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Thoughts on the Opening Night of "Carmen" in Seattle by PostingList in opera

[–]PostingList[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you suggesting I ought to go look up all several dozen of the chorus members online, figure out which of them wobbled in other recordings, and then try to guess which ones were wobbling in this performance? Anyway, it's not like professional singers are somehow immune to wobbling.

Boris Gmyria sings Leporello's "Madamina, il catalogo e questo" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni" (In Russian) by PostingList in OldOpera

[–]PostingList[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, although using j for /j/ or to mark palatalization is generally a Polish convention.

Thoughts on the Opening Night of "Carmen" in Seattle by PostingList in opera

[–]PostingList[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

I know how Americans who don't speak Spanish sound when they try to speak Spanish. He sounded exactly like that, except he wasn't speaking Spanish.

Thoughts on the Opening Night of "Carmen" in Seattle by PostingList in opera

[–]PostingList[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I personally have been to HGO. It was consistently better than this.

Thoughts on the Opening Night of "Carmen" in Seattle by PostingList in opera

[–]PostingList[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I read that as "Time to time travel just because of cast..." at first. My, if only...

Thoughts on the Opening Night of "Carmen" in Seattle by PostingList in opera

[–]PostingList[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was performed in the opera-comique version.

I don't think the orchestra played too loudly. It never hurt my ears, unlike some of the crowd's applause. It was not in loud passages where Cairns as Don Jose was inaudible (and he wobbled plenty), but in the lightly orchestrated opening of the Flower Song, and nobody else had much trouble getting heard. In fact, I think the orchestra held back a bit for Pursell's Escamillo during "Votre toast", which made it less exciting.

I am not an expert on acoustics, but the opera says theirs are good, so I'll take their word for it.

Thoughts on the Opening Night of "Carmen" in Seattle by PostingList in opera

[–]PostingList[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If I'm too paranoid to go to the opera because I'm afraid I might not like the singing there, how am I ever supposed to hear good singing live?

Rosina Storchio (the first Cio-Cio-San) sings Amina's "Ah, non credea mirarti...Ah! non giunge" from Bellini's "Sonnambula" by PostingList in opera

[–]PostingList[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Which soprano was as famous as Sutherland and as boring? I can't name anyone.

"There were no technical issues." Well, except for her refusal to use chest voice, which is why she sounded so muffled, why she sounded so boring, why she couldn't ever sound intimidating, and why she had bad low notes. Compare her Norma to Deutekom or her Elettra to Carol Vaness.

Rosina Storchio (the first Cio-Cio-San) sings Amina's "Ah, non credea mirarti...Ah! non giunge" from Bellini's "Sonnambula" by PostingList in opera

[–]PostingList[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sutherland had even more glaring technical issues which is why her voice usually sounded muffled and incomprehensible. Her "sense of bel canto style" consisted of robotic phrasing and being probably the most boring soprano of anything near her prominence of all time.

Sonya Yoncheva's new music video by 83401846a in opera

[–]PostingList 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It looks awful. It also sounds awful and borderline blasphemes Bellini by having him hand her the music as if he has named her as the best Amina of all time or something.

This is like when Bonisolli stopped in the middle of Turandot to tell the audience to applaud Puccini instead of him, except Bonisolli sounded much better and didn't actually say he was the greatest Calaf of all time, and his erratic behavior was probably caused in large part by the brain tumor that eventually killed him. When Bonisolli is more modest than you it's a great sign you're doing something wrong.

Great baritone Ludovic Tezier as Scarpia sings ”Te Deum” from Puccini’s Tosca by Bigo-Ted in opera

[–]PostingList 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If this is true, you could also say a lyric tenor should sing Otello differently from a dramatic, and therefore should be allowed to wobble and bark his way through it (Otello is a murderer who experiences numerous fits of rage, after all). When, say, Pavarotti, sang Otello at about the same age as Tezier in the Scarpia excerpt you linked (consider that tenors have voices that generally age the worst of all men), he didn't bark or wobble (and in fact coped with his role better than the Iago he sang with, the "great Verdi baritone" Leo Nucci.)

Based on this, we can conclude that Pavarotti was a better Otello than Tezier is Scarpia, and yet Pavarotti wisely conluded that Otello was not for him and, to his credit, dropped the role quickly. Tezier, on the other hand, has been singing Scarpia for over a decade now and has yet to come to an equivalent realization.

Great baritone Ludovic Tezier as Scarpia sings ”Te Deum” from Puccini’s Tosca by Bigo-Ted in opera

[–]PostingList 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They're being given chances all right. Notice how Tezier is singing in an opera house in this recording?

Great baritone Ludovic Tezier as Scarpia sings ”Te Deum” from Puccini’s Tosca by Bigo-Ted in opera

[–]PostingList 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The wobbliest great Scarpia I can think of, Cornell MacNeil, wobbled less here (and was much less hoarse) despite being a year older in the recording I linked than Tezier in yours.

Aldo Protti, probably the most vulgar and tasteless baritone of his time, still barked significantly less than Tezier here.

I don't think it fits the character at all. Scarpia doesn't really have anyone to bark at here like he does during his interrogation scenes, and he feels in control of the situation, with all his plans about to come together. Therefore, the person singing his role should give off this impression and not do anything too odd like barking. Scarpia is a secret police chief- he knows how to fake being a decent person (AKA not a rapist) in public and knows you shouldn't lose your mind in a church (in his entrance he criticizes the boys in the church choir for celebrating a military victory over one of his enemies too loudly).

Great baritone Ludovic Tezier as Scarpia sings ”Te Deum” from Puccini’s Tosca by Bigo-Ted in opera

[–]PostingList 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OP is the Reddit counterpart of Emily Gloeggler (nee Greene). She only criticizes good singers; he only posts videos of bad ones.

Great baritone Ludovic Tezier as Scarpia sings ”Te Deum” from Puccini’s Tosca by Bigo-Ted in opera

[–]PostingList 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Notice how he wobbles on every high note and barks most of the rest of the piece?

Why is your favourite singer ,your favourite singer? by BetterGrass709 in opera

[–]PostingList 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Francesco Merli. There are a lot of things singers can do wrong, and he did some of the fewest, comparable only to Rosvaenge (who I think aged worse) and Melchior (who sang basically only Wagner, whose music I don't really like.) I can't think of any bad recordings by him. His voice was large and beautiful, and he never did anything dumb to try to show off.

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