the end
La Cieca really, really doesn’t like to say this, but the truth seems to be staring us in the face, so here goes. We have seen the last of Rolando Villazón at the Met. Even though he’s announced as having canceled only the first two performances of Elisir, it’s pretty clear that he’s just not able or willing (or both?) to get his voice and confidence into solid enough shape to appear in New York.
Nemorino is (as tenor roles go) not a particularly difficult sing, and it’s a role that’s always been central to his repertoire. But now it appears Villazón can’t sing even Nemorino up to Met standards, which means he basically can’t sing anything.
As a friend of La Cieca said on the phone a few minutes ago, “It never happens to the ones you want it to happen to,” and, sadly, that’s the case here.
“I suspect that what was considered a reasonably sized voice a few decades ago would not be acceptable today.”
Do you actually believe that Flagstad, Traubel, Tebaldi, Milanov, Nilsson, Sutherland, Price would not be accepted today? Do you believe that Martinelli, Lauri-Volpi, Melchior, Del Monaco, Corelli, Tucker, Bergonzi would not be accepted today?
You’re kidding, right? Or do those names mean nothing to you?
“Erin Wall? Please. I don’t care much for Netrebko but Erin Wall makes Nebtreko look like the reincarnation of Maria Callas. Wall is a total bore. I saw her recently as Konstanze in Chicago. Boring voice, screechy top, acted like she was in a different opera than the rest of the cast. She gets hired because she’s cheap. That’s it.
Please don’t wish that mediocrity on us. Or Eric Cutler as another poster mentioned. Egads. He was shirtless in Pearl Fishers and you just wanted to run and cover up those sagging man boobies and flabby stomach.”
On these two things we definitely agree. Cutler and Wall are both totally mediocre. I would also include Laura Claycomb who is randomly a “star” ONLY in Houston, and with good reason.
“240 Cassandra: I see backtracking again when you are called out.”
No dear, you see what you want to see, and that is all.
#280, yeah, Alek Shrader is super cute. His recital in San Francisco a couple of months ago made me (and I think the entire audience) fall in love with him a tiny bit.
@ 311 I wonder if, in this prepackaged, HD world, some of those folks would have taken precedence over a Gheorghiu or a Netrebko … as well they should have.
Fashions change, too, in voices. Would a Tucker have made it today, a Farrell even (and I love these people with every fiber of my being … don’t get me wrong). We’d have different stars now if verismo were in the ascendant (like in Olivero’s heyday); Sutherland (don’t shoot me) might not have had the career that she had had there not been a concurrent rise of interest in the bel canto. Those are two examples that I can think of.
Podles is a great singer. The bizarre arc of her career seems to be entirely her choice. She does not sing regularly in ANY of the world’s great houses, seeming to genuinely prefer to be in Philly, Houston, Seattle, etc. To slam Gelb for not using her more is ridiculous. La Cieca is one of the staples of her repertoire, and the Met was not dissing her in any way by hiring her to sing that role.
316 – perhaps you are correct -but she seems to infer
that she is not asked by the Met powers to be.
politics ? perhaps -her initial debut was not a great success
but the several recent NY appearances plus this last Met
bit all ending in great ovations hopefully will cause both to
reconsider -her Wagner work is a revelation .
Maria, yes, those names do mean something to me. I even heard some of them in the flesh. With the arguably exception of one or two, the singers you mention had big voices. They were giants. But I suspect that many others would not fare as well. My comment, however, was meant more in retrospect. I hear complaints about many of today’s singers having small voices or being hard to hear who I think would have been considered perfectly fine 30 years ago. I won’t give you examples because there’s no point on having a discussion. I, myself, find the orchestras and singers more often than not favoring volume over accuracy or nuances. That’s just and simply the way I feel. Then again, I have no problem whatsoever hearing Fleming, Gheorghiou, Battle, et al.
“Imagine one of our Cieca blog listenings to a Sirius broadcast and all our commentaries on a live performance by Callas, Tebaldi, Caballe, Price…”
That would be a lot of fun. But it would be far more exciting if we were listening to Ponselle, Rethberg, Muzio, Galli-Curci…
#308 iltenoredigrazia. A most excellent idea ! Might I suggest any of three broadcast of DON CARLO with Maria Guleghina, back when she was singing under the names of Dalia Rigal, leonie Rysanek, and Mirella Freni?
In one of them, she even doubles King Philip using her stage name Nicolai Ghiaurov.