Featuring that miracle of the age, electric light
In Zurich, the 20th century has apparently never ended. Opening on Thursday, a “revival” of Nabucco conducted by Nello Santi, directed by Jonathan Miller, and starring Maria Guleghina (Abigaille), Juan Pons (Nabucco) and Carlo Colombara (Zaccaria). Unfortunately, budget constraints prevent us from hearing the Fenena of Agnes Baltsa…
Silly me, I took the Baltsa bit seriously. Didn’t know Nello Santi was still alive…
Zurich is always like this: Carreras and R. Raimondi have also been on the boards there long past their sell-by date.
So was Ghiaurov
I saw Ghiaurov do a recital when he was of veteran status and he was still wonderful.
… as I was saying, in MY day artists knew when to take leave of public performance. I was as fresh vocally in my final run of FILLE in the house as I had been jumping in for Milanov in 1944. Yet I sensed that standards were lower and it was time to make room for younger, less effective performers in the great roles I commanded. Who sings now? NOBODIES.
As for color and tessitura, I could of course sing Abigaille OR Fenena *tomorrow*.
Ah yes, I remember those dazzling final years of Lily Pons, Anna Moffo, Eleanor Steber, Carlo Bergonzi, Luciano Pavarotti . . . need I go on? Let’s face it, the last one who went out completely undiminished was Leonard Warren.
You could have mentioned the shrieking Callas,Warren died
while still at height of career.
Talking of Warren, is there anyone on here who saw him in the theatre? What was he like? I love his voice as recorded (though these days I think I like George London even better).
I just bought a live recording of Macbeth, with Warren, Rysanek and Bergonzi, from the Met, and I can’t resist comparing it with the Ghuleghina-Lucic HD I saw… A propos London, did he ever sung Macbeth?
Warren’s voice wasn’t as big as it sounds on records, and not as dark either. But glorious
Yeah, there are singers who either burned out early but kept singing, or sang the wrong fach and kept on singing, or had drinking problems and kept on singing. So what? That’s a “what have you done for me lately” attitude. It doesn’t diminish their accomplishments from the height of their careers. Does Pavarotti’s cancelation of Tosca (when Licitra took over) take away from his Nemorino o Rodolfo? Does Moffo’s ’69 Lucia erase memories of her Luisa Miller, Lucia, Violetta, Butterfly, Mimi, or Verdi Arias?
Monty – I heard him live many a time – the most memorable was
with Tebaldi – he was a great
artist the basic sound always there but the timbre always
changed according to the role
he was in …he sounded different
from his recordings as most singers do ,depending on the opera and who he was singing with .
Lucky you, wladek. His sound seems so warm and full, if maybe just lacking a little fibre. And, of course, I love the way it expanded upwards.
Stanford: “That’s a ‘what have you done for me lately. attitude. It doesn’t diminish their accomplishments from the height of their careers.”
Well no, and anyone is entitled to his or her own fond memories, but when washed-up big-name singers are put onstage rather than better, younger unknowns, it’s bad for the art. That’s where fetishizing great singers of the past goes from “upholding standards” to just, well, fetishizing.
Actually, I could sing Nabucco or Zaccaria tomorrow. It’s a question of having a voice, some vocal training, and knowing the roles.
(But some others are having careers with out one or more of these things–so, who knows?!)
LittleMaster = Quite correct !! what’s more most tend to delve on
flavour of the day sopranos and
tenors as if that is all opera is about.Just for an example -Podles-
is not mentioned much – not pretty
enough? she looks like someones momma -and even in the twilight
of a long career can give every singer on any opera house stage
a lesson in the art of singing opera
or recital . They fetishize on the
these flavour of the month singers
while this rare bird a contralto is
mentined only in passing ,truly
an unflattering view of so called
opera lovers .
Podles is mentioned here fairly often when talking about people who sing the same repertoire. And also when we talk about what not to wear. Actually, she’s in one of my fave complete recordings, the Tancredi with Sumi Jo. She’s one of my favorite Rossini singers, right up there for me with Lucia Valentini-Terrani.
We talk about Podles all the time and she even had her own thread a few months ago. People seem to like her here (I’m one of those who do, after I saw her in Il Trittico in SF).
I loved this, Will! It gave me my first laugh of this Sunday morning.
Fenena was Cheryl Studer.
Very beautiful. Thank you, Sanford. I didn’t even know there was a Debussy album sung by Anna. I can’t find any evidence that it’s been reissued on cd either. Perhaps this was originally a European-only release on LP?
I believe it was her last album. I didn’t know about it either until someone sent me the files. It’s not repertoire I know at all. And as with so many of her albums, it has never come out on CD. I posted all of her Verdi Arias and French Heroines albums on Youtube. The rest of the Debussy will be posted as well.
i hope guleghina has been working on her coloratura agility, cause the last i heard her in the role a few years back, she was a joke. she just decided which notes to sing and which to skip. she did look good, she was quite thin back then. dramatically, she was also disengaged, sort of standing around waiting for her lines.
why you people hating on poor studer? she was a good singer in many roles. give it a rest, you haters.
Pierre, have you met Marshiemark? She’d love you.
i don’t know who marshie is, i just find it boring all the endless and unjustified bashing going on. i never saw studer live, but she was quite good in many roles such as the empress.
funny thing, i just checked her wikipedia entry. who on earth would say she’s a dramatic soprano? but that’s what they wrote there. also among her roles is listed brunnhilde in GD. when and where was that? singing the immolation scene in concert doesn’t count.
I had no problem at all with Studer until Marshie started her tirades. Have some of her recordings But Marshie totally turned me off against Studer. I wish I’d never hear that name again. Perhap I should say both names again, Studer and Marshie.
Allow me to explain, Pierre (who is truly lucky for never having heard of this guy):
Marshie is/was a troll on these boards, long since banned (several times, I believe), who would post complete articles, reviews or programs whenever Cheryl Studer gave a recital anywhere in the world. He’s also memorable for his long-winded, profanity-laden and vile ranting about Renee Fleming, whom he gave the truly unoriginal nickname of “America’s Sweetwhore.” (Say what you will about her singing, but that’s unfair in my book.) When I first began posting here, he was the biggest Lillian on the board. EVERYBODY hated him. And he turned a lot of people against Studer, a very talented singer who unfortunately burned out rather early, by throwing her name about indiscriminately and yelling down anyone who dared criticize his idol. He still shows up occasionally, but people have gotten better at ignoring him.
I recently saw an Attila on TV with Ramey and Ghulegina. I don’t know the year of the performance, but based on Ramey’s wobble, it was probably at least 7 or 8 years ago. Ghulegina, though she was in fresher voice than she is today, had the same problems with the coloratura that you describe. She produced some fabulous spinto sounds but the coloratura was consisttently sloppy. I’d imagine that, today, she’d be even worse.
Santi was the Armiliato of the 70s and 80s at the Met. And he’s still around.
I remember going to see Bergonzi in I Pagliacci late in his career, sometime in the eighty somethings. I had seen him, of course, twenty years before many times. Anyway, a friend was stunned and asked me how he was, this friend was surprised he was singing. There was some difficulty communicating then, after seeing and hearing Bergonzi, I could not imagine anyone being close, he was so wonderful. He still had the voice, and he had the perfect style. I’m not too fond of the opera, but that was a fabulous evening, I must say so. Bergonzi is major words. How about the Verdi’s arias recording? The morendo at the end of Celeste Aida is just to die for. Compared to Bergonzi, all the tenors today are just jokers, if I may be allowed such rude remark.
Sometimes I feel like Bartolo lamenting the old style, but really, in the sixties, on a week at the Met, there was Nilsson, Bergonzi, Price, Corelli, etc., etc., etc. Today, it is just the novelty of puppets in Butterfly or hair catching fire. Silly. Give me a concert with Steber past her prime anytime, with the two countess’ arias, something from Ariadne, the willow song and ‘tu che la vanita’, that beats an Amina or a Floria by the window anytime.
I just spent some time marvelling about Bergonzi’s Macduff on a live recording of Macbeth. It’s a short role, but, if well sung, a very, very moving one, especially the aria; unfortunately, great singers seem to be considered “luxus casting” in this and avoided. The result is that watching the HD, instead of being moved by the aria, I kept thinking that really, Macduff had to be a complete idiot not to be aware of the danger for his family. But listening to Bergonzi, one certainly doesn’t have such heretical thoughts; I don’t think it’s possible to sing it more beautifully, and with such perfect style…
Liana,
You have a wonderful recording of Macbeth, if I may say so. I have it, of course, and a friend of mine has the old vinyl Victrola. Rysanek and Warren are wonderful. My only regret is that Leonie took over Callas at the Met who, I think, was asked to sing the role but did not. I wish I had been a guy with a recording machine when she sang many Macbeth scenes with Toscanini at the piano. Oh well, we must be grateful for what we have of Callas, and Rysanek was fabulous too. We are lucky to be able to hear recordings of both, “La luce langue, il faro spegnesi…”
Valkyrietta- Callas did sing Lady M. at the Met, and it IS on record, in poor sound and the rest of the cast is nothing special, but still, it’s on record.
Sorry, Baritenor, you are simply wrong. Why do so few posters here check such statements on the Met Archive page? The premiere with Rysanek in 1959 was the Met’s first MACBETH ever.
Callas did sing the role, captured live in 1952 with Mascherini, Tajo and Penno under de Sabata at La Scala.
Amen to the 2nd paragraph of your #9, Valkyrietta. Regarding past prime Steber in particular, I attended her series of comeback recitals/concerts at Alice Tully Hall in the early 1970s I think, and what a revelation it was to experience almost everything about her – vocal technique, artistry, peerless deportment, legendary generosity and intensity, and an amazing radiance and joy. At the end of one concert her elderly mother, who was in the audience, took a bow and then Steber sat down at the piano and accompanied herself in the Indian Love Call. Steber’s Music Foundation issued recordings of her in recital from around the same time, and some of the performances are most wonderful and affecting, such as the Wolf Geistliche Lieder.
Thanks, Mrs Rance and Valkyrietta. I too was at those Steber recitals in Tully Hall. I gives me actual pain to read the ignorant reactions here to her singing in her supposed decline. She always retained what you attribute to her, and even her problems with food and drink never took from her the serious, eloquent musicianship and undiminished technique. These people who dismiss even the slightest remnant of her art simply don’t know what great singing can be. There are very few people at the Met anywhere near her calibre at this point.
As for her mother’s presence that you mention: her mother, who was the soloist at the local Methodist church in Wheeling, was her first voice teacher. Steber always said that her vocal security was attributable to the fact that she never had to change her technique in all her studies — that what he mother taught her was what Whitney and Allthouse also instilled.
Steber had gone to the NEC as a piano major with the intention of earning a living as a teacher of piano. Her security as a musician was of a kind almost unheard of in those days.
Can those who say that Bing had to get rid of her because of a vocal decline never have heard the two CDs of her subsequent tour-de-force Carnegie recital? Evidently. Who of their current idols could do that program even at their height?
La Valkyrietta – AMEN!! to your comments about Carlo Bergonzi; one of the greatest of all Verdi singers.
My fave Lady Macbeth will always be Sylvia Sass. The sleepwalking scene is amazing, but her La Luce Langue is scary in a great way. I have both the Callas (amazing, and I’m not a huge fan of hers, but amazing) and Fiorenza Cossotto (also amazing).
My Dama tirumvirat is Callas, Rysanek and Verrett, with a loving glance towards Grandi and Sass, yes.
Yes, this is quite special. Dama the way Polanski saw her, remember he cast the beautiful Francesca Annis.
That was really special. I just checked the recordings; Macbeth with her from Amazon costs oves 60$!!!. Still, I’m really tempted; so if I’m broke a month earlier than expected, it will be entirely your fault, CF
. I have also a recording of a live performance with Gobbi and Amy Shuard, from London, and she is really good. Actually, I liked her more than Gobbi, who shouts too much.
Sass is wonderful, yes.
If you ignore the horribly hammy acting, this Turkish singer (I know nothing about her, I just found her on Youtube a few months ago) is terrific vocally- I wonder if she has any kind of career outside Turkey?
Ooops, more youtube incompetence from me. That clip above is the sleepwalking scene, and it’s not great. It was her ‘Vieni, t’affretta’ I liked:
Now that was great. Actually, the first one wasn’t that bad, either, though irresistibly funny due to the make-up. And I even found a review of this performance: http://www.operatoday.com/content/2007/11/macbeth_in_ista.php
But I don’t think she’ll have an international career; she’s fat and doesn’t look like a movie star, you know..
Forza in Croatia rings a bell, actually- I think it might have been reviewed in the print version of Parterre, back in the day.
Major instrument. Thank you for this. LOve the diction and musical taste and abandon. Reminds me somehow of Linda Esther Gray. Love to hear her in Elisabeth (Tannhauser).
Here’s the classic Macchia account, by Margherita Grandi, conducted by Beecham. Very different, love it. She was in her late 50s.
Major instrument indeed. Thanks for sharing, AJ. Gonna have to remember her name: Perihan Nayir.
That was great, and very different from the way it’s usually sung.Thank you. Is there a complete recording (I sincerely hope not, otherwise I won’t be able to restrain myself from buying it)?
My question was about Grandi, of course.
Fortunately for you, (he he), Testament released a highlights album of a radio broadcast of the opera from Glyndebourne, THRILLINGLY conducted by the composer Berthold Goldschmidt. Rest of the cast is nothing to write home about, my Grandi is very interesting, old school singing really, and still up to it. The CD features most of her scenes in the opera, plus Don Carlo aria plus D’amor sull’ali rosee plus this Macchia scene with Beecham, a studio version.
http://www.testament.co.uk/shop/product/sbt1402.aspx
Thank you very much. I’ll just eat some not so interesting CDs until the next pay day…
There has to be some venture of say a circle of 5-10 people sharing the monetary burden and trafficking CDs between them somehow.
Problem is, when something is deleted and you can’t have it at all. Like now, I want my Fiamma LP on CD but it’s deleted! Until, perhaps, Brilliant will issue it anew. I don’t have any representation of the great Tokody in my CD library!
“Somehow” being the operative word
; I guess downloading and sharing would be one possibility, but doesn’t the sound quality suffer that way?
A propos deleting, I would really wish that the Russians look into their vaults; there were plenty really great singers in the Soviet Union under Stalin, and even later, never allowed to sing abroad; they released some recordings, but really, there must be treasures out there. The same goes for other communist countries; we too had a few fantastic singers who never travelled, but there are nearly no recordings available…
Sass’ was a strange career. At one point she seemed to be everywhere with an all-emcompassing repertoire and then she vanished. The only time I saw her live was in Paris as Gounod’s Juliette. She was lovely but I couldn’t imagine that light lyric soprano also doing Macbeth, Norma, Turandot, etc., which were all part of her repertoire.
I remember reading an interview with her where she mentioned that after singing more than 100 Traviatas all over Europe, one of the major opera houses (ROH or Paris, can’t remember) announced a new production for her. She wanted to take a fresh look at the role and arranged for a meeting with Callas. Callas had her sing a couple of pieces and then told her that, well, if she studied very hard with her for the next six months she might be able to sing the role. Sass reply with words equivalent to f**k you! Would have loved to be there.
This Turkish soprano is sensational. Once in a while one stumbles upon some major voice like this one. Even the D flat was superb. Thank you for posting this, armerjacquino.
wow… la nayir artan is the real thing! fantabulous!
amer, ercole, liana et al,
apropos unknown singers, here’s a turandot from seoul that nobody’s heard of:
in these excerpts, the famous one of course is the tenor dongwon shin, but have you ever heard such a girlish and light turandot (who also looks like a teenager)? pretty good production too.
She’s really outstanding, especially if you remember Ghuleghina on the HD
. I wonder what you’ll say about him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0DpXpFF8ro&feature=related
I love him, but, of course, I’m biased..
Oops, embedding incompetence. Let’s try again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0DpXpFF8ro
Perhaps this time?
I think Gobbi was sick the day of that performance. That is why Macbeth’s last aria is cut from the performance.