? Never seen a score but these have never sounded like interpolations to me.
Donna Anna, maybe Grimaud had been going on about her pet wolves again during the hobbies and other interests chit-chat, and poor Rolando was just a bit frightened of her.