parterre box

78 comments

• Tristram Minstrel says:

  Just the idea of her singing the haunting “Dritthalb jahr, bin ich dein Weib” oder “Schweig doch!” sends a chill up my spine.

  on October 15, 2009 at 4:18 AM
• Often admonished says:

  Stemme is taking Brunnhilde seriously – she’s also in the La Scala Ring that Barenboim’s putting together.

  Siegfried is prob Ian Storey.

  on October 15, 2009 at 5:20 AM
• Cocky Kurwenal says:

  I’m seeing Stemme’s Isolde this coming Sunday and I’m really looking forward to it.

  I’ve only seen her live once, as Amelia in Ballo, and although I was very impressed with the actual singing, particularly some very large, gleaming top notes, she didn’t seem to be at all musical, the phrasing was so mechanical. But having heard her Isolde on disc and DVD, I don’t think one can level the same charge at it.

  It baffles me that some have reservations over her suitability for Brunnhilde, when people like Dalayman are having a go at the role in very important theatres. Stemme, if nothing else, is at least a natural soprano with a singing style healthy enough to preserve her instrument whatever she essays. I think the voice is very large, and has enough cut and thrust to convince in the moments where such qualities are called for, even if they aren’t the overriding qualities of her instrument.

  Theorin was incredibly impressive as Turandot at the ROH in, I think, January of this year. I was disappointed by what I heard of her broadcast Brunnhildes from the Met, but heartened to hear she was better in Washington. I hope she achieves some level of consistency, because if so, she’ll probably reign supreme in her repertoire.

  Urmana has a Sieglinde coming up, and repreises her Isolde with Rattle in Vienna in December. She’s recorded snippets of Brunnhilde. I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if she ended up taking on the role, given her ambition and apparent refusal to settle for anything but the most glamorous title roles in the repertoire whatever her natural fach, although I’m not sure it would be the best ever idea for her.

  I agree with whoever said the Nilsson comparison is unhelpful, because vocal phenomena like that should be appreciated as the unique wonders that they are, they shouldn’t set an impossible standard for everybody else. I don’t think invoking Varnay (the best, in my opinion too) or Behrens helps either, because none of these 3 ladies could be described as having a voice that was at all ‘normal’ even for a Wagnerian soprano.

  In terms of timbre, vocality etc, Stemme, Theorin, Dalayman all seem to line up on an axis that includes the likes, at whichever point along it you like, of Anne Evans and Deborah Voigt. Their voices work(ed) in readily understanable, conventional ways, and to greater or lesser extents, they all have some metal and heft that makes them contenders for Isolde et al. These are the terms in which we need to understand dramatic sopranos these days, with no extraordinary one-offs around to amaze us.

  on October 15, 2009 at 5:46 AM
• The Vicar of John Wakefield says:

  “Siegfried is prob Ian Storey.”

  With Berkeley-Steele and Mitchinson, he is the premium choice today.

  on October 15, 2009 at 7:15 AM
• Jay says:

  Brewer’s Faberin in Chicago was vocally stunning, much better than her Isolde in L.A. Not convinced her Brunnhilde would work, at least not in big houses. Nilsson (who still reigns atop my pantheon) grew up on a farm, as we know. She was a healthy, grounded human being who paced herself and though she sharped noticeably at times, she was a nearly incomparable stage presence; Rysanek and Ludwig were her only real competition among women Wagnerian singers.

  As we also know, Wagnerian singers in particular (or maybe not in particular) are seduced/pushed into roles they aren’t ready to take on. Europeans especially wax over Anja Kampfe. I’ve only heard her live three times (as Sieglinde) and been less impressed each time. Waltraud Meier, Eva Marton, Behrens, even the redoubtable Gwyneth, have or are encountering serious difficulties because they pushed their voices outside their fach. Johanna Meier on the other hand was aware of her vocal capabilities and had a very respectable, at times memorable, career. Johanna grew up in Spearfish, SD. Maybe there is something to be said for growing up in a rural environment and long-term vocal health and longevity.

  on October 15, 2009 at 7:33 AM
• Cocky Kurwenal says:

  Jay, what did Gwyneth do that was outside her fach? Had she attempted Constanze or Gilda, you might have a point, but other than a reputedly disastrous, very late Norma, she seems to have stuck pretty firmly to what she was right for, progressing from Verdi to the Wagner, Strauss and Puccini roles you’d expect any dramatic soprano to sing. The same goes pretty well for Behrens and Marton. I don’t think any of the vocal issues these ladies experienced were because they were singing the wrong roles.

  In Gwyneth’s case, it was partly the fact that her womb prolapsed on the birth of her second child, partly her unfettered approach which caused her to take its voice to its limits at practically every performance, and perhaps also the fact that, experiencing success so young, she didn’t ever quite lay a solid enough technical foundation in the first place. Maybe her schedule was too full on as well.

  In any case, holding up J Meier as the exemplar, when the best you can say of her is ‘very respectable, at times memorable’, against the singers you mention who people rave about, avidly collect the every utterance of, and who managed to create interpretations against which others are still measured, seems a bit perverse.

  on October 15, 2009 at 8:42 AM
• Will says:

  Jay, not to mention Ellen Gulbranson, the Swedish mezzo who became a dramatic soprano, who was picked and trained personally by Cosima Wagner im 1892 to become Bayreuth’s Brunnhilde. Gulbranson sang there from 1896 to 1914, with an isolated Gotterdammerung in 1924. She also sang Kundry. Her first Brunnhildes were so successful that they ended Lilli Lehmann’s Bayreuth career.

  She acquired a farm in Norway and retreated there for much of the regular opera season to prepare roles and work on instructions from Cosima while running the farm.

  I have not heard her recordings, so cannot comment on the voice, but she had some very good names among her early teachers (including the Marchesi family). Cosima’s influence over singers is controversial, and she’s credited with instituting the “Bayreuth Bark.”.

  on October 15, 2009 at 9:35 AM
• spiderman says:

  anyone who says Stemme’s voice is smallish must be deaf or hasn’t heared her live.

  on October 15, 2009 at 10:21 AM
• quoth the maven says:

  Spiderman–I heard Stemme live as Senta at the Met some years back, and the voice seemed pretty underwhelming to me then. Perhaps it has grown since then.

  Last night at Zankel Brewer gave one of the best recitals I have ever heard. The voice is stupendous. I hope last spring’s setback doesn’t keep her from further exploring the big Wagner roles.

  on October 15, 2009 at 11:04 AM
• Noel Dahling says:

  Jay at 55: I think most would agree that Behrens voice was on the light side for her chosen repertoire and Meier is really a mezzo, but how can you say that Marton and Jones pushed their voices outised thier fach? Their voices were frickin’ huge! I won’t disagree they had vocal trouble though.

  on October 15, 2009 at 11:38 AM