parterre box

30 comments

• browser says:

  Sad when people think only one person can sing a role. Yes, Gobbi was a great Scarpia; but what wbout Guelfi or Stabile. Callas was a great Tosca; but what about Tebaldi and Kabaivanska.

  on September 16, 2009 at 5:12 AM
• MontyNostry says:

  Here’s a confession — I find Gobbi almost impossible to listen to. That strait-jacketed timbre and those short top notes … He might have been a great actor, but I’d much rather have Taddei, for instance.

  on September 16, 2009 at 6:51 AM
• The Vicar of John Wakefield says:

  Commonwealth Artist Peter Coleman-Wright and his better half should be brought in at once. Georgians and Finns– the very idea…

  on September 16, 2009 at 9:15 AM
• Claudia4Ever says:

  browser: just by posting a clip of a great performance doesn’t mean i think only that 1 person can sing the role. the question i was offering a reply to was whether or not i think his voice is going to be big enough for the enormous Met house. gobbi’s was. and of course others’ as well. perhaps when you wrote “people think” you were referring to others?

  on September 16, 2009 at 10:29 AM
• arepo says:

  All in all, I really enjoyed his Scarpia. Yes he has some pronunciation problems but that is nit-picking when he projects the character that well.

  What really annoyed the hell out of me was the disgustingly slow pace of the orchestra–almost like wanting to upstage the singer. It lost all the dynamic flow.

  on September 16, 2009 at 10:41 AM
• browser says:

  Gobbi’s voice wasn’t particularly big….

  on September 16, 2009 at 10:50 AM
• browser says:

  But all of this comes down to that fact that there are pretty much NO real italianate baritones singing at the moment – and that’s what you need for Scarpia (and that’s what Gobbi had) – BLADE. Gobbi’s SPEAKING voice could be heard across a room without him putting any weight behind it… The same for Zancanaro…

  There is no-one to compare at the moment…

  on September 16, 2009 at 10:58 AM
• MontyNostry says:

  Vicar, is Mrs Coleman-Wright Cheryl Barker, stalwart of Chandos’s Opera in English series? Sopranos singing poor English translations of other languages tend to sound like they are about to spank someone. She certainly does.

  on September 16, 2009 at 11:01 AM
• MontyNostry says:

  browser … It must also amaze you, then, that people think that Hvorostovsky, with his voce sempre soffocata, can pass in a role like Luna. I saw him as Germont last year and he had about three notes with any ring. The rest were all stuck somewhere in his tonsils .

  on September 16, 2009 at 11:12 AM
• Clita del Toro says:

  Monty Nostry:

  Gobbi was a wonderful actor, but a better musician and singer. And I happen to LOVE the sound of his (dry) voice and especially how he uses it. For me he was the greatest Jago, Falstaff and Scarpia–saw them all in person.
  This “only a great actor” thing (charge) is similar to what I used to hear about Callas–as if acting was their only asset.

  It’s fine that you don’t like or “get” Gobbi. Can’t love everyone.

  P.S. I was also a big Warren fan (not so much on recordings)–the two greatest baritones (Italian repertoire) I have ever seen. And Taddie was great too!

  on September 16, 2009 at 11:31 AM