A tenor for all seasons
La Cieca hears that Barry Banks will go onstage at the Met shortly — tonight, in fact — jumping in as Almaviva for an ailing Lawrence Brownlee.
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Does the Met usually suffer so many ailments, indispositions, and cancellations during the winter?
The Met’s winter crisis is nothing compared to this:
Makes the casette recording someone turned on in the audience of the Paris Opera to disrupt the performance while Jenifer Larmore was singing like minor sabotage.
What was the problem in Madrid? Something about the orchestra.. Who were the singers? When was this?
I think it’s getting worse.
Oh that sly Cieca, with the “shortly.” I like both tenors, but it’s the short yielding to the even-shorter.
It should be noted that La Cieca did not originate that mot: she borrowed it from Will Berger.
Who is this Banks? Was looking forward to hearing Brownlee but do have a ticket for tonight as well as Thursday. Well at least Damrau is singing I hope. I guess she will make up the difference.
Talk about provincial ignorance from our ONly Vienna and Munich Matter man!
Banks is an internationally ranked singer who has *even* sung at Salzburg, Leipzig and the Bayerische Staatsoper! ( Let alone the insignificant places like the Met, NYCO, Houston, San Francisco, the ROH, ENO, Brussels, Bologna, Barcelona, etc etc etc. He came through very well.
I thought Damrau very hard to take, glassy butt-ugly tone in the lower half of the role and all kinds of awful interpolations elsewhere. She seems to be deteriorating by the month.
Perfect assessment of Damrau. She has a “cold” but she been singing like this for a while now. Can’t believe anyone would prefer her to an intelligent artist like DiDonato.
Wildly off topic, did anyone just hear Ricciarelli’s “Je Dis” in the 1975 Carmen on Sirius? That had to be one of the most beautiful soprano voice of all times. How sad it was so short lived.
Damn, I missed it to go to lunch. Luckily, it’ll be repeated 7 times this week on Sirius.
Her Micaela was about the best thing she did at the Met. It was really fine, and was much better received
than her debut as Mimi a year earlier.
Ricciarelli’s Boheme recording with Carreras on Philips, also stands up well to scutiny.
I love that recording
Also excellent are the lesser Verdi operas she recorded, such as the I Masnadieri. And not to be missed is the duets album she recorded with Carreras, including a stupendous Poliuto duet. And I found a recording way back when on which she sings a ravishing Vaga Luna.
Ah – I remember the 1976 revival at Covent Garden in which Ricciarelli and the dashingly handsome José Carreras were paired for the first time. Unforgettable! And the disc is much better than it seemed at the time, but I think it was the first new Boheme after Freni/Pav/Karajan or Montsy/Placido/Solti and it seemed not quite so starry. They were really hot on stage – one of the best-looking Mimi-Rodolfo couples I have seen. Sounded pretty good too. Mimi and Micaela were probably ideal roles for Katia, but she insisted on singing Ballo, Trovatore and Elisabetta di Valois, and recording Tosca and Turandot.
I too have some wonderful memories of Ricciarelli. The recordings of the “rare” Verdi with Jose along with her duet album with her then “love-interest” Carreas on Philips are really lovely. The deterioation of her voice seems to have coincided with her becoming glamorous–very blond and very, very skinny–who knows? when she was in her “prime” she gave me hours of joy as did Jose.
As far as I know, she made no recording of Masnadieri. Caballe did this one for the Philips series, and Sutherland for Decca.
I do like Ricciarelli in Stiffelio for Philips though, even though the seams are starting to show.
Yup. I goofed in naming that as one of Katia’s recordings.
Sass did the Stiffelio for Philips.
OK. I’ve done some research and find that Ricciarelli is still living. Why was her voice so short-lived?
There are a several answers to that question.
One is that her voice didn’t give out so very early, in fact. She made her debut in 1969 and was still singing regularly 30 years later, though by then sounding very worn. But from 1970-1985 or so she was an extremely busy singer.
There’s a theory that she wrecked her voice singing too-heavy roles, but I don’t buy into that so much. Most of her career was spent in bel canto and lighter Verdi and Puccini. She recorded more dramatic stuff, but in general (not always) stayed more or less in her Fach in stage performances.
So I think the trouble had to do with the fact that Ricciarelli had an incredibly gorgeous and easy natural voice. Because the voice worked so well all on its own (and because she felt under pressure to start making money for her very poor family) she never solidified her technique.
That problem was exacerbated by the soprano’s extremely volatile personal life. It’s no secret she was violently in love with Jose Carreras, who declined to leave his wife for her, and allegedly she attempted suicide more than once. Obviously trying to sing (as with doing any sort of difficult physical activity) while in that kind of fragile mental state is going to be problematic.
Grazie, La Cieca, grazie molto.
Don’t know whether singing heavy roles had an impact on her voice or not but I remember her getting an excellent review when she first appeared at the Met in Boheme. She also got very good reviews when she sang Micaela and Desdemona. Then she sang in Ballo and she was over her head. She went downhill from then on.
She may have also been a casualty of market pressure. My recollection is that she won a voice contest in Italy in the early 70′s and immediately everyone started talking about her. A record of arias was released almost immediately. As LC said, in the mid and late 70′s she was singing everywhere.
Well, I still remember my shock when I listened to her Turandot (not even Liu) under Karajan, with Domingo, from Deutsche Grammophon. Such a wrong choice, but probably imposed by the conductor. He was used to do this to so many sopranos (e.g. Freni)
Excellent analysis, La Cieca. It boils down to technique. That’s in part why Freni could survive the heavier roles with Karajan. Also, Freni (b. 1935) was significantly older and more grounded technically than Ricciarelli (b. 1946) when she started experimenting with spinto repertoire.
Even in her Met debut as Mimi, Ricciarelli sounded uneven. I agree La Cieca makes a number of logical observations that go a long way to explain the way Katia’s career unfolded.
I think her unfinished technique started to undermine her from the start.
In her debut season (I didn’t catch her actual debut but one of the later performances), her voice showed that it couldn’t take pressure. She was pushing a bit (why?) and her upper notes would turn hard and a bit glassy. One friend I ran into commented that she had a bit of the glare-y
sound Crespin had.
When she returned the following season in Carmen, she seemed more more willing to take the pressure off her voice. the results were really lovely, as a few posters noted yesterday.
I followed her career at the Met and the ensuing seasons held Desdemona and Luisa Miller which were mostly fine. Ballo showed the start of a wobble on sustained loud notes but an OONY Lucrezia Borgia a year or two later showed that she could still sing beautifully if she didn’t have to put pressure on her voice.
Her Met career ended with an Desdemona in a Kleiber directed Otello, a lot of the quieter singing was still lovely but the climaxes of the Act 3 ensemble showed one of the most pronounced wobbles I’ve ever heard live. I was cringing as she swelled up to the high Bs.
I wouldn’t recommend anyone listen to her Aida or Turandot recordings, to me there are just sad.
Too bad , she seemed a bit hobbled from the get go but I still have a soft spot for her
and her early RCA recordings are special. And what a beautiful figure on stage!
La Cieca:
I agree that the whole “sang stuff too heavy for her meme” doesn’t really work for Ricciarelli. She sang most of the heavy stuff in recording studios. She was not singing Ballo, Aida or the Leonoras with any frequency during her prime. In fact, I recall an interview with her in ON where she criticized Montsy for singing the big Verdi heroines (“For me, Price has the Ballo or Aida voice, for me (and Montsy), no.”)
I think Ricciarelli simply had an incomplete technique – not a surprise for an Italian trained singer of that vintage – and she sang to many different things.
Singing is like sport – there is a lot of muscle memory involved and singers who ignore that fact in the interest of “art” or commerce do so at their own considerable risk.
I love Ricciarelli’s recorded Aida and don’t actually hate her Turandot. And now I’m going to hide.
I rather like her Aida, too. And I loved her in Zefirelli’s Otello (the film). Actually, I still enjoy the film, although the cuts are hideous…
I saw Ricciarelli as Aida at Covent Garden in 1984, with a bronchial Pav. It was possibly the worst on-stage performance I have ever seen from a supposed star singer.
Painfully embarrassing.
Her years at the top coincided with my early enthusiasm for opera. The only time she really impressed me — and I must have seen her about a dozen times — was as Giulietta to the Romeo of Troyanos in about 1985. One of the things that always irritated me about her were the little drop-outs in her legato — a problem for Mattila too, as I noted once again in a recording of Freundliche Vision that was on the BBC Radio 3 this morning.
I saw Ricciarelli at the Garden twice, both in 1989. Even allowing for the fact that I was 16, I remember being blown away by her. The first time was in Don Carlo, where she was careful and unexciting until an utterly phenomenal Act V.
The second time was a specially-arranged Verdi Requiem after a stagehand was killed by stage machinery. She was just wonderful in that- and I remember her breaking down in tears at the end (in silence, we had been asked not to applaud) and being comforted and basically walked off stage by Baltsa.
I like Ricciarelli’s Armida. Her limpid singing is a bit detached so you get the sense that she just let her beautiful voice carry her through it while being completely bored with the music.
I haven’t heard much of her Verdi pr Puccini. I know she did the Otello film with Domingo, but it looks so cheesy, I haven’t been able to watch the whole thing yet.
In response to Macbeths Honor at 4.3.1.3
I remember reading the orginally HvK had asked Freni to sing Turandot and Battle to sing Liu on the DG recording…
I think this is Ricciarelli at her best, especially the final two minutes (and gotta love the hair!!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJkB1pJgVjs
Oh dear – seems like the MET is turning into a “Tenor-Merry-Go-Around”. Or is it a Tenor-specific bug going around in NYC?? Shame for Brownlee, whom I hope recover speedily.
The Met is clearly preparing for Armida, which could be the biggest tenor-go-round yet.
But will it be a Renaaay-Go- Round?
Can’t imagine why anyone would pay to see this opera without Juan Diego. No doubt, they have good reasons.
‘Can’t imagine why anyone would pay to see this opera without Juan Diego’
Well, that’s why it fell out of the repertory and was never performed until about ten years ago.
Oh wait, hang on…
They just announced that Damru has a “cold.”
I have a suggestion for Gelb: print at the top of every program: “Everyone in the cast for this performance has a cold!”
Gelbie, make it easy on yourself!
Clita, They announced that Damrau had a “cold” on Friday too! She sounded fine to me. I love your program suggestion!!
Alas, with the kinds of schedules that top billed artists usually find themselves accommodating, Miss Damrau arrived to begin her Fille rehearsals promptly after finishing a run of Massenet’s Manon in Europe, with virtually no time to rest in between. If you recall, she immediately gave a ravishing recital of Strauss with the MET Orchestra in Carnegie (for those of you who commented that you “couldn’t hear her”…get the wax taken out of your ears and please learn to appreciate someone who is able to sing beautifully, sul fiato, and with exquisite phrasing at a soft dynamic), and given that she was in Fille rehearsals everyday following (in a very physical and athletic production), it was known that she had already begun to fight the beginnings of a cold before the opening night. May it also be known that she and the rest of the cast were allotted only one dark night before the opening, whereas the MET *usually* tries to give at least 2 dark nights to the cast. Lack of sufficient downtime and rest during that production unfortunately led to her having to cancel the one performance. At the time of her cancellation, she had been unable to attend Barbiere rehearsals as she was attempting to salvage some necessary recovery time. Certainly inadequate by any human standard, as she found herself–the devoted artist and hard working singing she has always been, completely committed to her art–full into rehearsals for Barbiere following the last performance of Fille. Obviously, as would and does happen with any of us, if we are not afforded the necessary recuperation time when fighting an illness, it will continue to linger.
That being said, and as I myself attended last night’s performance, Damrau was sensational and one would never have known she was singing through a cold because the woman has a remarkably solid and secure technique. This is a woman who very obviously has put in the requisite time and devotion to her craft, knows her voice to such a degree (and no, not all singers know their voices!!) that she can make her singing seem effortless under any circumstance! This is the marking of a true artist and craftsman.
One last mot: In case some like Clita have failed to realize, it is currently Winter in New York, and more importantly a rather uncommon one at that. It only follows logically that those of us who reside here already find ourselves battling influenze and colds more than as is expected, but for international travel it’s far worse when one has to get off a plane and is suddenly affronted by this insensible weather. Allow me to remind you that we are all human and we can only control the things in our power; Mother Nature is not one of them.
Anyone can get a cold but SHE is responsible for her schedule–she wasn’t forced to sign these contracts. You start out with a kind of “noblesse oblige” nonsense. She’s a grownup.
Her first aria last night was so-so, though she improved almost immediately. I can’t report about Act II. The prospect of sitting through the extra tenor aria with Mr. Banks propelled me home.
Yes, every artist is responsible for their schedule, however, when an artist is in extremely high demand, it can be difficult to say no and risk causing the disappointment. It’s not a justification, just merely an observation.
Every singer is different: some can get off a Trans-Atlantic flight and sing a performance the same night, others suffer sever jet lag and need several days to recover, some singers have naturally resilient immune systems, others less adaptable to sudden changes in climate…the variables are endless. One would like to think that most highly demanded performers are aware of how their bodies respond to these variables and create their schedules accordingly.
I would deduce in this particular instance that Damrau would not have taken on such a formidable schedule had she not believed she could accomplish it, not to mention that both the Fille and the Barbiere are revivals for her; I think it would be quite a different matter were one or both role debuts.
Either way, one cannot hold the fact that illnesses and such against a singer, as they DO and WILL happen. It’s part of a singer’s responsibility to know how to handle those imperfect situations and to be technically and physically secure to perform through them…but it is also, I believe, the responsibility of the listener to be forgiving when these types of things happen.
I was at the Carnegie recital. She was indeed at her best in the very quiet songs, but she was still overwhelmed in parts, and I could have lived with a lot less mugging in the Zerbinetta centerpiece.
Thank you for that post Chevalier. Quite a lot of our posters seem to forget that we are talking about singers who are human beings and suceptible to the same bugs that all of are. It is winter in NYC even though the Swine Flu didn’t kill us all; we are still in the midst of the cold and flu season. Couple that with the fact that they are rehearsing and interacting in close proximity to each other I am never surprised when a bug goes round the Met.
Reggiani, get a grip! I saw this opera with Valletti in 1954–and without Florez!
It was just fine. LOLOL
I saw it many times in the BF (before Florez) eras. Once even with Tito Schipa. I was a child and not impressed with his thin, colorless voice. But what did I know then?! or now?!