The student princess
Which much-recorded singer has developed her use of expressive rubato to the point that she actually “stole” a professor from a prestigious British academy by offering him a veritable fortune to resign his position and devote his time to coaching her most recent CD?
Gerald Martin Moore has been working for Fleming for years, though. This is hardly news. And, come to think of it, I don’t think he had a permanent position at a British Conservatoire. He’s not greatly loved; but he’s not as hated as made out by some posters here. And La Cieca, take it from a Brit: c*nt, used in English, is IN NO WAY comparable to using the word Queen. Many English people, especially English women, regard it as one of the most highly offensive (and, yes, misogynistic, as it aligns teh female genitalia with bad qualities etc)words in the English language. As you were…
Sanford, what is the venue of the Caballe “Sombre foret” that you posted? It seems to be some sort of gala, watched over by a one-eyed Rossini. Marvelous singing, whatever it was. Thanks for all these, BTW.
I first saw Caballe give a charming recital in Louisville, KY, during the mid-1960s, then later her PIRATA at the Cincinnati Zoo Opera and her VESPRI at the Met. She was bewitching every time. Yes, I’ve seen and heard her various videos and all of her recordings.
People, we would kill to have Caballe in her prime today. No one now could touch her. Sure, she had her shortcomings, but she was a wonderful and exciting singer.
That said, I’d like to put in a plug for the new Joyce DiDonato “Colbran” album. Mighty, mighty fine. I’ve played it a dozen or more times. In contrast, I played Bartoli’s new “Sacrificium” album only twice – and the second time was merely duty on my part. DiDonato’s way with the ARMIDA excerpts will make you wish she were singing the upcoming Met performances.
Re the on-going word comparison. It all depends on ones intent, usage, perseption and spin. In one example an insulting, exclamation or the words used within a playful jibe amongst friends on familiar ground. Knowing one’s audience and their sensitivities is definately key. However, haughty comments are just flatly inappropriate, albeit it from an English woman or an American southern belle.
Re Caballé v Fleming – although they, amazingly, seem to have a lot of repertoire in common, Caballé’s strengths are surely in the less florid bel canto, mid Verdi and lighter Puccini-verismo roles – ie her Liu is more convincing than her Turandot – while Fleming has probably been the finest Mozart/Strauss lyric of her generation, despite the mannerisms. I think if RF had concentrated on those roles, like Mmes Schwarzkopf and Della Casa, posterity might all think of her as one of the all-time greats, but she has undoubtedly squandered her talents on repertory she was instrinsically not suited to. Caballé probably made too many recordings and certainly sang too heavy rep, but many of them remain absolutely indispensible listening. Of how many Fleming complete opera recordings is that the case? I can’t think of a single role – possibly Thaïs – in which Fleming is not outclassed by several other singers on disc. Her Rusalka is not a patch on Benackova’s, even if it is more “creamily” sung and one of her most engaging performances on disc. That said, apart from obvious turkeys like the Met Imogene, my live experiences of Fleming have on the whole been more satisfactory than Montserrat in the flesh – Amelia-Ballo, Norma, Mme Cortese (with RF as the Comtesse de Folleville). Alas, Montsy never sang well in front on me.
Caballe may have more indispensable recordings than Fleming, but that is mainly because she was active during a time where studio recordings of complete operas was rampant.
Fleming got started when studio recordings started to die off but surprisingly she did Rosmonda d’Inghilterra very early in her career and to me it still stands as the best contemporary recording of the work.
beautiful duet
Hans Lick,
Ah yes, Caballe’s cancellations! You didn’t list
Ernani and Manon Lescaut! In New York anyway.
But she cancelled whole engagements more than individual performances, no? Getting her on the plane seemed to be the biggest hurdle. Once she was in town she was not so unreliable, unless she decided she wanted to go home. How engaged she was in her performance was a whole other story though!
I thought Stratas was worse in this regard. She could sing the dress and then skip the premiere.
Agree, Caballe was most enjoyable for me in recital. She seemed more engaged and happy.
And was very generous and playful in the encores.
As far as her recordings, I like the Salome and the Muti Aida and a number of the early
recital disks. Other than those, I don’t find
too many of them as being a “go to” versions. I heard she made most of her recordings for a flat fee rather than a royalty. Whether or not this is true an awful lot of them lack the ultimate in commitment for me. Even the ones with little competition, say, Giovanna D’arco and Pirata just seem good rather than inspired. Pirata has her husband and some squealy, shrill singing on her part and Giovanna seems phoned in.
I think she could be a very generous thoughtful lady. I loved that she flew into NYC in 1994 just for Marilyn Horne’s 60th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall. She came in, sang the concert and flew back out.
What a nice gesture to a colleague she really admired.
Cocky Kurwenal
59#) You spoke of how with Caballe ‘it would have been better if she omitted trills’. She was perfectly capable. Go listen to her version of Rigoletto’s ‘Caro Nome’…… a flawless 12 second trill!.
f groups of English dandies in an opera box fanning and applying smelling salts under the nose of one of their party, after some diva has hit some note’.
What gets me me with Bel Canto queens is all this business of singers being ‘trilling divas’, not opera singers. Axiom: ‘The bigger the deal they make of it….the bigger , the queen! A case of the World hangs on whether some singer hit a note. Jezzz!
It keeps reminding me of that period cartoon
The one recording of Caballe we want back, if nothing more than curiosity to some, is her complete Butterfly.Once released on Decca, it is reputed to be tied up in some copyright.
Harry, I think I had that Caballe Butterfly at one point on LP. My memory is a bit hazy but it may have been recorded by a subsidiary recording company in Spain, i.e. Spanish Columbia or something like that.
Sorry, but I don’t find Caballe all that interesting in Puccini/verismo; she didn’t do much with the words and she tended to be a bit lacking in energy, at least on recording.
Some are won over by the sound itself, admittedly it could be lovely but that counts for less with me than a lot of other listeners.
I heard her as Mimi and Tosca at the Met and while her singing was very lovely , she wasn’t very vivid in either role. I normally dislike comparing singers, but I saw Caballe and Scotto as Adriana the same season at the Met. Caballe made very nice noises but Scotto brought the role to life. And it was Scotto just before she really started sounding too bad. (1978)
But as I’ve written before, I’m definitely a Kunst diva king of guy.
Thinking a bit more about that Caballe Butterfly with Berti, it was released complete on Decca, and I have a highlights album of the same release from the German Acanta label (who did bloody nice record pressing too!) This Acanta label also released a couple of recital albums of hers. I have all of them and must pull them down off the shelves.