Hi Derek,
in my opinion the most beautiful Tenor voice today belonging to
Italian tenor, Gianluca Terranova, as this great performance of him
proves. The video was taken in the Opera di Roma, on the 6th October
2010 in the role of Roberto Devereux by Donizetti. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmVhZ3hN45c
Cheers
Susan
Hi Mike: I am not at all surprised by your reaction to Aragall. He is a vastly underrated tenor. Also, a mostly forgotten one by many, including myself, when listing beautiful voices. He caused a sensation in the mid sixties with his debut at the Arena di Verona as the Duke in Rigoletto. He sang in all the major theatres but, eventually, his career stalled as he suffered enormously from nerves and consequently his performances became very erratic.
Still, a beautiful lyric tenor with an exciting top,
far superior to both Pavarotti and Domingo as a sound, and to some of the
current overrated voices such as Giordani.
Aragall's true name is Jaume, the Catalan version of Jaime. While Franco was in power, Catalans were not allowed to use the Catalan versions of their names in public life (and were even forbidden from speaking their language on school premises) - hence the Spanish version Jaime for most of his career. Similarly, José Carreras's true first name is Josep. But when Aragall sang in Italy, he often went by the name of Giacomo. Sort of like Luis Alva, who became Luigi Alva.
"I loved him. He was the most real of all the tenors," said Richard Bonynge. "There was nothing phony about his performances. Something always happened when he was onstage. You could believe in him utterly, apart from the fact that the voice itself was very, very beautiful. It had a quality that touched the heart, and you were never conscious of technique or anything. It was a very big lyric voice. But really lyric - very sort of silvery, but round, and affecting. It got to you." As for why the tenor didn't have the enormous career his voice merited, says Bonynge, "Well, probably, he didn't pay the P.R. people enough. That's what it's all about today, isn't it? Look at the major careers today. They're all P.R. careers.
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"Verdi clearly wanted the impression of a light, airy, casual style to give the instant impression of an immoral, carefree philander. Again Caruso is perfect [Vince won't agree here!!] . (He would sing this while pulling on his gloves…a great touch.) Schipa misses it by a mile by sounding insignificant (lacking in danger). Del Monaco at the other end of the spectrum just mauls it. Lanza (as usual) misses the poetry but manages to sound ferociously lustful and dangerously `in your face'. The whole thing is over like a slap in the face and you know there is big trouble ahead. Yes it's wrong..but it has its own glory."
"[Questa o Quella] sounds as if it were recorded in the family vault or the bathroom, and it is sung at such a speed, and with such vulgarity, as to make one wonder how on earth Lanza ever reached a recording studio, let alone the Celebrity status of one of the major recording firms."
Hi Derek: So you think it's possible Prof. Fogel "later modified his opinion" - implying that he has become less sensitive to performance distinctions? Either that or "one of the world's savviest vocal recordings collectors" has become sloppy in his programming. Why else would he pass off, in effect, bad singing as good singing in his two radio programs on Lanza? And if Lee Ann’s intern theory is correct, there is no excuse for Fogel’s assumed failure to give the musical selections a pre-airing once-over, knowing that given his clout and position of influence, his substandard choices could do Lanza’s legacy more harm than good.
Cheers,
Lou
"In the central scene when he, when Tony Costa is suffering...and he is singing his famous, one of the best of his singing, "Ridi Pagliaccio," from Pagliacci of Leoncavallo... and I cannot explain why, I began crying so, I couldn't stop my tears. And I was so ashamed! because what the other people will think about, what a strange boy! But I think that at that moment...you know, I believe in the unique character of destiny of everyone who lives on earth, and I think that since I was born, I was destined to become later a singer, especially opera singer. So at this moment, this grain of the future singer, the future performer, practically exploded. This small grain. | ||
"And you know, from that moment, I can count that music slowly - very slowly - came to my life. So, if before I always switched off my TV set when was serious music or maybe concerts from Bolshoi on... I remember that when I heard Puccini, it was strange names, everything was strange. But Mario Lanza entered in my life. And I remember that I was searching for his recordings in our shops. I found maybe two, not the big LPs but of medium size. And I listened. I listened because I understood that I like this way of singing, especially the color of the voice. | ||
"And also all the singing was in Italian, mostly Italian. English for songs, and some not-so-good French. [laughs] Yeah! You know, the beauty, this creamy tone, this something very special moved me every time I listened to it. And later, when I heard for the first time opera in my life, I heard Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky, Rusalka by Dargomohsky, Barbiere di Siviglia, so...but Mario Lanza was always with me. He was always in my soul." |
Hi Derek,
Sad indeed. I can see why you prefer this duet to the OTELLO. DON CARLOS suits him so much better vocally. Can you imagine Lanza singing that with say, Leonard Warren? Wouldn't that be something.
Cheers!
Tony Partington