Pappano's Classical Voices - Episode 2 "Tenor" - 5 July 2015 on BBC Four

[Steff]

Pappano's Classical Voices Episode 2 of 4 “Tenor” - BBC Four

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I was only able to watch parts of the BBC Four episode 2 “Pappano’s Classical Voice – Tenors,” but I popped in right in time!! The best things always come at the end as they say, and I was delighted that the programme closed with Mario Lanza, and with Sir Antonio Pappano, the director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London (born, by the way, the year Mario died!), highly praising Mario’s voice.

This programme is a “must” to be watched, I’ve seldom seen a more enthusiastic way to bring music and voices to the audience! (Even my mother, who does not speak English, noticed the passion with which Pappano run this programme!) It was so heart-warming to see how much love and appreciation Pappano showed for the great art of singing by highlighting the beauty and peculiarities of each tenor’s voice that was featured in the programme (Oh, how he did rave of Fritz Wunderlich’s singing of “Dies Bildnis ist bezaubern schön”!!)

Once again it was a European TV station that made such beautiful things happen! Well done BBC Four! Mario indeed is not forgotten.

 

The one-hour programme is being repeated on BBC Four on Friday, 10 July 2015, 20:00 (UK time), and can also be watched on the BBC website for the next 29 days (This is only for UK!)

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b061f4gb

 

There’s also the option now to watch it on you-tube, but you have to check out if the video is available in your country (In Germany, sadly, it is blocked, due to copyright reason).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DDEA-3nWU8

This is from the BBC Four website:

Pappano's Classical Voices Episode 2 of 4 “Tenor”

Series in which conductor Sir Antonio Pappano (music director of the Royal Opera House since 2002) explores the great roles and the greatest singers of the last hundred years through the prism of the main classical voice types - soprano, tenor, mezzo-soprano, baritone and bass. Through discussion, demonstrations and workshops, Pappano explores every aspect of the art of great singing.

The tenor is opera's glamour boy, the king of the high Cs, the leading man. Whether the tragic hero or the young romantic lead, whether dramatic or lyric, the tenor usually gets the girl, even if they rarely live happily ever after. Antonio examines the techniques behind the bravura performances, featuring great tenors such as Enrico Caruso, Luciano Pavarotti, Franco Corelli, Fritz Wunderlich, Jon Vickers, Peter Pears and Mario Lanza.

With contributions from leading tenors of today - Jonas Kaufmann, Juan Diego Florez and Jose Carreras - and a voice lesson from Thomas Allen, Antonio seeks out the tricks of the trade. How does a tenor 'colour' his voice? Why do his high notes provoke an animal response in audiences? How does he sing from bottom to top of his two-octave range without seeming to change gear? Why did the tenor only come centre stage in the 1830s? Why is Enrico Caruso still regarded as the greatest and most influential tenor ever? And what does it do to your nerves to sing a high C?

Excerpts of the following music were played:

Luciano Pavarotti, Nessun dorma, Turandot, Puccini

Juan Diego Flórez, Cessa di più resistere, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini

Enrico Caruso, E lucevan le stelle, Tosca, Puccini

Enrico Caruso Deh, ch’io ritorni all mia nave, L‘Africaine, Meyerbeer

Enrico Caruso, Vesti la giubba, Pagliacci, Leoncavallo

Plácido Domingo, Ah! mille vite gli donasse Iddio, Otello, Verdi

Josè Carreras, Una furtiva lagrima, L'elisir d'amore, Donizetti

Juan Diego Flórez, Ah! mes amis, La Fille du Régiment, Donizetti

Juan Diego Flórez, Amis, amis, secondez ma vengeance, Guillaume Tell, Rossini

Franco Corelli, E lucevan le stelle, Tosca, Puccini

Jonas Kaufmann, Un dì all'azzurro spazio, Andrea Chénier, Giordano

Jonas Kaufmann, Celeste Aida, Aida, Verdi

Fritz Wunderlich, Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön,  Die Zauberflöte, Mozart

John Vickers, In des Lebens Frühlingstagen, Fidelio, Beethoven

Peter Pears, Now the Great Bear and Pleiades, Peter Grimes, Britten

Jussi Björling, Che gelida manina, La Bohème, Puccini

Mario Lanza, Because You’re Mine, Brodzsky/Cahn (London Palladium)

Mario Lanza: Vesti la giubba, Because (From “The Great Caruso”)

 

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Absolutely fabulous, Steff! I've just watched the whole thing. How wonderful to hear Mario being praised to the hilt, and for his vocal technique as well! (One of the "masters of the passaggio".) About bloody time!

Cheers,

Derek

[Steff]

Derek, fabulous indeed it is.

Here's what was said about Mario in the episode  (Sadly Germany seems not to be the only country where the you-tube video is blocked - the episode about the sopranos, on the contrary, is available).

 

Antonio Pappano: The personality behind those voices can communicate something – the joy of singing, yes, but also something deeper, the greater meaning behind an aria, even a note offering something completely new for us to experience. It’s that rare ability to make everything you sing personal to you and unforgettable once heard that distinguishes the great singer from the good.

One tenor who had personality, charisma and star quality in spades went on to become one of the most influential singers of the 20^th century. The first ever cross-over artist hardly set foot on an opera stage but he became one of the biggest movie stars of the 1950s by singing opera. José Carreras said that he got into singing because of this guy. The kid from Philadelphia influenced Plácido Domingo. Pavarotti would go see his films and go home and try to imitate him in the mirror. Who am I talking about? Well, MARIO LANZA, of course [Steff: Shown is an excerpt from London Palladium with Mario being introduced on stage and singing “Because You’re Mine” and an excerpt of Mario and Betty arriving at Victoria Station, London].

Mario Lanza unlike any classic trained tenor before or since was genuinely successful as a pop star. “Because You’re Mine” was a million seller top ten hit in both Britain and the USA. Mario Lanza was the most famous tenor there ever was, bar none, and together with Enrico Caruso certainly the most influential.

 

José Carreras: He was inspiration for all of us. And also he did the life of Caruso. It was the life of the greatest tenor ever and it was a very interesting movie for people that were not very, very familiar with opera that moment [Steff: Shown is an excerpt of Mario singing “Vesti la Giubba” in “The Great Caruso.”]

 

Antonio Pappano: When you hear him sing those honeyed tones, and those very difficult phrases, they go high, he manages them technically absolutely wonderfully, going through the passagio up to the high note, back through the passagio, back up [Steff: Shown is an excerpt from “The Great Caruso,” Mario as Enrico Caruso recording “Because”]

The power of the modern tenor ignited by Caruso, fueled by Mario Lanza, found new strength with the three tenors [Steff: Shown is an excerpt from the concert of “The Three Tenors” singing “Nessun dorma” at the “Terme di Caracalla,” Rome, Italy, which took place on 7^th July 1990 - tomorrow it will be exactly 25 years that this legendary concert took place, by the way].

José Carreras: After I had the possibility to enjoy the movie with Lanza, I didn’t want to be an instrumentalist or a conductor; I wanted to be a singer. And then I realized that my voice was a tenor voice, and I was very happy with that, needless to say.

Antonio Pappano: Three tenors, three different tenors ranging from lyric to dramatic, the thrill of a unique and outstanding tenor voice has provoked an animal response from audiences for nearly two hundred years and in our century shows no sign of running out of steam.

 

Am Montag, 6. Juli 2015 17:14:33 UTC+2 schrieb Derek McGovern:

Absolutely fabulous, Steff! I've just watched the whole thing. How wonderful to hear Mario being praised to the hilt, and for his technical prowess as well! About bloody time!

Cheers,

Derek

[Armando]

While most welcomed, Pappano’s praise of Mario Lanza’s voice and technique is not surprising.

 

As an expert in every facet of voice production and technique Pappano recognizes not only Lanza’s unique gift but also his mastery of the technical aspects of singing.

 

Of course, what Pappano is saying about Lanza is not new. Mario’s outstanding voice and technical prowess has been praised by virtually everyone who knows anything about singing. Nevertheless how refreshing to hear a great and knowledgeable musician tell it how it is for a change instead of having to put up with the constant ignorant utterings of some so-called “experts.”

 

I salute you, Sir Antonio!

 

[Steff]

Speaking about the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Maestro Pappano being its musical director, I just payed a visit to the website of the opera house. Has anybody seen the article there (from January 2015) written by musicologist Alexandra Wilson explaining the term "verismo?" One of the exemplary verismo operas mentioned is Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci" and the article is accompanied by one you-tube video which is Mario singing  "Vesti la giubba" in "For the First Time!"

 

"A blanket term misused: What is (and isn’t) verismo?

Operas about ‘real people’ and verismo operas are not always the same thing."

http://www.roh.org.uk/news/a-blanket-term-misused-what-is-and-isnt-verismo

 

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

That's great to see, Steff! To think that of all the tenors Covent Garden could have featured in that online article, they chose someone whom we're regularly told was not an opera singer :)