Classical Music & Opera Forums

kashania wrote:

calvert wrote:Here's something a bit off of the beaten track: Sutherland singing Tosca, with Gobbi, here.

Sutherland singing Tosca reminds me of Dr. Johnson's comment comparing a woman preaching to a dog walking on its hind legs: "It is not done well, but one is surprised to see it done at all."

Thanks for posting this, Cal. I did not have high expectations but was pleasantly surprised. From a dramatic and interpretive perspective, it's a non-event but I was surprised at how well the role sits in her voice. Her singing is still italianate and she sings with remarkable ease. Worth hearing once or twice.

I have read that Gobbi had encouraged Joan to make Tosca one of her major roles. He knew she had the voice for the role and probably she would have become dramatically more compelling in the role, the more she sung it. From what I saw from the TV performance of act two with Gobbi, her Tosca would have been gloriously sung and as dramatically effective as most Tosca's of her day. Sorry, but for me, VOICE trumps drama, when it comes to opera.

manh1948 wrote:Brunnhilde

If you mean the Rosen who made those wonderful pirated recordings, I'm sure it was Ed Rosen. I think he taped all that priceless stuff on a portable Uher.

Yes, Merrill's voice was absolutely gorgeous.

It sure was! Even the "barks" sounded great-LOL!! There never was, or will be, a perfect singer. Anyone who could sound as great at Merrill or Dame Joan did, most of the time, is to be appreciated and admired.

Re Merrill's "barking" - High Fidelity reviewer Conrad L. Osborne, reviewing the RCA Aida under Solti, called it "woofing," which he described as "a dramatically unmotivated puff of sound added for emphasis." Osborne wrote: "At the Met, some Merrill performances are woofed from start to finish. Here [as Amonasro] he limits himself to a few isolated woofs ("Quest' assisa ch'io vesta mi dico che il mio re, la mia WOOF ho difeso!")."

I love Merrill's voice, which was a truly magnificent instrument. But he was frequently a deadly dull singer who too often sang as if he were announcing trains at Penn Station. His idea of "drama" was to add some woofs to the vocal line.

Calvert

"I love Merrill's voice, which was a truly magnificent instrument. But he was frequently a deadly dull singer who too often sang as if he were announcing trains at Penn Station. "

Oh, if only both Merrill and Penn Station were still around.

Yes, it was ED Rosen. He gave me a tape of pirated Merrill performances, a spectrum from opera to Broadway and operetta. You're right, he wasn't one of the most dramatically compelling singers, to which he admits in his autobiography, but that tape is one long glorious chocolate binge - without the calories. One of the most delightful is his rendering of Friml's "The Donkey Serenade".

mogliettina wrote:Yes, Merrill surely did not belong to the Oscar-winning department of the Met. Nor did Sutherland and many others -- the list is too lugubrious to mention. But fortunately for us, this flaw does not come through CD's, and these two particular voices shine like gold.

His stage presence/acting aside, my main problem with Merrill was his "voice acting" or lack of it (if you read my last post). Lots of great singers were not "Larry Olivier" on stage, like Bergonzi Bjorling, Milanov and Sutherland, but they still gave wonderful portrayals of their roles through their voices.

And so I would say that the basic "flaw" does come through on recordings and broadcasts.

PS--the beauty of a particular voice is not always my main concern when I listen to an opera singer.

mogliettina wrote:

Thrust wrote:

manh1948 wrote:Brunnhilde


There have been many wonderful baritones, the list goes on, but few had the fantastic sound that emanated from their throats like Merrill, Bastianini and Hvorostovsky.
This is not to say I do not happen to love the lesser beautiful but still very pursuasive sounds of Warren, Gobbi, Bechi, London.

Would you consider "lesser" Ruffo, Amato, de Luca, Schorr, Stracciari?

mogliettina wrote:Fun trivia, Maestrob.
I never knew you were a tailor! The things you discover about your friends...

AhA! Actually you knew this: all the celebrity stuff happened when I was the manager of the men's clothing store in the New York Athletic Club, then known as Arthur's Court.

manh:

Merrill was very circumspect about commenting on all his colleagues, as many were still alive then. One thing: he hated being called "Bob" Merrill, and to tease him, especially in rehearsal they would do so.

One afternoon, as they were rehearsing Tosca with George Solti, during a pause, Merrill asked the maestro (who was notoriously difficult to read) "Excuse me, maestro, but are you in six or in two?" To which his soprano piped up, "Oh Bob, would you even know the difference???"

One day, we were playing the famous Boheme with Moffo/Tucker/Merrill on the 8-track, and in walked Merrill and Tucker together. They didn't recognize themselves until prompted by the staff!

Behrens' Brunnhilde

I am listening Siriusly to a Gotterdammerung from 1989 with Behrens. Prelude? (I meant Prologue) duet: Just love Behrens. You can actually follow her musical line and phrasing the way one can in bel canto because she sings it so lyrically--and very exciting too--wish she were around today--better than anyone I have heard recently--plus good tops and bottoms. Now here's a singer who doesn't have a beautiful, big voice, but sings the hell out of the music and with feeling.
I saw her in all three roles---one of the most satisfying Brunnies I have ever heard--und, she looked good too!

Toni Kramer is the Siegfried

Anyone ever heard of him? I found this on the web:

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/02/arts/ ... fried.html

Behrens - not my favorite singer and not a true dramatic soprano - was excellent in both the 1989 and 1990 broadcasts. I believe that 1990 Ring was the one in which the audience gave Levine and the orchestra a standing ovation before the final act of Gotterdammerung (fully deserved, IMO). I saw the next 1990 cycle (the one after the broadcast) in NY, the one in which Behrens got caught in the machinery during the Gibichung Hall collapse at the end and there were no curtain calls. After all the excitement of the previous three nights and the excellence of the Gotterdammerung performance, no curtain calls was a big let-down; it left one feeling very constrained. Applause after a good performance, showing one's appreciation for the artists, is an important part of the theatrical experience.

I remember Toni Kramer as an adequate Siegfried, no one's dream Wagner tenor but an acceptable performer in the role. According to the Met database, he only sang in the 1988-89 season. Siegfried Jerusalem took over in the 1990 cycle and was much superior, although again, not really a heldentenor. At least he looked good.

Every tenor I have heard as Siegfried since the Met started broadcasting complete cycles in 1988 has been only adequate, no more, with the exception of Jerusalem, who was very, very good, apart from a disastrous Gotterdammerung broadcast in 1990 during which he was ill and barely made it through the performance, with quite audible vocal distress in Siegfried's final apostrophe to Brunnhilde. I felt relief for him when he died!!

maestrob wrote: ... he hated being called "Bob" Merrill, and to tease him, especially in rehearsal they would do so.

What did he want to be called? "Moishe"?

Addition to old joke from a friend

Rangers in the Jasper National Park in Alberta were getting reports that  
a moose was terrifying tourists by singing Verdi arias at them. After  
carefully studying the situation, the rangers have determined that the  
moose is a member of the dreaded Elk Aida network.

And then they found out that all the Elks belonged to a club that did not allow adding up sums, called the Tally Ban Club.



Calvert I know that Behrens wasn't a real dramatic soprano, but her performances were excellent and moving.

PS I like Jerusalem a lot as well.

mogliettina wrote:

amneris wrote:Addition to old joke from a friend

Rangers in the Jasper National Park in Alberta were getting reports that  
a moose was terrifying tourists by singing Verdi arias at them. After  
carefully studying the situation, the rangers have determined that the  
moose is a member of the dreaded Elk Aida network.

And then they found out that all the Elks belonged to a club that did not allow adding up sums, called the Tally Ban Club.


.quote]


Good Lord Amneris!
GRTYR!!! This very minute!

OKAY

mogliettina wrote:Save for Ruffo, who I also love, I admit to not being familiar with the others you listed. Did you think maybe I was a senior citizen or something?

Well, I am a senior citizen, but these are all before my time, too. I do remember Schorr (with whom I once spoke on the phone, but well after he had stopped singing), and I recall deLuca as still being alive (but no longer singing) while i was very young. But since we agree on Ruffo, how do you explain that? Ruffo certainly wasn't singing (I don't know when he died) when either of us was around.

I know them from recordings only. Ruffo had an enormous voice. Stracciari wasn't a weakling either. De luca had a lovely voice, though not as lovely as Hvor. But Schorr, though he is remembered primarily for Wagner, did have a voice every bit as beautiful as Hvor. He sang lieder and in operas other than Wagner.