Joseph Calleja

[Derek McGovern]

Here's a selection of recent posts on Calleja from another thread that I'm moving here in the interest of tidiness! Please post any comments you wish to make on Calleja here.Lin

First a post from 2004 that I wrote on the forum grandi-tenori.com:

I was much more impressed with Joseph Calleja. Yes, the fast vibrato is there, but it didn't bother me unduly, and I think that others are right in saying that in time it will disappear completely. Calleja has a very "clean", focused sound of considerable purity, and a disarmingly plaintive timbre that I found moving on La Dolcissima Effigie, Addio Fiorito Asil, and elsewhere. I particularly liked his Quanto e' Bella, which he phrases winningly; his timbre is also at its most beautiful here. And although I agree with Dr. Kurtzman's comments about the high D at the end of Possente Amor Mi Chiama, this is hardly a note that many tenors sound good on. In any event, Calleja does appear to have a decent high C, even if this note (on O Mio Rimorso) is spoiled by some surprisingly bad distortion for a modern recording.

For a singer who was only 25 at the time this CD was made, Calleja sounds remarkably poised. Like Villazon, he's very musical; unlike his older colleague, however, Calleja seems to know exactly what he's doing in terms of vocal production. I'm told he's already sounding even more impressive than he does on this disc; if that's the case, then it'll be fascinating to hear him by the time he's 30.

	Leeann	Feb 28
	I appreciated Derek's comments about Joseph Calleja. His star seems to continue on the rise since those 2004 remarks, including his current performance in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan. I haven't checked recently, but it doesn't seem as if there have been many reviews of this particular production. I wonder how musically knowledgeable people are commenting on Calleja's voice now. He is approaching that 30-year-old milestone Derek brings up.   Best, Lee Ann ***************************

	Derek McGovern
	Hi Lee Ann: Calleja is actually 33 now. From what I've heard from friends and also from what I've read, I think there's little doubt that he's the best lyric tenor currently performing -- better than Beczala or Grigolo. This is a very smart singer who seems to know exactly where he's going and what his current limitations are.  I see, by the way, that The New Yorker has just described him as "the real hero of this revival [of Lucia di Lammermoor], adding an ardent Edgardo to his increasingly impressive list of Met appearances." Cheers Derek ***********************

	Derek McGovern
	A P.S. to the above: I rather like this July 2007 performance by Calleja of the Lamento di Federico: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZtuX6jBhPg&feature=related He must have been listening to either Lanza's 1955 Serenade rendition or the 1958 Albert Hall performance beforehand, as he takes the same liberties in a couple of places, e.g., breaking the line "Vorrei poter tutto scordar" :) Interestingly, though, he replaces "penar" with "soffrir." His sound here reminds me of a cross between Bjoerling and Gigli. The only thing he needs to work on, I feel, is his (still) rather fast vibrato (not as noticeable here, though, as it is on some of his recordings). But there's no unpleasant "edge" to the voice; everything is nicely rounded. ************************

	Michael McAdam
	H-m-m-m-m-m. He does remind one of Björling doesn't he? The attack on the upper register notes in particular (plus that noticeable, rather fast vibrato). While he didn't remind me of Lanza at all in this Lamento, likely due to his pure lyric sound, he does seem to have picked up some of the Pavarotti mouth gestures and end-aria mannerisms. Not really objectionable though and a quite pleasing tenor; both vocally and visually. I have a feeling his voice will last a lot longer than Villazon's or Alagna's.

[Lou]

It’s amazing how reviewers and bloggers often draw comparisons to great  singers when describing Joseph Calleja’s voice. For some, it evokes memories of Gigli, even Caruso. For others, it inspires comparisons to Bjorling and the young Pavarotti. Recently I did a double take when I came across a review praising Calleja’s lyric tenor as “a copulation of Pavarotti and Bjorling.”

A review describing Calleja’s “light, bright tenor” as “reminiscent of the young Carreras, who was almost peerless as Gabriele Adorno” prompted another double take.  In my opinion, comparing Calleja’s instrument to Carreras’ was a bit of a stretch. The above review was occasioned by the Maltese tenor’s critically acclaimed role debut as Adorno in the 2010 Covent Garden Simon Boccanegra. I have a DVD of this performance as well as a CD of the 1977 La Scala version (regarded by many as the recording of choice among complete Simon Boccanegras) with Carreras as Adorno. After re-listening to the two recordings back to back, I see no reason to change my opinion. The voice of the 32-year-old  Calleja and that of the 31-year-old Carreras are both disarmingly lyrical and powerfully expressive, but to my ears, their timbres are so radically different that neither one recalls the other. You can judge for yourselves from the following audio clips:

Calleja

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz8qacoswYs&feature=related  (from 2:39)

Carreras

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTDEA_-pK0g 

 

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lou: I find Calleja's and Carreras' voices completely different as well. While I don't think the sound quality on that recording does Calleja any favours, I was reminded yet again while listening to Carreras what an exceptional voice he had in the 1970s. It made me very sad, though, when I clicked on his 2008 live rendition of the wonderful La Rosa y el Sauce (a song he'd recorded magnificently in 1984), and listened to the shocking deterioration of his voice.

Cheers
Derek

[leeann]

Dear Lou, a double take indeed behind the review you've quoted! :-)  And yes, even my fairly muscally-challenged ear would not confuse Carreras and Calleja, at certainly not in the selections you shared! They're both so compelling.

Calleja himself seems to pick and choose the musical qualities he admires in other tenors, but in this interview for Grandi-Tenori that took place six years ago , his understanding of his own voice and its direction seems quite clear!  By the way, it's such a shame the Grandi-Tenori site isn't available now--although the forums still continue and there is a great deal of commentary about Calleja on them readable via the search engine, as well as recent posts from Derek with some interesting responses about Lanza. And it would seem, if Calleja has maintained the clear vision he lays out in this interview about his vocal development, his voice will grow and will last, as Mike speculated.

I have a feeling the forum has referenced this interview before, so please excuse me if it is a rerun, but Calleja's commentary here on the magnificence of Lanza's voice and its influence on him may be worthy of repeating.  Best, Leeann

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Frankly, I have listened to some of the Calleja's renditions but I did not faint. I try to find out why he is so exciting topic for you.

Barnabas

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Barnabas: I haven't fainted (!) either while listening to Calleja, but I do feel that he's worthy of a discussion thread.  

[Lou]

Hi Leeann: Thanks for the link to the Calleja interview, which should make fascinating reading for Calleja’s and Lanza’s admirers. Of particular interest to members of this forum is the following statement of Calleja: "Very recently, thanks to one of the patrons of Grandi-Tenori.com, actually, I heard [Lanza's] last Otello scene which was recorded just a couple of months before he died." Guess who that "patron" was. :-) As a Lanza fan, Calleja did more than pay lip service to his idol. His first and only voice teacher, fellow Maltese tenor Paul Asciak, recounts in another article that when the 16-year-old Calleja auditioned for him, the latter chose to sing Be My Love and other songs from Lanza's film repertoire.

Hi Derek: Not to hijack this thread but I can’t resist adding to your comment about the deterioration of Carreras’ voice.  Based on his renditions of La rosa y el sauce and other songs in that 2008 recital, I can see that no matter what shape his voice is in, Carreras has retained his great communicative and interpretive skills and his trademark combination of passion and taste.  I think that’s why he continues to enjoy a vast and loyal fan following.  There are many who say he should retire now while traces of his famous timbre still remain, but the youngest of The Three Tenors won’t hear of it though he admits that age is catching up with him. He says that when the moment comes for him to retire, he will recognize it. “The day I feel there is a condescending affection coming from the audience, I would seriously consider stopping the next day." That day has not yet arrived. He reportedly continues to hold about 50 concerts per year and is determined to do so “in the years to come.” Almost half of these performances are for the benefit of his international leukemia foundation, which annually funnels $15 million of his earnings into leukemia research and treatment for leukemia sufferers. He has not sung in a fully staged opera performance since 2002, but after his concert in Singapore late last year, Carreras was quoted as saying, "I don't know what, I don't know where, but I would like to finish my career with an opera production." I wait with bated breath.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lou: I wouldn't put too much faith into tenors' pronouncements as to when and how they might end their careers :) After all, Carreras declared about fifteen years ago that he would continue to sing the role of Rodolfo until the day he retired! Then there's Domingo, who at the age of 40 said that he would retire from the stage "at 50 or 52." (Mind you, his voice at 70 is in far better condition that Carreras' is at 64.)

I'm sure it must be incredibly difficult for any performer to have to contemplate retirement, and I'm not criticizing those who still flock to Carreras' concerts. If Lanza had lived, and continued singing until well past his prime, would I have still gone to his concerts? Probably! Actually, that begs the question: how would he have dealt with the inevitable decline of his voice?

Cheers
Derek

[Michael McAdam]

Definitely drifting off-topic here but your statement: I'm sure it must be incredibly difficult for any performer to have to contemplate retirement, and I'm not criticizing those who still flock to Carreras' concerts. If Lanza had lived, and continued singing until well past his prime, would I have still gone to his concerts? Probably! Actually, that begs the question: how would he have dealt with the inevitable decline of his voice? is too true.

 

Now that Gordon Lightfoot's early television appearances are beginning to appear on YouTube and I can once more revel in the artistry of the man who is immortalized as Canada's greatest balladeer, they also painfully point out one fact: old Gordie, still touring at 72, is a sad parody of the young, vital and often brilliant tunesmith of the early seventies. Hunched over his guitar he can no longer even sing, but emit croaks (a few years ago he collapsed on stage and was near death for six weeks). I sat directly below him, four rows back, a year ago at his 'Comeback Tour' Halifax concert, and was truly saddened.

 

Maybe a kind family member has to sit down these stage artists, who want to do the only thing they know until they drop dead on the stage, look them in the eye and say "hang it up, man....it's over!"

 

I think Mario, as one who apparently listened intenetly to all his recordings ("Lanza on B'Way"...h-m-m-m-m), may have been smarter and quit while ahead?

Historically, the majority of world-famous tenors have died sudden deaths in or just past their prime. Perhaps Domingo and Carreras look after themselves better (or are the lucky ones?)

[Lou]

Hi Mike: Tenors who may balk at doing a Mario may be open to Jonas Kaufmann's approach. As quoted by MusicalCriticism.com's Hugo Shirley, Kaufmann has this to say on how to know when to stop: 'Everybody has to stop singing at some point. Several other young singers I studied with and I, we have an agreement that we'd tell one another when it's time to go. Because we had several occasions when we saw the older generation of singers - who we adored - make fools out of themselves by singing in very bad condition just because they couldn't give up, they needed it. And I can totally understand that. Therefore we said we'd be honest with one another and say, "OK, that's really enough now". Although I hope I will be able to decide myself.' Amen to that.

Cheers,
Lou

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lou: Interesting comments from Kaufmann. I wonder which particular singers he was thinking of?!

Franco Zeffirelli once likened opera singers to ballet dancers in terms of the brevity of their careers -- or at least their peak performing years. It was particularly sad for singers, he went on to say, because at the very time when they were often coming into their own as artists/interpreters, their vocal skills were in decline.

Even actors--whose careers generally last much longer than opera singers or dancers--can find themselves similarly "cursed". Laurence Olivier once wrote of his great frustration with the prized and physically demanding role of King Lear. By the time an actor becomes old enough to have acquired the skills and experience & assorted wisdom to do the role justice, Olivier wrote, he finds that he is no longer physically up to the part. "It's a bugger, isn't it?" he added.

Hi Mike: I think you're right that Lanza would have called it a day when he could no longer thrill his public. Can't imagine him doing a Gordon Lightfoot. But I do wonder how he would have survived emotionally (and financially, for that matter, given his love of spending!) when that day finally came.

Calleja, in any event, will be around for many years yet, I would say. In fact, I'd put money on him (vocally) outlasting his higher-profile contemporaries.

Cheers
Derek

[zsazsa]

Hi Derek,

there is an interesting anecdote about Franz Liszt (the famous Hungarian/Austrian componist, pianist), it is as follows:

On live performances  Liszt had the habit to leave his white gloves on the piano, before the pause and when he came back, the gloves were always disappeared (some fans took them of course, as treasured souvenier). When Liszt was asked, when will he end his stage career, he answerd: I will finish playing on the stage when my gloves will  n o t  disappear from the piano in the pause. 

That would be a good test for singers as well.

(Tomorrow we are going by car to Torino, Italy listening and seeing Gianluca Terranova in Rigoletto, as the Duka of Mantua, in the Teatro Regio. We are very much looking forward to this great event. Coming back on the 18th April.)

Ciao from Susan 

[Michael McAdam]

Yes, I have high hopes for these two current tenors, Calleja and Kaufmann (although the latter's vocal style still perplexes me at times).

 

Mike

[leeann]

What great stories. Here's another one. It appears that even the impeccable Bergonzi, who took on his FIRST Otello  when he was almost 76,had trouble acknowledging an appropriate time to end his concert career. In earlier years, though,  he apparently claimed he intended to stop singing when he felt he'd attained about 90 percent of his potential.  Otello did not go well; in front of an audience studded with opera stars, he withdrew after the second act and an understudy took over.

According to an article in Opera News about his doing the Otello role,  he'd announced, "You can't go on forever," at his theoretically-farewell concert in 1994. Even then, I believe he continued teaching which many felt was of far greater value than forcing a career past its glory days! 

We have a series of television programs, at least in the Washington, DC, area, whenever it's time to raise money for our Public Broadcasting stations.  Oldies but goodies in concert from Peter, Paul and Mary to Mo'Town, And many in between. Audiences seem to thrill, but IMHO, nostalgia and memory seem to fill in the gaps and smooth the rattles and creaks of voices past their prime. It seems sad, sometimes, because the glory has been so great.  Best, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann: Yes, I remember reading about Bergonzi's disastrous attempt to sing Otello in 2000. The whole thing seemed so bizarre to me at the time: the idea that a tenor in his mid-70s who'd been struggling with his upper register for years (and who wasn't even a spinto, let alone a dramatic tenor) could come out of retirement to sing one of the most challenging roles in Italian opera. What were people expecting? Did no one try to talk him out of it?!  Apparently, it was the fact that he'd sung a convincing Otello Death Scene at his farewell concert four years earlier that first planted the idea in his (or his management's) head, but it's one thing to do justice to a five-minute aria and quite another to sing an entire role. A sad end to a very fine career...

In some ways, I guess, the spectacle of a great singer performing past her prime is akin to an actor who has difficulty remembering his lines or a ballet dancer with a gammy leg. But I think you're right, Lee Ann, about nostalgia and memory filling in the gaps and smoothing over the performer's waning powers. It's only when things get a little ghoulish that it bothers me! 

Cheers

Derek   

[Derek McGovern]

Here's a link to a recent article from the London Evening Standard on Calleja:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/article-23972294-the-tenor-making-a-big-noise.do

Nice to see a reference to Lanza!

I was interested that Calleja (apparently) feels he recorded his debut CD too early. (I agree! That fast vibrato was really quite intrusive then.) He was just 24 at the time, and, as he points out, the voice needs time to mature. Even Lanza, with his perfectly placed instrument, knew he wasn't ready to start making commercial recordings at 24.

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

The following are excerpts from an interview with Calleja in 2008:

http://www.dhacom.be/je/joseph_callejaE.htm

"From the age of 4, I used to sing anything I heard from other singers and subsequently I was a member school and church choirs, the latter as an altar boy. When I was 13, I watched the movie “the Great Caruso” with Mario Lanza. From the first few notes, when he warms up in the movie before singing the Tarantella, I was struck by that incredible beauty of operatic singing. "

"I am 30 years now and the voice is developing nicely into a rounder instrument. This is good but dangerous if I change repertoire now. One day I will sing Ballo in Maschera, Don Carlos and perhaps even Trovatore and Aida. However in order to achieve this, my progress has to be slow and steady with the correct vocal development and repertoire.”

And here, an interesting comment on Maria Callas:

“Maria Callas is the proof that one of the most important things a singer has to possess is the individuality of the tone. Before, no great singer had a generic voice. I will go as far to state that Callas sung like a tenor! She is singing with detailed, masterful attention to every word and its nuance. I think that was an important and large factor to what makes her so special and great to this very day!”


And here's another interesting reference to Lanza in an article about Calleja, printed in the New Zealand Herald, Nov 23, 2005 ("Golden tenor at his best in Italian")

"It was a wise singing teacher who persuaded 16-year-old Joseph Calleja not to waste his vocal chords roaring through Mario Lanza songs, to put aside Be My Love and apply himself to the discipline of bel canto."


Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Thanks for those excerpts, Steff, and welcome back!

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

I see that Joseph Calleja recently took over from Jonas Kaufmann in the Met's latest production of Faust, and received an excellent review from the New York Times for his efforts:

"[T]here’s one good reason to revisit this 'Faust': the tenor Joseph Calleja , who has replaced Jonas Kaufmann in the title role. Mr. Calleja has one of the loveliest voices in opera right now, pure, sunny and strong, but with a ringing vibration — even the slightest quaver — at its core that comes across as vulnerable rather than unsteady. Faust’s floating exclamation “O merveille!,” when Méphistophélès grants him his first vision of youth, was all quiet astonishment; his great aria 'Salut, demeure' was beautifully controlled.

(From: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/arts/music/faust-with-joseph-calleja-at-the-met-review.html)

Incidentally, I heard a few months back from Calleja's A & R person at Decca that a tribute to Lanza CD was in the works. The project's now been confirmed, and it'll be interesting to see what material Calleja has chosen to sing. While I'm not generally a fan of these tributes, I'm at least pleased that Calleja is recording his homage while still at the peak of his career. (I've always felt that Carreras should have recorded his 1993 tribute to Lanza when he was in much fresher voice.)
 

[Derek McGovern]

A P.S. to the above: When I wrote that, "I'm not generally a fan of these tributes...," one major exception, of course, is Lanza's own tribute album to his idol, Mario Lanza Sings Caruso Favorites :)

[Derek McGovern]

I'm looking forward to hearing Joseph Calleja's forthcoming Lanza tribute album, which is being released on August 20th. While a few of the selections seem to have been chosen more for their potential commercial appeal than for their status as songs or arias that Lanza made his own, overall I like Calleja's choices. I have a hunch this will be one of the better Lanza tribute albums.

Nice cover too! Calleja's recording company has finally given him a flattering portrait:

http://www.deccaclassics.com/cat/single?PRODUCT_NR=4783531

[leeann]

Dear Derek,

Joseph Calleja seems to have a most wonderful transparency and openness as he talks about his work, and it would seem that, as you've said, this may be one of the better tribute albums. Perhaps this album will stand as recognition of Mario Lanza's influence on today's voices  on par with the tribute work of Carreras--that from a tenor who actually doesn't need to or who  isn't using the Lanza name as a borrowed bootstrap for his own career. Calleja seems well-situated on an upward trajectory because he is who he is and because his musical talent is sure.

It's interesting that we're talking about this album simultaneously with the work of Adam Lambert 's appearing in concert with Queen where, as Lou said, fan comparisons with the iconic Freddy Mercury are inevitable, often flattering, sometimes not. (Of course, it's a different kind of music--although Freddy Mercury was no stranger to classical performance--Barcelona selections may be among those examples if Monserrat Caballe fans follow YouTube links--and, rightly or not,  Lambert fans have referred to voice as "operatic." ) The thing about Lambert and Queen that  I find indisputable is that Lambert's vocal interpretations honor Mercury, but Lambert gives them his own twist; his own vocal abilities and interpretations soar within and above the versions Mercury engraved on our musical sensibilities.

That hasn't always been the case with Lanza wanna-be performers. And of course, the wanna-be factor is one criticism directed towards Lanza, particularly in conjunction with The Great Caruso and generically, among cliched critics both then and now ( as you and Lou also pointed out).

So what is the case with Joseph Calleja, I wonder. Or what will be so in his new album--how much will it be a different voice replicating Lanza's interpretive nuances and how much will it be Calleja singing songs which have become iconically associated with Lanza's name, but in Calleja's own style. I hope it's the latter. I started listening a bit to songs that we could probably say Lanza owned that Calleja also sings in concert and on this forthcoming album:

Here's a YouTube (what did we do without it?) version of a live and what I'd presume is a way earlier version of Calleja singing "Be My Love." I'd just be interested and really appreciative of a musical evaluation.

And a way earlier version of "Granada,"  also live (2007)

And a recent "Arrivederci Roma (also live 2012)

As an aside, I won't touch "Parlami d'amore mariu" which Lanza did as a youthful performer for Coke and which, for me, indisputably but arguably I'm sure, belongs to Giuseppe Di Stefano.

So, I guess my basic question  is that a few posts have succinctly pinpointed dynamics of a Lambert-Mercury relationship. What's to be said of Calleja who is unquestionably a talent quite in his own right and his work with selections that are indisputably Lanza's? Cheers, Leeann

[Armando]

Hi Lee Ann: Calleja is one hell of a good singer and, above all, he is not a copy- cat.

But as good as he is he doesn’t have Lanza’s richness or exceptional colouring in his voice or that added extra dimension, that urgency in his delivery that made Lanza’s renditions unique .

It’s always a tall order, as well as risky, to record songs made famous by another singer.

Many legitimate tenors such as Domingo, Pavarotti, and Carreras have recorded some of Lanza’s hits with various degrees of success. In Carreras’ case far too late in his career with both disastrous and laughable results as he barked his way through the Albert Hall tribute.

Callejia acquits himself very well as he gives his own interpretation of the three songs you pointed out. None of the three, however, gave me that spine tingling sensation that I get when I listen to Lanza.

I liked both Be My Love and Granada, not so much Arrivederci Roma which is trickier to sing than one might think and where Calleja’s accent gets in the way of the English lyrics.  

Calleja certainly doesn’t need to rely on Lanza to boost his career. As I have already stated he is a very good  singer – I heard him sing an excellent Duke in Rigoletto at the Met last year- so I can’t help thinking that his tribute to Lanza is really Decca’s idea of selling a few extra CDs by capitalising on Lanza’s name.

Cheers,

Armando

 

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann: Many thanks for those links to various Calleja performances! It's fascinating to hear him sing "Be My Love" and "Arrivederci Roma" in essentially the same arrangements that Lanza used.

Like Armando, I have great respect for Calleja's talent---and I would say without question that he is the finest lyric tenor performing today. No, he doesn't have the excitement or vocal colouring of Lanza, but that would be a tall order in any generation. What I hear is a beautiful voice, with an only occasionally intruding fast vibrato (it's definitely slowed down a lot since his debut album of 2003), and a very musical singer. If I compare him with, say, Pavarotti, which is probably fairer, since they are/were both essentially lyric tenors, then I hear a singer with less reliable intonation (his "Granada," for example, has its moments of shaky pitch) and without Pav's laser-beam high notes, but a more beautiful timbre and far more involved singing.

I wasn't bothered by Calleja's English pronunciation and occasional flub, and I liked his "Be My Love" very much. It was (mostly) a very smooth, lyrical performance. In fact, Calleja fares much better here than either Carreras or Domingo did in their studio versions (in the late 70s/early 80s). It did make me appreciate more than ever, though, Lanza's incredible vocal ease on his RCA version.

I quite liked Calleja's "Granada" (which I'd seen before), and found him charismatic to watch here. But I'm expecting a better version on his new album, as he's improved quite a lot since 2007. And "Arrivederci Roma"? A very nice, winsomely delivered performance from someone who had obviously closely studied Lanza's version!

Cheers
Derek

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Please, forgive me but I do not know whether we are talking about the same thing. Are you stating that Calleja is the best contemporary tenor?

 

Listenig to the rendition below and some other Lanza related songs (e.g. Because, ...) I was very disappointed. For me he has no tone quality, no clear high notes, no attractive appearence. Perhaps some part of timbre is interesting. All in all, I consider Villazon much better.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZtuX6jBhPg&feature=related

 

Barnabas

2012/7/11 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

[Derek McGovern]

Yes, I do feel that Calleja is the best in his field today. I rate him far above Villazon, whose voice sounds in irrevocable decline if this depressing 2011 performance is anything to go by:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZW5Xw-5YlU&feature=fvst

I know you don't care much for Calleja---and I'm certainly not saying that he's the next Lanza. But he is a very fine singer in my book. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

Cheers
Derek

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Yes, you may be right concerning his declining by today though he is still young. He was pretty good sometime in 2005 or so, seen below.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Q_X0R7BNw

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpPRgzQsaic&feature=list_other&playnext=1&list=AL94UKMTqg-9BMxlg9UiZlpio5grI1wgaF

 

Barnabas 

2012/7/11 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

Yes, I do feel that Calleja is the best in his field today. I rate him far above Villazon, whose voice sounds in irrevocable decline if this depressing 2011 performance is anything to go by:

[Derek McGovern]

More on the Calleja Lanza tribute album---this time from Classic FM:

 

http://www.classicfm.com/artists/jose-carreras/jose-carreras-news/joseph-calleja-tackling-mario-lanza/

 

I love how the writer respects Lanza:

 

Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja is, according to him, reaching the peak of his vocal powers. It’s just as well, because his latest album, Be My Love , is a tribute to one of the most famous tenors of all time, Mario Lanza.

With such a prestigious back catalogue to his name, recording some of Lanza’s most famous work was definitely a challenge for Calleja, but one that he apparently relished.

 

The article also features an interview with Calleja about the album (I haven't heard it yet as I'm at work), which could make for interesting listening. 

[Derek McGovern]

I've just returned home and listened to the Calleja interview. It's excellent! While I've never had any doubts about Calleja's intelligence, he really impressed me with his astute comments, general outlook on life, and with his honesty.

And he certainly didn't hold back on the praise for Lanza: "one of the desert island voices" and (on first hearing Mario) "the most beautiful sound a human---a man---can make; this must be the epitome of singing."

I hope every opera snob was listening!

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Good remarks Derek. This was my impression too. This is very honest, open-hearted guy with a nice voice. He knows no one can be in the same special league than ML ever and now. This evaluation is correct and acceptable. Good messages for opera snobs back half a century and ahead.

Barnabas

2012/7/25 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

[Armando]

Ciao Derek: Have been busy planning our trip to Italy next month and have just caught up with various posts. Calleja is intelligent, articulate and, above all, not afraid to express his great admiration for Lanza.  His comments, along with those from other singers, conductors and musicians are what counts. As for the snobs- pity them!  

[Steff]

I am delighted to read this:

 

 

"Be My Love - a Tribute to Mario Lanza" hits no.1 on Danish pop charts and Soars on Amazon and i-tunes in UK"

 

"Joseph’s new release on Decca, Be My Love: A Tribute to Mario Lanza, has gone to the No. 1 spot on the Danish Pop Chart and No. 2 on the Danish Compilation and Artist Pop Chart, surpassing releases by artists such as Justin Bieber, Bruce Springsteen, and Adele. This marks the first time since the release of The Three Tenors in 1994 that a classical album has achieved such a high ranking on a pop chart in Denmark. The success follows Joseph’s appearance on Good Evening Denmark, a popular Danish TV. Click here to watch it.

In the UK, the album is off to an auspicious start following its release earlier this week. Currently, it is trending at No. 1 on the UK’s iTunes classical music chart and is No. 4 on the Amazon UK Bestseller chart. Yesterday Joseph appeared on BBC Breakfast to talk about his new album and his upcoming appearance at the Last Night of the Proms on September 8. Click here to watch the BBC Breakfast clip, and remember to tune in this Saturday to the live broadcast of the Proms at 7:30pm GMT on BBC Two television, on BBC Radio 3, and online here."

From:

http://josephcalleja.com/2012/09/05/be-my-love-a-tribute-to-mario-lanza-hits-no-1-on-danish-pop-charts-and-soars-on-amazon-and-itunes-in-uk/

 

Please don't miss the "Last Night of the Proms" at the Royal Albert Hall this coming Saturday, September 8,

with Joseph Calleja singing songs/arias from his new album "Be My Love- A Tribute to Mario Lanza"

 

You can read an overview of the scheduled programme on:

http://josephcalleja.com/2012/09/05/be-my-love-a-tribute-to-mario-lanza-hits-no-1-on-danish-pop-charts-and-soars-on-amazon-and-itunes-in-uk/

 

For our German friends: The Concert will be broadcast on Saturday, Sept. 8 on NDR at 22.15 o'clock.

If you cannot watch NDR on TV, you should at least be able to watch it via Internet/livestream on the NDR website:

http://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/livestream217.html

Hope you all enjoy!

Steff

 

 

 

[Steff]

Sorry, the link for the programme of the "Last Night of the Proms" is this:

 

http://www.worldconcerthall.com/en/schedule/the_last_night_of_the_proms_with_calleja_and_benedetti_from_london/4864/#nogo

 

Steff 

[Barnabas Nemeth]

It seems he has the nicest timbre today. Beyond, he is modest enough.

2012/9/6 Steff <Stefanie....@t-online.de>

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff

Thanks for the links to the various Calleja articles and to that live stream. The concert's a little early for me (especially on what is a Sunday in this part of the world), so feel free to give us a full report!

I was just thinking: there really has been remarkable media attention on Calleja's album and his promotional activities surrounding it. I've lost track of the number of articles that have appeared in the last few weeks alone. That speaks volumes about the continuing interest in a certain Philadelphian tenor. Incredible, really, for a singer who died at such a young age almost 53 years ago. If this had been Calleja's tribute to any other tenor, I suspect there would have been only a fraction of the same interest.

I'm delighted to hear that the CD is off to a great start saleswise, and I'm hoping my copy will arrive soon.

Happy listening!

Cheers
Derek

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

One could get the impression that currently, Calleja seems to be at more than one place at the same time. Amazing!

His album gets a lot of promotion with each of his appearances, each interview, and he seems not getting tired of telling his personal Mario Lanza story.

The September/October issue of the German musical magazine “Crescendo”, has  a two-pages article about Calleja and on its back page a terrific (full-page) advert for the “Be My Love” album with the announcement of Calleja’s Mario Lanza concerts in Munich (January 21, 2013) and Baden-Baden, (February 3, 2013).

From the article: “I don’t play Rodolfo, I am Rodolfo” (Crescendo magazine)

[“The new album “Be My Love”] is another way to show the classical music a way out of its ivory tower. But Calleja doesn’t regard himself as a forerunner.  Not only Enrico Caruso did sing at parades in New York.  A lot of classical singers are actors or record traditional music.  “It’s not true, that it was only Pavarotti who started to make opera popular to a large audience.”  The main thing has always been to entertain. Of course, you have to sing well, you have to transcribe the composer’s demands, and you have to be effective. “Yet, you all do this to bring joy to the audience.”

The magazine mentions that making a Mario Lanza tribute album had been in Calleja’s minds for 20 years!

The CD is reviewed  as following; “The tracks – opera classics such as “Nessun dorma” or popular songs from musicals such as “You’ll Never Walk Alone” are sung with such a verve and with a matured, full, rapturing and deeply moving voice, that it is a real joy."

Steff

[Steff]

The Last Night of the Proms just ended about two hours ago.

Unfortunately, the German TV station only aired the second part of the concert so we missed Calleja singing his opera arias. After intermission, he sang “Mattinata “ (with fantastic violin accompaniment), a fabulous “Granada” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” the latter song traditionally backed by the audience in the Royal Albert Hall and that of other venues. Calleja also sang “Rule Britannia.”  It was very obvious how much Calleja himself enjoyed his singing, he was very relaxed, no sign of tension or nervousness; a very self-confident young singer.  He ended each of his performances with a big boyish smile. He certainly won the audience with both singing and his personality.

I noticed that the website of the Royal Albert Hall had announced him singing” Be My Love” in the second part, yet the song, for whatever reason, unfortunately was left out.

Once again, it was breathtaking to see the largeness of the Royal Albert Hall, a very impressive venue indeed. Needless to say that it was more than once that I was thinking about Mario and his legendary performance there in 1958.

 

Derek and others,

I noticed that the concert will be shown in full length on German TV (NDR) on Tuesday (Sept. 11) morning,  1.a.m. German time - CEST). The livestream of the TV station via internet should work here as well. I have no idea if you can use the livestream outside Germany, but maybe you would like to give it a try (but then again Derek, you might be busy at work at this time, I understand you are 7 hours ahead of us, so it’s no appropriate time for you either).

The link is:

 

http://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/livestream217.html

 

I see parts of Calleja’s “Nessun Dorma” from the concert can already be seen and heard on you-tube (by BBC):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw0W4ZMpCYU

 

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff: Thanks for the report! I've just watched that snippet of "Nessun Dorma," and Calleja sounds in good voice. A pity we didn't get to hear the ending in that teaser, but I'm sure the whole thing will be available on YouTube before long.

I've also finally caught up with Calleja's BBC TV interview, which I found delightful. Loved the spot-on comments about Lanza being the complete package of personality and voice (and good on the BBC for featuring The Great Caruso in the background at one point). I also enjoyed Calleja's very lyrical rendition of "Be My Love" (pity he didn't get to sing the whole song), and can't understand why he's being knocked on one of the other Lanza forums for momentarily getting the words wrong. Talk about pin-pricking! After all, what other tenor today sounds this good? Calleja even reminded me of Lanza---visually, that is---at the beginning of the song. He must have been watching The Toast of New Orleans recently :)

I should have my copy of Calleja's new CD in about ten days (it's arriving in the same shipment as the 1959 Student Prince bootleg CD that we've been discussing here), so I'm looking forward to what I hope will be the finest Lanza tribute album yet.

Cheers

Derek

[leeann]

Steff, thank you so much for keeping us current on the Joseph Calleja and his Proms performance (and on Nicki Pellegrino's book as well)!

I've just caught the BBC Proms broadcast online in repeat. Wow. Just wow.The entire musical evening is simply splendid with an audience in Royal Albert as enthusiastic and vocal as any rock concert crowd (and I do believe crackers were going off in the background, to say nothing of the massive numbers of flags in perpetual motion). Since these summer concerts are kingdom-wide events, BBC took us also to other venues--across in Hyde Park, for example--also holding simultaneous concerts. Although it's really impossible to pick a "best" out of this remarkable evening, one of the climactic, massive and beautiful audience-participation bit, too, came with Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" performed at all venues.

Calleja is a consummate performer, clearly with great audience rapport. Katie Derham, the BBC host, stated that she felt perhaps audiences were surprised and quite amazed at the depth of his talent, despite his prominence. His joy as he sings is wonderful to see. "Granada," for example, was just fun to watch. The host pointed out that this song is forever associated with Mario Lanza. And it was lovely to have the audience sing along with "You'll Never Walk Alone." But as Armando pointed out, Calleja sings Lanza, but in his own right, he is  "one hell of a good singer and, above all, he is not a copy- cat."

I was also intrigued to learn that the only one copy of arrangement of "Mattinata" performed by Calleja and violinist Nicola Benedetti with the symphony existed and was retrieved from a "remote Italian village." It would be interesting to know more about that. 

"Nessun Dorma" appears on the BBC radio broadcast, and MIGHT have been sung earlier over at Hyde Park. After his performance, the audience went wild, and announcers reported  that Calleja had tears in his eyes at their response.  All-in-all, this entire summer music event is overwhelming and a great deal to listen to and absorb.

Derek, I also thought the BBC interview with Calleja was delightful--and his choosing not to hit the high C in his early-morning interview seemed to make perfect sense, given the excellent interviews he's given explaining his approach to his voice. And maybe it was reminiscent of Caruso in a way--remembering stories that Caruso often rehearsed in sotto voce in order to save himself for stage performances.

I'm still not quite clear about one element of Calleja's voice, despite helpful discussions on the forum--he does seem to have a vibrato--not always, but it's there. Is that okay, or is it something that experience and training will gradually eliminate? Thanks. Leeann

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

 

I agree with you wholeheartedly regarding the knock down comments from another Lanza forum.

 

Maybe the two – Pavarotti and Carreras- should at least get the lyrics of “Be My Love” right on such a great event (LOL).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z2Q7v-5sJw

Folks, I am only kidding now!!! I really DON’T bother if the lyrics are not perfect in a LIVE performance (I would be stricter when it comes to a studio recording though).

I picked out this you-tube video  as is just another example of some little slips simply happening during a live performance. See, this even happens to the greatest singers despite their long-life professionalism!  And it does not take away the beauty of a performance! At least I think it is still the VOICE that is the most important! And isn’t it just charming to hear that not everything is perfect (and it has not be perfect at all, has it?)? That’s the effect of live-performances!!  Remember Mario’s rendition of “Bonjour, ma belle” at the Royal Albert Hall: “And I struggled to remember….”  though I am still not sure if this little mistake was intended or just happened by coincidence, however, the audience smiled and so did Mario, there’s no more charming moment, is there?).

Derek, unfortunately, this BBC interview with Calleja is not available in Germany. But I agree that it IS picky (I don’t want to start cross-posting, LOL) to put all focus only on the correctness of the lyrics when it comes to a live performance. How often did we hear a singer not even get the lyrics right although they were singing in their native language? It’s always amazing that some people/fans require perfectness from others without being approximately  perfect themselves.

Nobody, and certainly not Calleja himself, regards his singing as “emulating” Mario Lanza. Lanza is Lanza, and Calleja is Calleja. The musical world did not stop existing and breathing the moment Mario Lanza passed away! It just went on with other singers to give their best to entertain and bring joy to the audience! A legitimate goal, right?

As for Calleja’s album, it is a TRIBUTE, and a tribute is a deep bowing and one of the highest signs of respect and admiration that a singer can pay to his idol!

Calleja has achieved something very big and promising with the release of this Mario Lanza album. I think it’s been a while that Mario was honored in such a way and that he got so much promotion! So let’s thank all those who were involved in this project!

Well, I learned a new English word the other day (yes I am still learning), it is “picky” and I see, one can learn from all forums, even if it’s only a new English word!! LOL.

 

Derek I was told that Calleja was very emotional about the enthusiastic reaction of the Proms’ audience after he had finished his “Nessun dorma.”

You certainly will enjoy Calleja’s album, Derek.  We just gave it a listen again while I was busy in the kitchen. 

Incidentally, Calleja sounds good in all languages he sing on the tribute album (English, Italian, French and Spanish) but I would love to hear your and others’ opinion when you finally get the opportunity to listen to it. I am still not sure if Calleja did grow up with the English language. I understand both Maltese and English are official languages in Malta, so he might even be a native English speaker, maybe with a touch of Maltese accent?

 

Steff

[Steff]

Hi Lee Ann,

Thank you for mentioning about the BBC host telling about "Granada" being associated with Mario Lanza. Only after I had posted my "review" last  night here, I was told that Mario's name was mentioned. Since we couldn't watch the second part (only) live on BBC (the first and the second part of the concert were broadcast by different BBC channels) but on German TV, we had our very own "host" who did not mention anything about Mario. He only mentioned that there existed a very early recording of "Mattinata" featuring Caruso and the composer Leoncavallo himself.

 

   Incidentally. I am not sure why "Be My Love" was replaced by "Mattinata." (The website of the RAH had

   listed BML).I suppose that with chosing Mattinata the solo violonist Nicola Benedetti (who was fantastic!!)

   was given an opportunity to join and accompany Calleja on stage.

 

   Steff

[leeann]

Hi, just another quick one for those interested in this Calleja live performance at Proms II.

Here's the YouTube link to "Nessun Dorma"--clearly performed in the Royal Albert with fabulous views of the Hall and the audience.

And from the BBC YouTube channel, snippets only of the "Mattinata" and a segment of the orchestra, chorus, and audience sing-along with Calleja of "You'll Never Walk Alone."

The segments of these and other performances of the evening and throughout the summer are tantalizing--perhaps sooner or later, more will appear.

 Happy listening, Best, Leeann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann

Many thanks for posting those links.

I enjoyed Calleja's Nessun Dorma. Although his voice lacks the weight and spine-tingling ring of some tenors (especially noticeable on those three successive high As in the first half), it worked beautifully as a more lyrical interpretation. Nice ending too!  

I wasn't as keen on You'll Never Walk Alone---Calleja was a little too tentative for me, and I felt he wasn't entirely comfortable on this very difficult song. Mattinata, on the other hand, was a delight! (I just wish we'd been allowed the full version.) Calleja was in his element here, singing very charmingly and musically, and I thought violinist Nicola Benedetti's contribution was a very nice touch.

I see that my Calleja CD was shipped overnight!

Cheers

Derek 

[Derek McGovern]

I forgot to answer this question from Lee Ann:

I'm still not quite clear about one element of Calleja's voice, despite helpful discussions on the forum--he does seem to have a vibrato--not always, but it's there. Is that okay, or is it something that experience and training will gradually eliminate? Thanks. Leeann  

Hi Lee Ann: That's a very interesting question. Calleja's vibrato has certainly slowed down since he made his debut CD about nine years ago. It may slow down a little more as he reaches vocal maturity in his late 30s, but given how long he's been singing now, I think he'll always have a faster vibrato than most tenors. Occasionally, it bothers me slightly (though as you pointed out, it comes and goes to a certain extent), but on the plus side it enables him to produce a beautifully "liquid" sound. A plangent quality. Do I prefer slower vibratos? Sure. But I do find Calleja's voice a lovely instrument, and as Armando mentioned earlier, no one could ever accuse him of being a copycat when he sings. He's very much his own man.

Incidentally, Corelli started out with a faster vibrato than Calleja ever had---almost a nanny goat-like bleat, apparently (and ridiculed by his great rival, Del Monaco)---but he obviously learned how to control it. 

Cheers

Derek          

[Michael McAdam]

Yes, thanks for those links, Lee Ann and Steff.

I was very impressed by Joseph Calleja's Nessun Dorma at the Albert Hall. He showed more verve and personality in this outing (maybe because of the venue and the fact it was the "Proms"?). His emotional response to the long ovation was quite touching.

 

Mr Calleja seems to be hitting his stride now and I'm increasingly interested in listening to him (I thought him a bit dull a year or two back). In his guest spots on the various TV morning shows etc. he has a charm and honesty about him. I like the way he has no qualms about describing why Lanza was an early idol.

 

So, while Lanza has ruined me for mustering up any great urge to shell out for recordings by present-day tenors, this Maltese cat just may have a CD or two on my shelf quite soon.

 

Mike

(P.S: Lee Ann....I hadn't twigged as to the reason he reminded me a bit of Bjoerling. Until you mentioned his pronounced vibrato, that is.)

On Sunday, September 9, 2012 12:59:22 PM UTC-3, leeann wrote:

Hi, just another quick one for those interested in this Calleja live performance at Proms II.

Here's the YouTube link to "Nessun Dorma"--clearly performed in the Royal Albert with fabulous views of the Hall and the audience.

 Happy listening, Best, Leeann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Mike

I also appreciate how Calleja never holds back in his praise of Lanza. The other great thing about him is that unlike, say, Carreras or Domingo, Calleja goes into specifics---even discussing certain Lanza recordings. Examples that come to mind are the Otello Death Scene ("haunting overtones") and Monologue ("extraordinary") and the 1952 home recording of the Improvviso, which blew him (and his wife) away. I once sent him a CD of Lanza, and when I cautiously asked him a few weeks later if he'd listened to it, he replied: "Listened to it? Devoured it is more likely!"

Interestingly, he once used the 1951 RCA recording of Silent Night to get himself "in the mood" for a Christmas concert in Graefenegg, Austria. His comments about Lanza's singing? "How he attacks in a half falsetto is smazing

[Derek McGovern]

Oh, the perils of posting messages from cellphones! (My notebook computer has died.)

Continuing from the previous message:

Calleja on Lanza's Silent Night:

“How he attacks in a half falsetto is amazing . . . Wish I had met the guy."

He also told me that he had read Armando's book and "was moved several times by the life of this great genius." (Calleja and Armando finally met last year, by the way. Calleja threw his arms around Armando, telling him it was "an honour" to meet him. Something tells me that Calleja and the equally exuberant Lanza would have enjoyed each other's company :))

Incidentally, Calleja was a member of our old Yahoo Lanza forum, and posted a couple of times there. How many busy tenors would take the trouble to do that?!

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

A P.S. to the above: Calleja also made the comment (in respect of Silent Night) that Lanza brings depth to even "the simplest things."

So true.

[Steff]

Hi Lee Ann,

 

Now we finally also have Calleja's "Granada" from the "Last Night of the Proms" available on you-tube

including the comment of the BBC host:

 

 " .....tonight's favourite Maltese tenor returning to the stage to perform that song ["Granada"] which has forever been associated with the great Hollywood star Mario Lanza," about that magical Spanish city."

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi-d_lsUNoY

 

Steff

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Well, he is a nice guy with good timbre indeed, but you look all a bit biased. He sings it pretty well but as if it were a half octave deeper than should be, Barnabas

2012/9/11 Steff <Stefanie....@t-online.de>

[leeann]

Oh, great, Steff, you got the actual quote that certainly went out to a huge audience around the world.

Barnabas, truthfully, I'm a little ambivalent, still, about Calleja's voice. I just haven't heard him enough yet--not the new CD, not in an operatic performance, and not sufficiently in individual arias. But there are two things I like about him a very great deal. One is the way he talks about Lanza--openly and, as Derek pointed out, not only generally about the influence Lanza had on him, but also quite specifically about what it is he finds worthy of admiration and inspiration in Lanza's work.

The other, I'd say, is his openness and joy in singing--more subdued than Villazon, for example and for sure--but he seems to extend himself to his audience in a personal way that touches them, even though I have a sense that a great deal of what he does is still quite consciously more controlled or perhaps cautions than spontaneous or intuitive, if that makes sense.

I'm also often a little skeptical about whether concert performances really reflect the classical singers at their very best. So much of the enjoyment, and even thrill of grand events like Proms seems to be the extraordinary involvement and enthusiasm of the audience and their appreciation and interaction with the performers and what's going on on stage.

I suppose one example applicable to this forum is Lanza's own concert at Royal Albert Hall. We seem pretty well agreed that many numbers weren't up to par, but the opportunity to have snippets, bits and pieces of his interaction with the audience is extraordinary.

And, afterthought--I did a quick search on this forum for Calleja. He's been on the radar since the very beginning, and it's interesting to read the progression of comments as he continues to mature! I'm only sorry Grandi-Tenori no longer exists, another forum where Calleja participated in threads on Lanza along with Derek. Best, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Just a quick response to Barnabas' comment that Calleja's Granada was sung in too low a key: *no* one, to the best of my knowledge, has ever attempted the song (in the form that Lara wrote it) in the "impossibly high key" of F Major that Lanza sings it. As Armando points out in his book, the song is usually performed a third lower (in the key of D Major) with the final note a high A. In Lanza's versions, the high A is just for starters! That's the note he holds forever (most memorably on his 1949 version) at the end of the introduction. He finishes the song on a high C.

But, of course, Lanza never sang Granada live (as far as we know). If he had, he might well have sung it in the standard lower key as well.

I liked Calleja's version here. It didn't thrill me the way Lanza's and Wunderlich's (unorthodox) best renditions do, but I thought he did a credible job. The song brought out a slightly gravelly tone in his lower register in places, and I actually wondered if a higher key would have been more comfortable for him (not F Major, though!) It'll be interesting to hear what key he sings it in on his Lanza tribute album.

I don't think anyone here is heralding Calleja for a minute as the greatest thing since Lanza, but I do feel he's one of the best opera singers around today. And I feel very confident that, unlike some of his tenor contemporaries, he will still be singing beautifully two or three decades from now. I also think that his best days are still ahead of him.

Cheers
Derek

P.S. While it's gratifying to read Calleja's praise of Lanza as "the king of tenor voices," that's not the reason I enjoy him :) I just happen to find his voice---and his way of using it---very pleasing. The young Carreras remains my favourite lyric tenor voice of the last 40 years, however. I just wish the young Jose' had possessed Calleja's vocal technique!

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Yes, I agree with your reasoning and evaluation. On the one hand, Calleja is not stunning but a really listenable singer with nice timbre. Otherwise, he is a modest person who knows the capabilities and differences among singers and voices. He is not a revelation for me, but all in all, I like listening his renditions. The problem in every comparisons is that Mario Lanza was and has been in a special and exceptional category. Calleja, Villazon and many others can acknoweldge this fact. This way it is OK.  Barnabas

2012/9/12 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

[Savage]

Definitely not the greatest thing since Lanza, but very impressive.  He seems to have a solid, seamless voice with hints  of Jussi. This is particularly noticeable in this clip of Because.

                                                                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h2sE-7o2j0

                                                                                                   David

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Again, this is sung by him lower than we knew and amazed. This way it is easier to sing but less influential for listeners. And the ending stunning high notes are missing.

 

2012/9/14 Savage <scra...@gmail.com>

[Derek McGovern]

Hi David and Barnabas: That "Because" dates back to 2006, when Calleja's vibrato was much more pronounced. I feel he's improved a lot since then. Listen to this live performance from last year of "E Lucevan le Stelle," and you'll hear a more focused sound with much less vibrato (though, as I wrote earlier, that aspect does seem to come and go).

Cheers

Derek

[Savage]

Derek,

        Thanks for the link to that wonderful rendition of E Lucevan Le Stelle. A very fine, smooth performance.

                                                                                              David

 

[Michael McAdam]

Yes Derek, I second David's sentiment here. Great live performance of E Lucevan le Stelle.

 

We were discussing Calleja's vibrato in this thread and it is agreed that he seems (for the most part) to have it under control now*. I  hear hardly a trace of this even back in this 2008 recording when he performed Handel's famous "Largo" (Ombra Mai Fu) in Tokyo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh2V0gPnvmI&feature=related

 

He does a great job here and, to my ears, is reminiscent of Björling and even Caruso. With that beard and that barrel chest he certainly makes for a commanding, Tenorian stage presence, wot?

 

What I like about this guy and what bodes well for our tenor-listening futures is that, unlike Alagna, Villazon et al, Joseph keeps on getting better and better. Bravo!

 

Mike

* funny, but Jussi B. never seemed compelled to get his sometimes-annoying , fast vibrato under control?

[Derek McGovern]

I've now listened to the entire Calleja CD, and what a lovely tribute album it is. 

First things first: those who have been bothered in the past by Calleja's fast vibrato have little to fear here, as it's seldom an issue (and a very minor one at that). Calleja's voice has also grown in size since his debut CD (when, by his own acknowledgement, it was on the smallish side), while at the same time becoming a more beautiful, richer instrument. 

He actually reminds me much more of Gigli here than Bjoerling. Like Gigli, he generally lacks a certain exciting ring in his upper register, but the voice is such a well-produced one throughout its range---and with an appealing plaintive quality---that this is a (fairly) minor quibble. Fortunately, though, he doesn't have Gigli's annoying mannerisms (eg, the sob!). But the vocal similarity to Gigli (and other tenors of his era) makes for an unusual listening experience at times. It's as if a first-rate Italianate tenor from the 1920s had recorded a tribute to Lanza :) 

Similarities to Gigli aside, Calleja is very much his own man as an interpreter, and his singing here abounds with personality. He's also not afraid to employ a little musical licence here and there. Highlights for me included his "Granada" (especially the ending, on which he lets his hair down and produces quite a visceral sound), "Arrivederci Roma" (charmingly done, and with an uncannily Lanza-esque final note, though without the croak that slightly mars Mario's English version of this song), Addio alla Madre, a gorgeous "'A Vucchella," "You'll Never Walk Alone," and "Because." Less impressive was "Vesti la Giubba," which began promisingly enough with an appropriately darker sound, but struck me as too histrionic and choppily phrased (lots of breaths) to the point where it didn't move me at all. (It even featured a truncated orchestral ending, mimicking Mario's two films versions.) "Cielo e Mar" was another disappointment, lacking the drama and excitement (and ringing top) that Lanza brought to his versions. The Flower Song, on the other hand, was suavely and convincingly delivered---and superior to my ears to all of Mario's rather exuberant renditions.

I liked most of the song arrangements---and a handful are even based on Lanza's originals (including, somewhat bizarrely, the less-than-distinguished Coke "Parlami d'Amore, Mariu'")---though I thought it was a shame Calleja didn't use Maurice de Packh's gorgeous reworking of "Serenade," as used in the MGM Student Prince. (Carreras had borrowed it for his tribute album in 1993.) Calleja also reverted to the original (and rather dated) lyrics for this song rather than the film version's updated words. But, happily, his Maltese accent on these English songs was only slightly intrusive---far less than, say, that of Carreras (for whom English has always been his worst language). 

One English song I wish Calleja had recorded here: "Song of India." It's so rarely performed (I can only recall the late tenor Vincenzo la Scola doing it in recent years), and I think it would have suited Calleja perfectly. Still, there's enough daunting material on this album as it is for Calleja's upcoming Lanza tribute tour!

The bottom line: this is my favourite of the Lanza tribute albums, and I'm delighted it's already shot up the classical charts in Europe. It's a pleasure to hear such an album recorded by a tenor in his vocal prime. There can also be no doubt about Calleja's sincerity in paying homage to his idol, whom he defends passionately in the liner notes. I especially loved this observation:

"Mario was completely trained in the classical style. Anyone who suggests that he did not have the full operatic training from the greatest teachers is obviously not listening to the same recordings that I have enjoyed throughout the years. No amount of studio editing and cutting can achieve the magnificent way that he had with a song. You can hear that in his best recordings, all of them sung with total commitment and with great beauty." 

Bravo, Calleja! 

     

[Barnabas Nemeth]

A tribute interview on youtube:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMh4NUySrFo

 

Barnabas

2012/9/21 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

[Barnabas Nemeth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWFYCdiubng&feature=related

2012/9/21 Barnabas Nemeth <barnaba...@gmail.com>

[Steff]

These are fantastic news! Congratulations to Joseph Calleja!

 

"Joseph Calleja Wins Top Classic Music Award"

 

 

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120927/local/Joseph-Calleja-wins-top-classical-music-award.438550

 

 

 

"Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja is set to add yet another trophy to his already hefty cabinet tonight when he will be named Gramophone Artist of the Year 2012, The Times has learnt.

The international star saw off competition from nine other classical music nominees to win the award, which is voted for by members of the public.

Calleja will be officially announced as the winner of this prestigious prize during a gala ceremony at London’s Dorchester Hotel this evening, which is set to be hosted by soprano Danielle de Niese."

Steff

	.

[Michael McAdam]

Tks for bringing this to our attention, Steff.

 

It's great to see this handsome, likeable and very talented tenor steadfastly rising to the top of his game. Let's hope he sticks to his publicy-stated plan of tackling only the roles which are good for his voice, as it matures.

It would be sad to see this tenor, the first in a long time to grab our enthusiasm, pull a Carreras or Villazon?

 

Cheers, Mike

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Mike: I don't think we need to worry about Calleja making bad choices regarding roles. He's made it clear on many occasions that he knows  his current limitations, and he's proved it by being careful about what he sings: Rodolfo, Edgardo, the Duke, etc. Carreras, on the other hand, had already sung the likes of Radames and Manrico (!) by the same age (34)---two roles that no lyric tenor should touch with a barge pole!

Calleja also has a solid technique---something that Carreras and Villazon arguably both lacked. A singer might be able to get away with a "dodgy" technique when s/he's young, but inevitably it takes a toll on the voice, as many vocalists have discovered to their cost. For example, you can't fling yourself at high notes---hoping for the best---indefinitely, as Carreras did from his early 30s onwards, without damaging the voice. Calleja may not be as exciting as the hugely gifted Carreras was in his youthful prime, but he's clearly in complete control of his instrument. 

Cheers

Derek  

P.S. Thanks also to Steff for bringing us the news of Calleja's Gramophone win. 

[Steff]

Hi Michael and Derek,

 

Apart from Calleja's voice ("effortless" is a term that is often mentioned when people refer to his voice, and indeed, he does not show any strain), I think the thing that impresses me most of him, is his humbleness, his gratitude to the audience. He certainly does not take all his success for granted.

 

On another note, does anybody know - maybe it was already mentioned here in the past - if the Maltese born American Hollywood actor Joseph Calleia (1897-1975; born as Giuseppe Maria Spurrin-Calleja) was related to Calleja? Remember, Calleia played a voice teacher (Maestro Marcatello) in the movie "Serenade." Well, I think Calleja would have mentioned if there were any family bonds, wouldn't he?

 

 

And just as an interesting, marginal note, there was another tenor from Malta with the surname Calleja, Icilio Calleja (1882-1941):

 

 

From :

 

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20060315/letters/two-great-maltese-tenors.60245

 

"Permit me to draw the attention of opera-loving readers to another Calleia, whose details can be found on referring to Michael Refalo's English translation of Herbert Ganado's monumental autobiography Rajt Malta Tinbidel.

In 1913 Toscanini invited Calleia to sing Otello. In 1920 Calleia, then a world famous tenor of Maltese descent, sang Sansone e Dalila at the Reale (our former Royal Opera House, now a war ruin). When Calleia sang, the audience felt as though they were celebrating a national occasion.

Conclusion: There is a gene for tenor singing in the DNA of the species Calleja melitensis."

 

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff

Back in 2004, in an exchange we had on grandi-tenori, Joseph Calleja actually brought up the coincidence of his virtual namesake being a former opera singer who acted with Lanza. No, the two weren't related. Pity!

Cheers
Derek

[leeann]

Publicity accompanying Joseph Calleja's award as Gramophone Artist of the Year--the result of a worldwide public vote--is fascinating to read, (here he is accepting his award long-distance) and maybe worth a little smile directed toward the magazine itself.

It must be a little ironic that the Gramophone award goes to a tenor who broke sales records on classical and pop charts with his tribute to Mario Lanza album (among many examples of Calleja's successful tribute--it's the first time a classical record has hit the Danish pop charts at number one since The Three Tenors in 1994). The rather supercilious Gramophone critics were not Lanza fans in the early 1950s and ripped apart his work with comments such as, "...he is no Caruso--and never can be," or describing Lanza's "Questa o Quella" as "It sounds as if it were recorded in the family vault or the bathroom, and it is sung...with such vulgarity..."  (There's more on the press pages.)

Gramophone's editorial tone undoubtedly has changed over time, but maybe there's room for a soft "see, we told you so" sixty years later.  Best, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann: Oh, there's definitely room for an "I told you so" to Gramophone, whose attitude toward Lanza, I suspect, is still pretty condescending :)  But it must be galling for its writers to have one of today's finest opera singers making no bones about his admiration for the man. 

To be fair to Gramophone, though, its counterpart in the US, The American Record Guide, has been just as snobby toward Lanza at times. As recently as twelve years ago, it was bemoaning the release of more Lanza CDs, writing of the 2-CD compilation The Ultimate Collection (admittedly a spotty set) that it wished "ultimate" in Lanza's case would mean "last." Ha! Fat chance! (Still, BMG/Sony hasn't exactly helped Lanza's critical rehabilitation with its release of so many wretchedly compiled CDs.)    

Cheers

Derek

[Michael McAdam]

On the subject of this excellent tenor, I have been trying to find a recent YouTube video of him and soprano ??? singing a more earthy version of the Vogliatemi Bene duet. It may have been removed and I'll be damned if I can remember the name of the soprano so I can punch the search in properly.....her last name is something like "Malifanto"? Can anyone help here? Tks.

 

Mike

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Mike

That would be Catherine Malfitano---and, yes, she is quite earthy :)

Cheers

Derek 

[Michael McAdam]

Tks for quick reply, Derek (13 mins). In that time I had rolled it around in my head and come up with the 'unjumbled' ;-) name in the meantime.

See my post on the Opera On DVD thread here as I had the tenor wrong too....yikes!

 

Cheers, Mike

[Steff]

 

 

The October 2012 issue of “Das Opernglas,”one of the leading German music magazines has a cover picture of Joseph Calleja (one of the shots for the Mario Lanza tribute album, see attachment) and an interview with the tenor which recently (I understand sometime in July 2012) took place in Munich (interviewer: Ursula Ehrensberger).

 

It is needless to say that I am thrilled about another wonderful promotion for both Joseph Calleja AND Mario Lanza, and I hope we will read much more in other leading magazines.

 

I’ve translated the Mario Lanza related parts of the interview (with Calleja’s general remarks regarding the term “crossover”) in English. The interview is titled “Eine herrliche Abwechslung!”

(“A Wonderful Variety!”)

 

Interviewer:
After three solo CDs with a classical tenor repertoire, you now made an album which includes arias like „Vesti la giubba“ and „Nessun dorma“, but also popular songs like „Arrivederci Roma“ or „The Loveliest Night of the Year.” In which way are, for example, „Cielo e mar“and „Parlami d‘amore,“ connected with each other?

 

 

Calleja:

The only connection is that it is a nostalgic reminiscence of the 1950s as well as a tribute to Mario Lanza, who became famous with all those songs, and to whom I have dedicated this CD. To me, who grew up listening to the voice of Mario Lanza, it is a dream to be able to record the very same arias and songs that he sang. I love this album and I am very proud of it! It is a wonderful opportunity to revive some songs that nowadays hardly anybody sings.

In parts, it was even difficult to find the owners of the copyrights of those songs. We could trace some of them and of course they received royalties. Others had already passed away and hadn’t left their material to others, etc.

 

Maestro Mercurio truly did a musicological excavation work.

Apart from that, opera is meant to give enjoyment to anybody! In the 1950s or 1960s people at the barbers’ still argued if di Stefano or Gigli had the better legato. And when Pavarotti said to his father: “Papa, I love di Stefano more than Gigli,” his father slapped him in the face. Opera still has the power to evoke such emotion and this album wants to resurrect those times. Its message is: That’s for your entertainment! We do not search for any obscure music from the 17th century that has never been recorded before, though I have no objections to that, and also have plans in this field. But at this stage of my career and of my voice it seemed perfect to me and to the label to record a CD such as “A Tribute to Mario Lanza.”

 

 

Interviewer:

Actually, are you not too young, to have grown up listening to Mario Lanza?

 

 

Calleja:

Not at all! Thanks to all the technology fortunately all the singers of the past are still present nowadays. I first heard the voice of Mario Lanza when I was 13 years of age, watching the film „The Great Caruso.” Consequently, I started buying his records, and to this very day he enthralls me….

 

 

 

Interviewer:

…Though your singing style, in my opinion, does resemble little of Mario Lanza’s. If at all, one can make comparisons, then your clear timbre, the elegance and ease rather remind of Jussy Björling….

 

 

Calleja:

Oh, thank you, what a fantastic compliment! But I didn’t want to copy Mario Lanza but do a tribute to Mario Lanza. However, there are a few similarities: Like him, I grew up with the English language. Consequently when I sing the lyrics they automatically sound more idiomatically than when they are sung by an Italian or a Spaniard. Italian is another native language of mine, the third one is Maltese. My mother has Italian ancestors and Malta is close to Italy. Thus almost everybody speaks Italian. Mario Lanza too was the son of Italian immigrants. His real name was Alfredo Cocozza and later he changed his name, using his mother’s maiden name which was Maria Lanza. And last but not least, at 34, I have reached an age where he was at his artistic zenith.

 

 

Interviewer:
What is your opinion in generally to the issue of “crossover?” Is that something that singers have to include nowadays if they want to be successful, or is this your very own desire? Last week, for example, you gave a concert in Malta with Gigi D’Allessio and the former Boyzone singer Ronan Keating.

 

 

Calleja:

I don’t believe in the term „crossover“. At the moment, I have no concrete plans to make a pop album but, if there is an opportunity, this certainly would not harm my career as a serious opera singer. Even 100 years ago Caruso sang Sicilian and Neapolitan songs which, at that time, were the equivalent to today’s pop songs, and Tito Schipa, the favourite tenor of many critics, recorded complete albums of South American folk songs. And no matter if I sing „Cielo e mar” or “Bésame, bésame mucho,” it is the same voice, the same technique but only a different kind of music.” So, why not?

Incidentally, many people think we give such concerts for financial reason, but the true reason is that we really want to have fun once in a while. Night after night we are on the stage to either die ourselves or to see our loved one die. So this is a wonderful change!

 

 

 

Interviewer:

Do you think that by doing such concerts, you contribute in recruiting a new opera audience?

 

 

Calleja:

That’s for certain. Only yesterday, two women told me that in this way they had found opera. When I give a concert in Malta, 10,000 people listen to me and when I combine “Vesti la giubba” with “Bésame mucho,” opera suddenly becomes “cool” for a few people.

How will opera houses survive in today’s economic climate? They have to disburden the government, and rather get the money from the ticket sales. Don’t forget that, nowadays, the media bombard the children with all kind of music and entertainment. Thus opera has to find its market again and again. We are a consumer society, which means we have to make efforts to find an audience. The audience does not come by itself. If we fail, opera and classical music in general will have a very brief future.

Steff
        

[George Laszlo]

As a fairly recent member of this forum I have now determined that the key role I can play is to share some thoughts and ideas that are on the periphery of the Mario Lanza discussions. While I do love Mario's work, my tastes tend to be quite eclectic and I assume that most of you also love music even when Mario is not involved.

So, here is yet another tidbit and one that created an interesting coincidence.

I read a review in a local newspaper about an American mezzo-suprano by the name of Joyce DiDonato who hails from Kansas City. The review was so full of praise, that I just had to find out more about this singer. For example, here is one quote from the article: "Singer's aren't ranked like tennis players, but if they were, you'd be hard pressed to keep Joyce DiDonato out of the number 1 spot."

My search on the Internet quickly turned up her web site: www.joycedidonato.com. I would urge you to check it out.

Naturally, I began to wonder where I could see her perform in person. Much to my amazement (and by coincidence) she will be singing with Joseph Calleja in Munich next February 18, 21 ad 24 in I Capuleti e I Montecchi. Steff, it's time to book your train ticket!

For all others, check out her schedule. You never know, it may be nearby.

[Steff]

 

Hi George,

 

No trip to Munich for me, but hopefully Baden-Baden (not so far away from Freiburg) on February 3, 2013 where Calleja (without Joyce DiDonato) will give one of his concerts on the occasion of his "Be My Love European Concert Tour." Tickets are booked!

 

Steff

 

http://josephcalleja.com/schedule/

 

 

http://www.festspielhaus.de/en/performance/joseph-calleja-hommage-an-mario-lanza-03-02-2013-2295/

 

 

 

 

[George Laszlo]

I don't know if anyone has posted this one yet or not.

Here is Calleja being interviewed at WQXR in New York and singing O Sole Mio and a Puccini piece.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/articles/wqxr-features/2012/jan/19/cafe-concert-joseph-calleja/

[norma]

>

>
> http://www.wqxr.org/#!/articles/wqxr-features/2012/jan/19/cafe-concert-joseph-calleja/

I have been lucky enough to be at Calleja's opening concert at The Festival Hall Londo.He was excellent.All the arias and songs he sang were from Mario's repertoire.In the printed brochure it states"There's no denying the legacy of a man who,fifty years on has rightly attained legendary status.Hooray! The only slip up in the programme that it stated that the song Serenade was the one from the film Serenade.I'm glad that Callleja sang the one from the Student Prince.
I have E Mailed the producers to correct them
Norma

[Steff]

Here's an excerpt from an interview of Christoph  Rizoud with Joseph Calleja from January 16, 2013 (the interview originally is in French):                                                                                                                                                

 ”Ma voix est un Saint-Emilion”

 http://www.forumopera.com/index.php?mact=News%2Ccntnt01%2Cdetail%2C0&cntnt01articleid=4686&cntnt01origid=57&cntnt01detailtemplate=gabarit_detail_breves&cntnt01lang=fr_FR&cntnt01returnid=29

 

Where did the idea for this album tribute to Mario Lanza come from?

From a childhood dream. Mario Lanza was the first lyrical voice that I heard. I was 13 years old. It was the moment in the film where he drinks some red wine before singing (note: the said film excerpt is included in the video for "Be My Love"). I long believed that red wine was good for the voice. When I was 15, I was member of a choir and before a performance I would bring a bottle of red wine with me, which amused my friends very much.

 

Mario Lanza truly was a great singer?

We could discuss the style and technique, but the voice of Mario Lanza was of exceptional quality. I have talked with many music lovers who have listened to thousands of recordings of tenors. All have told me that Mario Lanza belonged to the top fifteen. He had a golden voice, which was equal in all registers, a stunning beauty and a charisma as an actor but also as a singer.

 

Do you ressemble him?

Absolutely not. We both have lyrical tenor voices, but the comparison stops here. The other thing we have in common is the English pronunciation as it is like my mother tongue for me. In Malta, we are fluent not only in Maltese but also in English and Italian. So I can give a natural color to the songs, whereas tenors like Pavarotti and Domingo sing this repertoire rather with an accent

 

The one thing that distinguishes you from Mario Lanza, is your vibratello.

Yes, this vibratello is characteristic of a healthy voice. I'm still young (note: 34 years) and many historical singers - Lauri-Volpi, Björling ... - began recording at my age. I did my first recording 10 years ago. This is why you hear a tight vibrato,  which is a sign of youth and good health. If you listen to the first "Cielo e mar" by Caruso, you will find exactly this characteristic. You simply have to take care that this slight vibration of the sound does not alter the vocal line.

 

Steff

 

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff: Thanks for sharing that article with us---and for translating it too (if I understand correctly).

It's always lovely to read such praise of Lanza's voice, but I actually wish that Calleja had talked a little this time about his style of singing as well. He sounds like he's hedging on the "great singer" question, presumably because he's aware that Mario's operatic recordings are a mixed bag, stylistically speaking. I wouldn't mind at all if he acknowledged that fact, as long as he also made the point that at his best, Lanza was an amazing singer, as well as the possessor of a great voice. And I'm certain Calleja knows that. 

One thing I disagree with him about is his belief that, unlike Carreras or Domingo, he doesn't sound like a non-native speaker of English when he's singing Lanza's famous English-language songs. (He's mentioned this a couple of times now.) There's a big difference between being fluent in English, as he obviously is, and speaking the language as a native. Calleja may not sound as unidiomatic in English as Carreras, but it would be pretty obvious to anyone listening to his renditions of "Be My Love" or Student Prince "Serenade" that English is not his first language :)

Cheers

Derek      

 

[Armando]

Ciao Derek: Dear Joseph is also wrong when he states, “We both have lyric voices.”  Lanza was a spinto from the start as can be heard in his early private recordings.  He wisely followed his teacher’s (Rosati) advice and from 1946 to1953 sang in a lighter more lyric style, but the voice was always leaning towards the spinto as can be heard in the 1952 home recordings of the Improvviso and Un Tal Gioco. Both Victor De Sabata, of La Scala and Gaetano Merola of The San Francisco Opera did, after all, offer Lanza, Chenier in 1950, and they certainly knew voices

The fact is that Lanza was blessed with a voice of great flexibility and variety of colours. To have an idea of Lanza’s proliferation of vocal shadings and harmonics simply compare the above mentioned recordings with the pure lyric sound of the 1952 Student Prince soundtrack selections or the 1951, All the Things You Are outtake - simply astonishing!

Calleja started off as lirico-leggero and is now a pure lyric. It’s not at present a Chenier voice, but given his intelligent approach to his career, it may well become so in another ten years.

Cheers from down under.

Armando

[leeann]

Armando, I got so pleased as I continued to read the article becaue Calleja is asked which is more difficult for the artist, concerts or operas.

One of the many, many things I learned from  American Tragedy that was new information for me (a non-musician) was when you discuss the how difficult concert work is for the singer and you begin by pointing out "Contrary to popular opinion, it is usually more challenging vocally to sing a concert than an opera. In an opera, the singing is shared with the other singers, and there are long pauses and breaks. In an opera the singer has time to rest and pace himself." And your discussion continues with examples. (p 137)

Here, Calleja says,

Both are difficult [concert and opera]. But even so, in an opera, you sing one, two, three arias at the most, a duet, while in a concert, you are alone on the stage and it is necessary to sing eight songs at a minimum to satisfy the public, plus encores. That is hard on the voice. In a concert, you frequently change styles: verisimo, romanticism,...

Then he goes on to explain his selections in various concerts. In any event, I appreciated the "Ah-ha!" moment. Cheers, Lee Ann

[Armando]

Precisely, Lee Ann, as a singer Calleja understands exactly the demands of both concert and opera singing, which is more than one can say of the public in general.

I cannot begin to tell you the number of times that way back, even as a teenager, I tried to explain to mostly ignorant Italians, I regret to say, who were insisting that Lanza wasn’t performing on the operatic stage because he couldn’t sustain two hours of singing, that that was not the case and that, generally speaking, a concert was more demanding on the voice. Of course, there are exceptions, and roles like Otello and Hoffmann, just to name two, are extremely demanding.  

But getting back to my uninformed interlocutors, it was really an uphill battle. I eventually gave up when one of them informed me that Caruso had been discovered while picking grapes. The person in question had just seen Serenade!  

Cheers

Armando

[George Laszlo]

Ouch!

That was my reaction to hearing Calleja's english pronunciation and my only complaint about the album. But, I certainly can't blame Calleja for it.

So, Derek, you are right to single out this misconception on his part about his voice. Of course, I would not want to be the one to burst his bubble about this. All of us know from the first time we hear ourselves on a recording that how we hear our own voice and the way other do are two different things. We could go into the physiology of this but that would not change the fact that we are the poorest judge of this. 

[Steff]

I just read that in the film "Low Life" by James Gray, which I understand will be released soon, Joseph Calleja will play the (cameo?) role of Enrico Caruso. Well, he seems to follow a little in the footsteps of Mario Lanza. :)

 

His playing Caruso is mentioned here:

 

http://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=18620527.html

 

And here are some information about the film:

 

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/james-grays-low-life-is-now-shooting-set-pics-of-joaquin-phoenix-marion-cotillard-arrive

 

 

Steff

 

 

[Barnabas Nemeth]

If I were him I would not do that. It won't be an advantageous comparison for Calleja. The tribute concert or CD is remarkable but a movie role?

 

Barnabas

2013/1/20 Steff <Stefanie....@t-online.de>

[Steff]

From Joseph Calleja’s appearance at the “Koncerthuset”, Copenhagen, Denmark, January 13, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCmoD9UB9-A

Joseph Calleja singing: “E lucevan le stelle,” “A vucchella” and “Be My Love”

The video starts with an introduction in Danish, but later on, after the aria “E lucevan le stelle,” Joseph is interviewed in English. I understand this was aired live on Danish TV.

Please enjoy!                      

Steff

 

 

[Steff]

"Arte Live Web" aires the Mario Lanza Tribute concert of Joseph Calleja live from the Vienna Concert House today.

 

For those interested, please try the following link:

 

http://liveweb.arte.tv/de/video/Joseph_Calleja_tribute_to_Mario_Lanza/

 

The concert starts at 8 p.m. CET (German, Austrian time)

 

I hope you have access to this website!

 

Steff

 

[Steff]

Better to turn on computer half an hour earlier.

Just observe the countdown clock on the Arte website!

 

Steff

[George Laszlo]

Danke, danke, danke!

Das war SUPER

George

[leeann]

Just for fun.

Josef Calleja, Mario Lanza and social media.

On January 31, Mario Lanza's birthday, Joseph Calleja tweeted and posted on his Facebook page writing:

Happy Bday to the Great Mario Lanza born on this day in 1921. The latter is a good year for tenors. Giuseppe di Stefano and Franco Corelli also born in 1921...... http://fb.me/2jxamFPpM

Perhaps the numbers of responses aren't quite in a league with numbers that would accrue to contemporary pop stars, but enough to show that Lanza's memory is on a strong foundation and that Calleja's CD, current concerts, and use of social media broaden the conversation. 

Here are screen shots of some Facebook comments in response to Calleja's post, and you'll find at least one familiar name from this forum on the list. Best, LeeAnn

[Steff]

Well, as I had mentioned a while back I had tickets for Joseph Calleja’s “Tribute to Mario Lanza” concert in Baden-Baden on February 3 (Sunday).

 

I managed to attend the concert although I have had to struggle with some health problems which started only a few days before the concert (and still keep me busy). I am happy that I could attend, as for me and my mother this was for sure a night to remember forever.

 

We started off from our meeting point in Freiburg (we used a service called “Festspielhaus Express,” a shuttle bus service) to Baden-Baden on Sunday afternoon 3.30 p.m. We arrived in Baden-Baden shortly before 5 p.m. The concert would start only one hour later so we still had some free time left. The day before the concert I had tried by phone to arrange a quick meeting with Calleja before the concert, but the friendly ladies of the Festspielhaus staff could not help me with my request as nobody from the press agency was available. So, when we arrived in Baden-Baden I did another attempt and went to the press room. The young man there really tried his best, yet I was told that nothing could be done before the concert. The only opportunity would be after the concert at the usual “meet and greet.”

 

Looking around in the foyer I noticed that the audience had an average age of about 65 (as expected). Calleja’s Mario Lanza album was of course offered for sale, yet, apart from that there was not much sign of Mario Lanza. The concert programme, a 60 pages booklet printed by the Festspielhaus (apparently each “Be my Love” concert venue had created its own programme) was nicely done with Mario having a few pages (including a photo of him and Ethel Barrymore from “That Midnight Kiss”).

 

Calleja’s first aria was “Cielo e mar,” no easy starter I would say, and it was clear from the very beginning that his voice would not disappoint. We had already been delighted about his Vienna appearance which we had seen on the web via live stream, but hearing his voice now live in a concert was an incredible enjoyment. I dare to say that his voice sounds even better live than on CD. There was such an incredible silence in the audience as his voice was ringing through the concert hall.

Calleja’s voice constantly was on a very high level, from the very start to the end, and it was obvious how good a team he, the conductor Frédéric Chaslin, and the Navarra Orchestra were.

The audience was very enthusiastic, no “warm-up” needed. Joseph already got thunderous applause for his first aria, and the applause would increase with every further aria.

 

Calleja appears to be a very genuine artist; you feel how much pleasure singing gives him (have you ever noticed his smile when he finishes an aria?). He underlined his singing with hand gestures that sometimes reminded me of Mario Lanza.

The official part of the concert was concluded with "Be My Love". As encores he sang “’A vucchella,” “E lucevan le stelle,” (which he had already sung in the first part) and “Nessun dorma” (it appears that the members of the orchestra took the part of the missing chorus, humming to the aria).

 

I had hoped that Calleja would mention something about Mario Lanza before he started with the encores, as this was the last concert of his “Be My love” tour, yet he did not (Maybe because it was a not English speaking audience?).

After the concert there was the meet and greet which took place in the foyer. Don't ask me how I managed it that but I was one of the first in the queue, and after about ten minutes Joseph appeared! When it was my turn, I gave him a folder which I had prepared containing a few Mario Lanza items, and he smiled and thanked me. I asked him if he would kindly sign a concert programme for Mario's daughter Ellisa and he said "of course" and wrote "To Ellisa what an honour, Joseph Calleja." He then signed my other programme booklets.

 

It was a pity that my mother and I could not conclude this wonderful night with a nice dinner, but we had to hurry back to the shuttle bus who took us back to Freiburg immediately.

 

Steff

P.S.: Hope you like the photo of Joseph at the “meet and greet”

 

 

 

 

[Derek McGovern]

Many thanks for this delightful account, Steff. I'm so pleased that Calleja lived up to all your expectations! And, yes, I have noticed that Lanza-like boyish smile of his whenever he finishes a number :) 

 

Incidentally, am I right in assuming from your comment about his voice ringing through the hall that he didn't use a microphone for this concert? 

 

Cheers

Derek

 

 

 

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

 

No, there was no microphone, and to be honest, this voice would not have needed any amplification.

We were sitting in one of the front rows (eighth row), but due to the wheelchair condition our seats were on the very edge, consequently Calleja did not sing into our direction. Yet, no single note got lost, no pianissimo, nothing. Incidentally, the capacity of the Festspielhaus is 2,500.

 

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Just to keep things tidy, I'm adding a link here to our current discussion regarding Joseph Calleja's new album, Amore, on the Off-topic Chat Thread:

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mariolanza/n867JP2-n8o/Isag73pxyykJ

(Feel free to continue discussing Amore on the above thread.) 

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Hello Derek,

 

Just an interesting thing: new releases on SACD. Only a hint to the way that for instance the Caruso Favourites could and should be released on SACD sonner or later.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0079J26IY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

 

Barnabas

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Barnabas: Well, I guess it's encouraging that EMI is still releasing (as recently as 2012) SACDs of artists like Di Stefano. But the chief stumbling blocks as far as Sony/BMG is concerned are a) the company doesn't seem to be interested in the SACD format any more, and b) in the past, it has had the ridiculous policy of only releasing SACD versions of previous all-stereo CDs where its "Living Stereo" releases are concerned. Unfortunately, Caruso Favorites was originally issued on CD with the mono Great Caruso album, so it wasn't an official Living Stereo CD release---unlike the 1995 Mario!/The Vagabond King CD. (The 2004 Collectables "twofer" of For the First Time and Caruso Favorites did contain two Living Stereo albums, but since it was only a budget label CD, I'm sure it doesn't count.)  

Hey: why are we talking about a SACD release of Caruso Favorites on a thread devoted to Joseph Calleja?! :)  

Cheers

Derek

[George Laszlo]

Here is the link to an interview and recital with Calleja on March 26, 2013 on WFMT in Chicago:

http://blogs.wfmt.com/impromptu/2013/03/26/joseph-calleja/