Vittorio Grigolo
Derek McGovern
Hello All:Yesterday I saw Vittorio Grigolo in Lucrezia Borgia at the Washington Opera. He is quite a vibrant and goodlooking personality on stage, complete with a spikey blond hairdo! Perhaps a wig? He reminded me a lot of Juan Diego Florez, whom I saw in 2006 in L'Italiana in Algeri. Both were full of energy and moved all over the stage. He leapt up on a platform, showing his rage at the Borgia family by kicking the "B" from the Borgia crest. That left "orgia"....naughty boy!
This is quite a contrast from the singer on Youtube where I listened to his "You Are My Miracle". Here he was subdued and actually sounded very pleasing in tone. Perhaps this is his better genre. I realize he was chosen by Placido Domingo for this opera and that is quite a compliment to him. I really wanted to like his voice and tried to convince myself that I was being too ungracious. but, in all honesty, I would not go out of my way to hear him again.
However, I cannot say his voice thrilled me as much as the critics' evaluations in the papers. He sings at high volume with a grating timbre that made me quite tired about halfway through the opera. He lacks the sweetness of Florez and the roundness of tone that we hear in Mario's recordings. He did become a tad quieter when singing a duet, but I didn't notice a great amount of shading. When all the characters were singing at the same time, I could distinguish his voice above the group. There is too much of an edge to his voice in his operatic singing for my liking.
There is no doubt that he performed the role well visually and he was as strong at the end as in the beginning. He makes all the right moves and is believable in his part. He seems to have a bright future ahead, though, as 2009 will see the release of his second operatic album and appearances in Faust (Valencia) and La Traviata (Venice).
Ciao for now...Muriel
And my reply:
Hi Muriella: Many thanks for going to all the trouble of writing this most informative review.
It seems we agree on Grigolo's timbre! Like you, I much prefer him on pop songs, and I'm not surprised that he's made a name for himself in Italy and Britain singing things like You Are My Miracle. But on the operatic material that I've heard him sing so far (Questa o Quella, Che Gelida Manina, Nessun Dorma, etc), I don't find his timbre or his style particularly attractive. In his review of Lucrezia Borgia last week, Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times made the point that "some shakiness and grainy legato suggest that [Grigolo] may be forcing his voice". If that's the case, then he'll certainly need to be careful if he wants to enjoy a long operatic career.
Derek McGovern
zsazsa
Savage
Derek,
The following two lines were omitted from the second stanza:
I palpiti, i palpiti sentir,
confondere i miei coi suoi sospir...
They were replaced by the lines from the first stanza and I'm sure very few listeners caught it. Only the studio audience heard the final note , as the aria was cut off abruptly for a commercial break. If a network had done that to Mario, punches would have been thrown or there would have been a tantrum at the very least! I look forward to hearing Grigolo when his voice darkens a bit.
David
Heidi
on January the 15. at the Hamburger Musikhalle. I became impressed by his volume and timbre but I missed nuances and shade, for me he is mainly loud, one aria sounds like the other.He is an actor and plays a little scene with every aria using the whole concertstage.The audience were very enthusiastic and and aplauded while stamping the feet.During the break I heard some people saying: he is shouting the whole time and the other said : you must hear him in a complete opera ther he is really graet.How ever I think I will never go again.
Armando
Hello Heidi:
I am surprised to hear that you were impressed by Grigolo’s
volume, as his voice is that of a light lyric. Of course, I don’t know how good
the acoustics of the Musikhalle are but, although not huge, it does have a
seating capacity of 2000, so I’m rather puzzled. I agree that the timbre is
pleasant but my problem with him is the one common with all singers who sing
open.The result is forced high notes, lacking in ring, which, as
was the case with some of his famous predecessors such as Di Stefano and
Carreras, will shorten his career.
Cheers from Melbourne!
Barnabas Nemeth
leeann
Here's O Soave Fanciulla with Netrebko:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_UtIy5VEz0
And the discussion thread on the Tenor program:
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/mariolanza/NGZP-2r6Z7o/discussion
Villazon conveys passion and engagement, and like Grigolo, he looks good, but I'd be appreciative of more critical comments. Thank you, Lee Ann
Derek McGovern
I disagree with much of what Dr. Kurtzman says in his review. He makes it clear that Villazon has the better voice of the two at this stage -- "the complete package," I think Dr. Kurtzman describes him as. But while I like Villazon's phrasing and the appealing emotion he brings to his singing, his vocal production is faulty to my ears - it's not forward enough, making his timbre often sound throaty (or "fuzzy"), instead of the "lush and creamy" sound that Dr. Kurtzman describes. It's most noticeable when he's singing in his middle register, but is less problematic when he moves into the upper register. His high C, however, in Che Gelida Manina is not effortless, further suggesting that Villazon needs to work on his technique.
Of course, it's possible that Villazon was experiencing vocal problems when this album was recorded in July 2003. A very musical friend of mine heard him in La Traviata last November, and noticed the same problems I've mentioned above. And yet the previous year, the same friend had been very impressed by Villazon's singing in La Boheme. It'd be interesting to read comments from people who have heard Villazon in live performances this year. I certainly hope that he's returned to form by now. If he can produce a more focused, forward sound, then he should be a tenor to be reckoned with.
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.
Barnabas Nemeth
leeann
Derek McGovern
Cheers
Derek
Michael McAdam
Derek McGovern
Cheers
Derek
P.S. Don't forget that we also the thread "Contemporary Top Five":
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/mariolanza/WG6CSHglw10/discussion
Lou
Derek wrote: "... I think we may have exhausted the subject of Rolando [Villazon] anyway (both here and on another thread)."
I ‘d like to add that Villazon’s operatic career appears to have taken another tack with his debut as a stage director with a new production of Werther at the Opéra de Lyon, France’s second major opera company, in January 2011. His Regietheater (or Eurotrash, to use the more impolitic American term) staging, in the words of one reviewer, “is not a disaster but nor is it a success.” Apparently unfazed by negative reviews, Villazon will take another stab at directing. A Stuttgart, Germany newpaper quotes him: “Next year I’m directing Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in Baden-Baden, and because I’m singing too, there will be a co-director.” I wish him unqualified success in both endeavors.
Derek McGovern
Cheers
Derek
Michael McAdam
Derek McGovern
The writer looks at why Grigolo is pulling ahead of the pack---as he puts it---of contemporary tenors, despite some of them having "arguably finer voices." While he's critical of Grigolo's acting and mentions some vocal flaws (eg, a shallow lower register at times and problems with pianissimi), he concludes that Grigolo's voice "is in a more advanced state of refinement" than Pavarotti's was at 30. (Grigolo's thirty-four, however.) He also makes this prediction:
If Grigolo can keep his instrument as fresh as it sounds in its present estate, keep his oft-flaunted abs in six-pack condition, and keep at bay the lunatic fringe that inevitably attracts the adulation he is wont to invite, the opera world may sustain a longer autumn than some expect.
Grigolo, incidentally, has a new CD coming out next month entitled Arrivederci, and the advance promo I've seen mentions that he sings "greatly loved Italian songs that tenors such as Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli and Mario Lanza introduced to a 20th-century audience." In fact, more than half of the numbers on the CD have a strong Lanza connection, including Arrivederci Roma and 'O Surdato 'Nnammurato. I guess it was inevitable!
Cheers
Derek
Barnabas Nemeth
Here's an interesting piece on Grigolo from Opera Blog:
The writer explores why Grigolo is pulling ahead of the pack---as he puts it---of contemporary tenors, despite some of them having "arguably finer voices." While he's critical of Grigolo's acting and mentions some vocal flaws (eg, a shallow lower register and problems with pianissimi), he concludes that Grigolo's voice "is in a more advanced state of refinement" than Pavarotti's was at 30. (Grigolo's thirty-four, however.) He also makes this prediction:
If Grigolo can keep his instrument as fresh as it sounds in its present estate, keep his oft-flaunted abs in six-pack condition, and keep at bay the lunatic fringe that inevitably attracts the adulation he is wont to invite, the opera world may sustain a longer autumn than some expect.
By the way, Grigolo has a new CD coming out next month entitled Arrivederci, and the advance promo I've seen mentions that he sings "greatly loved Italian songs that tenors such as Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli and Mario Lanza introduced to a 20th-century audience." In fact, more than half of the numbers on the CD have a strong Lanza connection, including Arrivederci Roma and 'O Surdato 'Nnammurato. I guess it was inevitable!
Cheers
Derek
Derek McGovern
In my opinion, Grigolo is not in the same league as ML or di Stefano, but not even as Villazon is. His tone is at most average, by no means is attractive at all. I've watched the Rigoletto on TV with him as Duke and Domingo as Rigoletto. Frankly, I did not enjoyed the performance at all. I have not been a Pavarotti' fan so far (except certain production, e.g. Verdi: Requiem, etc.), but Grigolo is not even in the alley. Why is this a topic at all?
Hi Barnabas: This is actually the second time on this thread that you've told us that we shouldn't be discussing Grigolo!
Grigolo is a topic here because he's one of today's most commonly discussed tenors. In my opinion, that makes him a worthwhile subject for a forum discussion. The fact that you don't like him---and consider Villazon much superior---doesn't mean that we should stop talking about him. Besides, some here would no doubt argue that Villazon in his present vocal state is actually inferior to the Grigolo of 2011. We're in subjective territory here, after all!
The whole point of having separate individual discussion threads is that those who are interested in the topic can post/read about it, and those who are not interested in it can ignore it. I suggest you do the latter!
Cheers
Derek
Barnabas Nemeth
Steff
Has anybody here already mentioned that Sony will realease a new Grigolo album titled "Arrivederci" on Sept.19?
"While The Italian Tenor was devoted to a purely classical operatic repertoire, Vittorio's new album, Arrivederci, combines his selection of beautiful arias with songs from the past century that are steeped in the Italian tradition. Recorded with Pier Giorgio Morandi conducting the Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Parma, the album is a deeply personal homage to the music with which the great tenors of the past have thrilled generations of music lovers for years.
Vittorio chose the title Arrivederci for a specific reason. As Vittorio explains, Arrivederci means 'see you again soon,' it holds the promise of a time when our eyes will meet again," and it offers the opportunity to "revisit the values and colors of an Italian tradition which often get brushed aside by a faster pace of life." Taking his precedent from the musical culture of his country at the turn of the 20th-century, Vittorio's fashioning of arias together with songs gestures back to a time when opera and popular song were merging on both the opera stage and Italian streets.
The album picks up where The Italian Tenor left off, with incomparable arias such as Verdi's "La donna e mobile" (Rigoletto), Cilea's "Il lamento di Federico" (L'arlesiana) and Giordano's "Amor ti vieta" (Fedora), before moving on to greatly loved Italian songs that tenors such as Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli and Mario Lanza introduced to a 20th-century audience.
Along with the Mediterranean sun-drenched voice and instinctive Italian flair, Vittorio also brings a beautifully refined, fresh and sensual interpretation to these great Italian songs. To the quintessentially Neapolitan tunes of "Core 'ngrato" (Cardillo), "Non ti scordar di me" (De Curtis), "Mattinata" (Leoncavallo) and "Torna a Surriento" (De Curtis), Vittorio Grigolo adds gems, familiar from his childhood in Rome: "Chitarra romana" (di Lazzaro) and "Arrivederci, Roma" (Rascel) – both reflecting the sounds and musical tradition of a period in Vittorio's life he will never forget. With the songs on this album spanning the whole of the last century, the final expression of this musical heritage can be found in Dalla's popular hit "Caruso [.....].
Steff
Michael McAdam
Derek McGovern
I see, by the way, that his CD company is still promoting him as "Vittorio," with his surname shown in much smaller font. This is in line with their pop star approach to marketing him. A few years back, when his first CD was released, his recording company decided that American customers would be confused/turned off by the supposedly difficult surname of Grigolo, so they removed it from the cover of the US version of the CD. Talk about having low expectations of his potential audience's intelligence!
Cheers
Derek
Steff
Hi Derek,
Actually, I was not going to buy the Grigolo album “Arrivederci” but I spotted it today in a drugstore (the places we can found our opera singers, smile), and since it was a “limited deluxe edition” with quite a comprehensive and very attractively presented booklet, I took the chance. The price was reasonable as well, only about 9 Euro (about 12 UD Dollar).
Apart from the lyrics to the 20 tracks, there are two essays in the booklet and well, Derek, it seems that Grigolo had expected your question “as to why he's mixed Italian and Neapolitan songs with operatic arias and duets on this new CD”
Here’s Grigolo’s reply (excerpt from “Vittorio Grigolo: A Personal Note”):
“Choosing the arias and songs for this album was very important to me and at the same time quite a challenge. All the tracks on my first album album [note from Steff: the first album was titled “The Italian Tenor”] were from the classical repertoire, and combining opera arias and traditional Italian songs is no easy task. Many have tried, but not all have succeeded. What does it for me here is the fact that each song or aria reflects a different state of mind; most importantly each one represents some kind of life experience for me. All these pieces, whether classical or traditional – songs that are now performed by other tenors as well and have really become part of the operatic repertory themselves –mean something special to me. Many of them are songs I’ve dreamed of recording since I was a child, especially Chitarra romana. […].
I therefore felt that the arias and songs sit very happily side by side on this CD. I wanted there to be a sense of continuity with my debut album, and so decided to open with a section focusing purely on opera, showing how my voice and emotional response to the music have changed over time, both stylistically and technically. From opera, we gradually move on to the traditional repertoire, ending up at the extreme end of the latter, with a number like Arrivederci, Roma – people may perhaps remember Mario Lanza singing this in the wonderful film of the same name (I recently watched the clip again on You Tube, a great delight).
So this album includes those quintessential Dolce vita colours and emotions of the Fifties. I wanted it to be something that can be enjoyed at any time – whether piped out at a restaurant or listened to more seriously. There’s something for everyone. Obviously, moving from Il Duca d’Alba to Torna a Surriento, from ‘O surdato ‘nnammurato to a number from Tosca, opera-loving listeners may well wonder what sort of album this is … But then, if you go to a recital given by an opera singer, there will always be similar numbers thrown in.”
Steff
Steff
The second essay in the booklet that goes along with the Grigolo album “Arrivederci” is titled “The Magic of the Tenor Voice” and was written by Roger Pines. About Lanza Pines writes:
“During the 1950s, while those four remarkable voices [note from Steff: di Stefano, Bergonzi, del Monaco, Corelli] were triumphing in live performances, a first-generation American – the son of Italian immigrants- was singing to millions via the movie screen. Born Alfred Arnold Cocozza, he displayed extraordinary operatic potential, never completely fulfilled. Everything happened too fast to the young man who gained fame as Mario Lanza. The native Philadelphian, enraptured hearing Aida when he was twelve, soon made opera his goal in life. During a summer at Tanglewood, experienced musicians took notice of his voice. After being drafted into the army, he performed in a military variety show that played in Hollywood (where Frank Sinatra became a big fan). Still inexperienced in 1947, the twenty-six-year-old sang a Hollywood Bowl concert heard by Louis B. Mayer, who saw amazing possibilities in the strapping guy with the sensational voice. Lanza was on the verge of stardom as an RCA recording artist by 1949, when MGM released his debut film: That Midnight Kiss, with Lanza portraying an ex-GI truck driver whose singing impresses an heiress/soprano (Kathryn Grayson) when he’s delivering her piano.
Several major tenors had appeared in films (Gigli made more than twenty), but their performances hadn’t really ignited the imagination of the general public. Lanza, however, was a “natural”, good-looking and exuding sympathetic personality. His singing – dark-toned in the middle, effortlessly ringing on the top – provided nonstop thrills. Lanza acted in seven movies, including the biggest money-maker of 1951, The Great Caruso. Although playing fast and loose with the facts, this was an unfailingly warm-hearted, richly satisfying film. It included a great deal of opera – suddenly Lanza had seemingly all of America reveling in Rigoletto, Aida, La Bohème, and much more. The movie inspired countless future tenors, thanks to Lanza in his finest film performance.
Lanza was, however, fatally attracted to money and fame. Living a star’s life, he could easily indulge his penchant for drinking and, especially, eating to excess. He achieved incomparable popularity at a terrible cost: the crash-dieting he undertook for his movies at the studio’s insistence affected his health catastrophically. Lanza continued to delude himself by assuming he would eventually study sufficiently to launch himself in major opera companies – it never happened.
His death at 38 saddened many distinguished colleagues who firmly believed his operatic career could have been spectacular.
In one respect, Lanza was Caruso’s successor: he, too, more than any of his contemporaries, was able to bring to the non-operagoer the pleasure of an Italian tenor singing popular repertoire. Like Caruso Lanza could enrapture his audience with ‘O Sole mio, Santa Lucia, and other favourites. Of course the whole world knew his singing of Arrivederci, Roma, the title song of his Italian-made film that MGM released in 1958 as Seven Hills of Rome.”
Steff
Derek McGovern
I was intrigued that Roger Pines devoted so much space in the booklet to discussing Lanza. Some positive comments, though I would have liked some acknowledgement that Mario wasn't just a film star in the 1950s---that he was also a live performer. Also, Pines is wrong about the drinking: he makes it seem as though Lanza was always a boozer---and that his Hollywood stardom enabled him to continue that lifestyle---when in fact he didn't develop a serious drinking problem until sometime after he'd gone to Hollywood. The drinking became Mario's refuge from the pressures and insecurities of being a star. Ditto the excessive eating. Lanza had actually stayed at a pretty healthy weight for some years between leaving the Army and making his first film, so this implied notion of him as a gluttonous sloth who went to Hollywood is a bit unfair.
As for Grigolo, it's nice to know that he enjoyed the "Arrivederci Roma" scene in Seven Hills, though he was being a little too generous in describing that film as "wonderful" :)
Here's his music video for "Arrivederci Roma." It's a surprisingly subdued affair that doesn't make much of the Roman locations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crk3-g4Us6k&ob=av2e
It's pleasant enough, and it was interesting hearing the extra verses.
Cheers
Derek
Armando
Ciao Derek: I like this very much. It suits Grigolo’s ligh lyric voice and he sings it very well. He is in fact much better here than in most of the operatic singing I’ve heard him in and his Roman accent is just right for the lyrics. This, by the way, is the original complete version.
Barnabas Nemeth
Derek McGovern
As for "dewy," well, I've only heard two recordings from this album, but I can say that on the song "Caruso," at least, he's about as far from "dewy"-sounding as possible in the loud passages. In fact, he's positively strident.
I was probably a little miserly describing his "Arrivederci Roma" as merely "pleasant enough"; it's actually quite a winsome piece of singing---and to give Grigolo his due, he is very musical. (Thanks for clearing up the business about the extra verses, Armando. I knew that Lanza had sung a truncated version of the song, but I hadn't realized that it was to that extent!)
Cheers
Derek
Barnabas Nemeth
Derek McGovern
Derek
Armando
I guess we all hear things differently, which is just as well- or what a dull world it would be!
What I hear in Grigolo is a pleasant enough sound-small with some vibrato but naturally produced. In Arrivederci Roma the singing is stylish with some lovely diminuendos.
What I hear in Villazon is a pumped up fabricated sound with a throaty emission. That he had to be operated on his vocal chords doesn’t surprise me at all- it’s the result of forcing.