parterre box

34 comments

• OpinionatedNeophyte says:

  Happy Birthday to one of my fave singers! I always think of these kinds of performances when I think of her.

  on August 4, 2010 at 12:16 AM
  • actfive says:

    Whoa…that Manon Lescaut is stunning. The difference between that sound and her current vocal estate is almost shocking. And saddening.

    on August 4, 2010 at 11:10 AM
• Joe Conda says:

  Happy Birthday to my least fave singer! I always try not to think of any of her performances when I think of her.

  on August 4, 2010 at 1:32 AM
  • LittleMasterMiles says:

    Putting aside the question of whether a singer’s birthday is the best time to vent your spleen about her, I’m actually curious about what, specifically, you object to in performances such as those posted by OpinionatedNeophyte @ No. 1. I’ll grant that some recent performances have been disappointing (though I last heard her live in Agyptische Helena and thought she was terrific), but surely there is little wrong with her Strauss and Mozart roles in the 90s—or are there problems that I’m not hearing?

    on August 4, 2010 at 9:45 AM
    • Hippolyte says:

      And what Mozart roles were those?

      on August 4, 2010 at 9:54 AM
      • LittleMasterMiles says:

        I seem to remember a Donna Anna back there somewhere, but I could be mistaken. Wagner, then.

        on August 4, 2010 at 10:31 AM
• Camille says:

  This week coming up is also our Darling Doyenne, La Cieca’s birthday.

  Could we all not join hands together and give her a big standing ovation in appreciation of all she does, and has done for years now, to make this site possible and available to everyone’s benefit???

  YEAY Cieca!! Keep on keepin’ on!!
  EXCELSIOR!

  on August 4, 2010 at 2:24 AM
• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  That has to be the ugliest Tristan I’ve ever seen. He looks just like Sarah Caldwell.

  on August 4, 2010 at 4:34 AM
  • Sheldon says:

    I actually attended two performances of the run that is featured in this clip–at the Liceu in Barcelona this past January/February–with two different Tristans! I hardly noticed, though, because while I had already seen Debbie in the same production (an old Gockley production for LA, I believe) in Chicago a year earlier, I was absolutely transfixed by her Isolde. Maybe it was the smaller size of the house, but whatever the reason, she sounded (to my admittedly unschooled ear) in complete command of her voice and used it to hold the audience spellbound during her Liebestod. Happy birthday, DV!

    on August 4, 2010 at 10:06 AM
• orfeoedeuridice says:

  Happy Birthday to one of my fave singers! I always think of these kinds of performances when I think of her.

  on August 4, 2010 at 10:12 AM
  • MontyNostry says:

    Renee’s face doesn’t move. How does she manage to sing?

    on August 4, 2010 at 12:48 PM
• Joe Conda says:

  I’ve never liked her because 1) I hear her vibrato as going downward instead of upward; 2) her languages are always extremely provincial and never Italianate or Germanic; 3) she doesn’t know that she should stay away from the Italian rep; and 4) she thinks she knows everything when it comees to preparing for a role, i.e., no respect for the greats of the past (“I don’t need to read the bio of one of the greatest sopranos of all time because I’m familiar with her career”). Her Chicago Tosca was horrible: how can you walk out onstage and not know whether Vissi d’arte will go OK? The Isolde Met telecast was a vocal trainwreck. That final F# was an embarrassment; what an impression to leave the audience with.

  This career decision to do Annie Get Your Gun is impossible for me to understand. Does she assume that Brünnhilde and Minnie is going to do her in?

  on August 4, 2010 at 10:44 AM
  • OpinionatedNeophyte says:

    I’m the kind of opera fan who thinks that a certain number of brilliant performances is enough to get you in my pantheon even if you fall into trainwreck status later in your career. I adore Kathleen Battle, till about 1989, with some rare exceptions (Adina, Pamina) I can’t endorse any of her work in the 90s, let alone the firing. I posted what I did because I think that pre-surgery, Voigt had something really special. I don’t enough to say if her pronunciations are idiomatic, BUT back then she seemed capable of producing a huge sound and clearly articulating the phrases. I loved how the voice bloomed on top, not thinning like so many dramatic sopranos.

    All that said, I completely agree about her choices post surgery. Tosca? No. Maddalena HELL no. Salome? May have once been great, but not now etc. etc. Doesn’t mean she still isn’t a favorite of mine.

    on August 4, 2010 at 11:58 AM
• DonCarloFanatic says:

  Happy birthday anyway.

  on August 4, 2010 at 11:45 AM
• NYCOQ says:

  WOW! Usually we hold off on our critiques of singers and just wish them a happy birthday. La Debita has always been and will remain one of my favorites. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

  on August 4, 2010 at 12:02 PM
• kashania says:

  I fully agree with the sentiment that when looking back on a singer’s career, one should focus on the positive. Not that the negative should be ignored, but what really matters is the contributions an artist has made to the art form. And La Voigt has given some great performances, offering one of the most remarkable voices of the last 30 years or so.

  I remember being blown away when I saw a few youtube clips of her Chrysothemis (with Behrens). And live, I’ve heard her Sieglinde (twice), Helena and Cassandre. The Helena was post-surgery and probably my favourite of the three performances. She was just in her element. I’m one of those who think she still sounded pretty damned good in the couple of years following the surgery before the decline really started.

  Her Sieglinde was good (the voice was sumptuous) but I found the role sat too low for her. Her voice only came to life in the high-lying parts (like the end of “Du bist der Lenz” and the “O herstes Wunder”). Her Cassandre was quite committed but again, I felt the tessitura of the role was a tad low for her.

  Personally, I don’t think her Isolde at the Met (with three different Tristans) was the vocal wreck that some suggest. Yes, that final F# was, ahem, unfortunate (during every broadcast of the run I heard) but I think she still did some very good singing in the role.

  Finally, as a lover of high notes, I have to say that Debbie has provided me some of the most thrlling high notes I’ve heard. As Cassandre, the high C at the end of the duet with Coroebe was simply glorious. And as Helena, I still remember the visceral thrill of when she stood atop the prompter’s box and let out a high C or C# that, in the words of our dear boy, Tony Tomassini, “sliced the house in half”.

  (BTW, I’m not sure how flattering this video of T & I is to La Voigt. La Cieca always find such great videos to accompany her posts).

  on August 4, 2010 at 3:21 PM
• kashania says:

  Speaking of her Chrysothemis:

  on August 4, 2010 at 3:32 PM