Deborah Polaski
Vincent Lau
It seems from the opera reviews around the globe that Deborah Polaski
has undergone a miraculous transformation over the past 10 years or so.
People may still remember that she suffered a horrible roasting from the
Bayreuth audiences when she assumed the role of Brunnhilde there in the
mid-eighties, after which she withdrawn from the production and was
replaced by Anne Evans.
However, it seems that she has never looked back since. Her recent
Brunnhildes in the ROH "Ring" won golden reviews with some critics even
comparing her to Flagstad. Her first London Elektra (13 May) was,
according to Rodney Milnes in The Times, sensationally sung.
As I have never heard her "in the flesh", would someone please tell me
whether she is likely to be the reigning hochdrammatische for the next
decade or so (her obvious rivals being Schnaut, Evans, Eaglen and Janis
Martin).
Vincent Lau
Uwe Schneider
On Fri, 16 May 1997, James Jorden wrote:
the reigning dramatic soprano of the first years of the
> XXI century is obviously going to be Deborah Voigt.
>
Okay James, Deborah Voigt and Rene Pape (as you stated some days ago) ...
but who else?
jfu...@unix.asb**com
How the hell did Janis Martin get on that list?
In article <337C45...@ix.netcom.com>, jjo...@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> Vincent Lau wrote:
>
> > As I have never heard her "in the flesh", would someone please tell me
> > whether she is likely to be the reigning hochdrammatische for the next
> > decade or so (her obvious rivals being Schnaut, Evans, Eaglen and >
Janis Martin).
>
> While "obvious" is perhaps as good a way as any to describe some of
> these artists, the reigning dramatic soprano of the first years of the
> XXI century is obviously going to be Deborah Voigt.
>
> --
> james jorden
> jjo...@ix.netcom.com
> http://www.anaserve.com/~parterre
>
> "Style is the most important thing in the world. Fashion is the least."
> -- Quentin Crisp
--
Email to <jfu...@unix.asb.com> IGNORE SPAM FREE HEADER
Thomas F. Lukens
If Deborah Voigt is reigning, it's a mighty impoverished kingdom. I've
heard so much about Deborah Polaski (whom I have never heard) and
Gabriele Schnaut (who barely held her own as Fricka in a Solti Rheingold
in the early '80's) that I was beginning to wonder whether there was
something there.
But if their best is comparable to Deborah Voigt, I'm sure they'll find
me soon enough and am not eager to hurry the acquaintance.
TL
James Jorden
Alan J. Klein
Vincent Lau <vinc...@netvigator.com> wrote:
>It seems from the opera reviews around the globe that Deborah Polaski
>has undergone a miraculous transformation over the past 10 years or so.
>People may still remember that she suffered a horrible roasting from the
>Bayreuth audiences when she assumed the role of Brunnhilde there in the
>mid-eighties, after which she withdrawn from the production and was
>replaced by Anne Evans.
>However, it seems that she has never looked back since. Her recent
>Brunnhildes in the ROH "Ring" won golden reviews with some critics even
>comparing her to Flagstad. Her first London Elektra (13 May) was,
>according to Rodney Milnes in The Times, sensationally sung.
>As I have never heard her "in the flesh", would someone please tell me
>whether she is likely to be the reigning hochdrammatische for the next
>decade or so (her obvious rivals being Schnaut, Evans, Eaglen and Janis
>Martin).
>Vincent Lau
Sir, with all due respect, don't believe what you read from critics.
Frankly, most of them are incompetent (ask most composers!). Use your
own ears to evaluate; never take any other opinions as gospel!
Regards,
--
A. J. Klein
ajk...@pipeline.com
Vincent Lau
Mallardo7 wrote:
>
> Whatever transformation Ms Polaski has undergone it hasn't affected the
> top of her voice which remains short and highly insecure. As for Voigt,
> do we really see her as an Isolde? A Brunnhilde? An Elektra?
I really hope that Voigt would play safe at least for the next 5 years
or so. As present, I'm unable to hear a Brunnhilde or Elektra voice in
her. BTW, I seemed to have heard somewhere that she will be recording
Isolde with Solti. Is this correct? Anyway, if Margaret Price can
attempt this role in the studio, Voigt is of course also fit for the
job. I just hope that it will not be a "manufactured" piece of vocalism,
just like the Studer's Salome with Sinopoli.
Vincent
jfu...@unix.asb**com
There was once a DGG recording of Rosenkavalier with Schech as
Marscahallin - do you remember the
rest of the cast and know where one might acquire a copy? I have several
performances by Schech,
a Senta on vinyl, and a Sieglinde from the Met (lovely and pertinent to
your post) and I once heard her sing the Dyer's Wife in Brooklyn and New
York with Tom Scherman's group (in the 60s).
In article <EAB31...@nonexistent.com>, dkessler
<dkes...@yorick.ny.cybernex.net> wrote:
> Deborah Voight to me is somewhat reminiscent of a very fine
> hochdramatische soprano by the name of Marianne Shech I used to hear at
> the National Theater in Munich back in the 60's.
> Now Marianne Shech was invited to be one of the three who sang the trio
> from DER ROSENKAVALIER at Richard Strauss's funeral back in 1949.
> Both were full figure singers. Marianne Shech may have had a more
> beautiful voice than does Deboarah Voight. However, Shech did not
> excactly become the reigning singer of her day and if Voight becomes so,
> it will be for the lack of competition.
> Now, let's not get carried away just yet!
> As to Deborah Polaski, I only know her from her Kundry at the Met and her
> ELEKTRA at the Charleston, Spoleto Festival. She's OK but so far I can't
> say that I am very excited about her.
jfu...@unix.asb**com
I can't see Voigt as a dramatic soprano, much as I like her. She'd be
much wiser to stick with Chrysothemis
than Elektra, Sieglinde than Isolde, and perhaps consider Elsa and
Elisabeth which would both be lovely.
As soon as she starts trying to carry a big heavy sound all the way to the
top the lyric quality than she now
has will probably be lost.
Why are well all pushing singers' limits for them? Let them do what they
do well. We've had no Isolde for
ten years, wait a couple more - someone will turn up.
In article <19970517053...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
mall...@aol.com (Mallardo7) wrote:
> Whatever transformation Ms Polaski has undergone it hasn't affected the
> top of her voice which remains short and highly insecure. As for Voigt,
> do we really see her as an Isolde? A Brunnhilde? An Elektra?
--
jfu...@unix.asb**com
I used to own it once, I have no idea what happened to it!
In article <EACCB...@nonexistent.com>, dkessler
<dkes...@yorick.ny.cybernex.net> wrote:
> >--
> >Email to <jfu...@unix.asb.com> IGNORE SPAM FREE HEADER
>
> Yes, the ROSENKAVALIER you speak of with Marianne Schech as the
> Marshallin also had Imgard Seefried's Octavian, Rite Streich's Sophie,
> Fischer-Dieskau as VonFaninal and Kurt Boehme as Ochs with Karl Bohm
> conducting on DGG. This was listed in a 1972 Schwann catalog but seems
> to be missing afterwards.
Olaf
On Sat, 17 May 1997 14:29:40 GMT, jfu...@unix.asb**com wrote:
>There was once a DGG recording of Rosenkavalier with Schech as
>Marscahallin - do you remember the
>rest of the cast and know where one might acquire a copy? I have several
>performances by Schech,
>a Senta on vinyl, and a Sieglinde from the Met (lovely and pertinent to
>your post) and I once heard her sing the Dyer's Wife in Brooklyn and New
>York with Tom Scherman's group (in the 60s).
>
There was indeed a DGG Rosenkavalier with Marianne Schech, recorded ca
1958 in Dresden, with Karl Boehm conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden.
The rest of the cast: Irmgard Seefried, Rita Streich, Kurt Boehme &
Dieter Fischer-Dieskau. I have read that it is uncut.
I have seen this recording some years ago in a japanese CD-transfer.
Most annoyingly, I did not buy it then - and have not seen it since.
Some 40 minutes of it though is on a DGG DOKUMENTE issue devoted to
Irmgard Seefried (2 CDs 437 677-2). It was issued in 1993.
I would value it more for Boehm, Seefried and Kurt Boehme, than for
Marianne Schech though.
I have a highlight LP for decades. An identical MC also exists,
probably only issued locally in Germany.
But how can one persuade DGG to issue it in Europe and the US?
Olaf
James Jorden
I find it rather disheartening that a thread that began as a discussion
of the *future* of Wagnerian singing (specifically the merits of Deborah
Voigt) has degenerated into yet another session of "Hunt the Disc" and
"Name that Dead Singer". Haven't we lived in the past long enough?
Opera is more than just collecting bits of plastic; it is a living art
form demanding a relationship between performers and audience in
real-time. Recordings are at best a *different* experience; in any case
they are no substitute for live performance.
Sometimes I understand why artists currently active are so discouraged:
they are like The Girl in "Rebecca", constantly in competition with the
dead first Mrs. DeWinter, incapable of competing with her remembered
perfection.
What artist of today can hope to impress those opera-lovers whose motto
is "the only good singer is a dead singer"?
Isn't it time we stopped hoarding these tokens of the past and returned
to the land of the living? Stop hunting for decades-old LPs and go to
an opera house every now and then! There are some (not many, I admit,
but certainly some) wonderful performers out there whose performances
you will remember fondly years from now-- but only if you give them a
chance without unfair competition from their ghostly rivals!
Thomas F. Lukens
I heard Ms. Voigt's Elisabeth in San Francisco, and though she
certainly did not disgrace herself, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
It did not come close to Nadine Secunde's Elisabeth in Chicago in '88,
which was searingly intense and heartbreaking in that very particular
way that Secunde has.
Now, I have never heard Secunde do anything bad (have also heard her
Kata Kabanova, Cassandre & Chrysothemis), but I know she has her
detractors. But to my mind she is a singer in the grand tradition. She
has intensity, long breath, musical line and a distinctive
interpretation.
I did not hear any of these qualities in Ms. Voigt's Elisabeth. Her
mere adequacy makes her a rare commodity these days. But that does not
make me want to go to any trouble to see her. Much less should she be
encouraged to more strenuous roles, nor crowned as the Wagnerian diva
regnant of now or any foreseeable time in the future.
TL
James Jorden wrote:
> Ms. Voigt has done more than "consider" Elisabeth and Elsa. She has
> sung the former role in San Francisco and elsewhere; her Elsa will be
> featured at the Metropolitan next season.
> According to the interview she gave parterre box last month, she is
> preparing Isolde now, at the request Solti who will conduct her in a
> new studio recording to be done over the next couple of years. She
> will certainly not sing Isold on stage before 2001 at the earliest. She
> did not mention Brunnhilde, but she did say that she has no intention of
> even learning Elektra right now; certainly she would not take on that
> role for many years.
James Jorden
Thomas F. Lukens wrote:
> I did not hear any of these qualities in Ms. Voigt's Elisabeth. Her
> mere adequacy makes her a rare commodity these days. But that does not
> make me want to go to any trouble to see her. Much less should she be
> encouraged to more strenuous roles, nor crowned as the Wagnerian diva
> regnant of now or any foreseeable time in the future.
You speak most authoritatively for one who has only heard an artist
once, and in her first attempt at a role besides. Perhaps now that Ms.
Secunde (whose artistry was no doubt very fine a decade ago) has worn
her voice to a toneless wobble, you might deign to give Ms. Voigt a
second chance.
Kentd49183
James Jorden writes: >>
Opera is more than just collecting bits of plastic; it is a living art
form demanding a relationship between performers and audience in
real-time. Recordings are at best a *different* experience; in any case
they are no substitute for live performance.<<
add "radio broadcasts" to that and I'll agree 101 percent. Thanks,
James!
Kent
John Sanderson
Thomas F. Lukens wrote:
>
> I heard Ms. Voigt's Elisabeth in San Francisco, and though she
> certainly did not disgrace herself, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Hear, Hear!
--
JohnS
paul
Mallardo7 wrote:
>
> Whatever transformation Ms Polaski has undergone it hasn't affected the
> top of her voice which remains short and highly insecure. As for Voigt,
> do we really see her as an Isolde? A Brunnhilde? An Elektra?
>
>
Brunnhilde in that voice. Who would've thought a great Chrysothemis
would have become a great Elektra (Rysanek)? Voight certainly is a
great Chrys. No reason that her future couldn't handle the other
sister's role. It's still too early, and I don't really know anyone
with a crystal ball!
Paul.
Braden Mechley
On Sat, 17 May 1997, dkessler wrote:
> Yes, the ROSENKAVALIER you speak of with Marianne Schech as the
> Marshallin also had Imgard Seefried's Octavian, Rite Streich's Sophie,
> Fischer-Dieskau as VonFaninal and Kurt Boehme as Ochs with Karl Bohm
> conducting on DGG. This was listed in a 1972 Schwann catalog but seems
> to be missing afterwards.
Like many other such things, it has turned up in release overseas; a
friend in Japan acquired a copy for me.
Excerpts from this performance turned up on DG's two-disc set of Seefried
in opera.
** Braden Mechley ** ele...@u.washington.edu ** Department of Classics **
[James Spader's] wife is played by an actress called Deborah
Kara Unger, which somehow sounds like a batch of Winnie the
Pooh's friends. Deborah is the only person in the movie to
achieve the perfect CRASH facial expression: She always looks
monumentally bored and slightly aroused, like a nymphomaniac
on a coffee break; she's always staring moodily off into the
distance while the wind swirls her Viking-blond hair, as if
she's already had violent sex with everyone in North America
and is trying to choose her next continent.
-- Libby Gelman-Waxner on CRASH
**************************************************************************
Fiorella S. Beckmeier
James Jorden wrote:
>
>[...]
> What artist of today can hope to impress those opera-lovers whose motto
> is "the only good singer is a dead singer"?
>
> Isn't it time we stopped hoarding these tokens of the past and returned
> to the land of the living? Stop hunting for decades-old LPs and go to
> an opera house every now and then! There are some (not many, I admit,
> but certainly some) wonderful performers out there whose performances
> you will remember fondly years from now-- but only if you give them a
> chance without unfair competition from their ghostly rivals!
>
> --
Finally! About time someone else besides me put a good word in for the living!
I stopped posting because I got tired of the endless put down of living singers
in favor of the dead. I've been going to the opera for over 35 years and I remember
plenty of dreadful performances in those golden times. Then, like now, you thought you
got your money's worth if your subscription included one unforgettable performance, which
then, like now, didn't happen too often. This year it was Walkeure for me, the best I ever
saw or heard. And Fedora was as exciting as opera can get. Two out of five. Not bad.
Come to think of it, I liked Faust too. And yes, I think Voigt is absolutely fabulous.
There hasn't been a voice like that around in decades. And she can do Wagner _and_ Verdi
equally well. And the voice stays beautiful and focussed from top to bottom. I haven't
been this excited since I saw Tosca at the Met in 1964 (I think) with Gobbi, Tebaldi
and Corelli. And I wasn't even a Tebaldi fan (and am not still).
Jorden is right. Those of you who are still young may look back twenty or thirty
years from now and listen to today's recordings and regret that you didn't
appreciate those singers when they were here for you to SEE AND HEAR *LIVE*, on stage,
at the good old Met, or wherever. And some of you will certainly say that the Met just doesn't
hire good singers anymore, and isn't it a disgrace? And you'll stay home and listen to
records, or whatever medium they'll have by then, and say that they don't make them like
that any more. Oh, well. I'm having a good time. How about you?
Fiorella
Vincent Lau
jfu...@unix.asb**com wrote:
>
> I can't see Voigt as a dramatic soprano, much as I like her. She'd be
> much wiser to stick with Chrysothemis
> than Elektra, Sieglinde than Isolde, and perhaps consider Elsa and
> Elisabeth which would both be lovely.
> As soon as she starts trying to carry a big heavy sound all the way to the
> top the lyric quality than she now
> has will probably be lost.
>
> Why are well all pushing singers' limits for them? Let them do what they
> do well. We've had no Isolde for
> ten years, wait a couple more - someone will turn up.
>
> In article <19970517053...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
>
> > Whatever transformation Ms Polaski has undergone it hasn't affected the
> > top of her voice which remains short and highly insecure. As for Voigt,
> > do we really see her as an Isolde? A Brunnhilde? An Elektra?
>
> Email to <jfu...@unix.asb.com> IGNORE SPAM FREE HEADER
Gwyneth Jones has done a superb Isolde in Aug/Sept 1993 in Tokyo (with
Kollo, Schwarz and Lloyd).
Vincent
AstroJack
James Jorden <jjo...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>jfu...@unix.asb**com wrote:
>>
>> I can't see Voigt as a dramatic soprano, much as I like her. She'd be
>> much wiser to stick with Chrysothemis
>> than Elektra, Sieglinde than Isolde, and perhaps consider Elsa and
>> Elisabeth which would both be lovely.
>Ms. Voigt has done more than "consider" Elisabeth and Elsa. She has
>sung the former role in San Francisco and elsewhere; her Elsa will be
>featured at the Metropolitan next season.
And her Elisabeth at SFO was indeed spectacular!
Kentd49183
Kent<<<
I mean to say, add radio broadcasts to the list of things that are no
substitute for live performance.
kent
g.f.
In article <EABxz...@nonexistent.com>, <jfu...@unix.asb**com> wrote:
>There was once a DGG recording of Rosenkavalier with Schech as
>Marscahallin - do you remember the
>rest of the cast and know where one might acquire a copy? I have several
Rita Streich is Sophie. I can't remember anyone else. Sena Jurinac,
maybe? I really doubt it's on c.d.
dkessler
Speaking of this term 'Wagnerian diva regnant' I don't see Voigt being
crowned this too soon.
For example, her ARIADNE lacks that necessary glamour needed for that
role. In fact, how can you be a diva regnant if you are short on
glamour? Leonie Rysanek reigns supreme for me as ARIADNE, back in '63
when I was at the old Met on the occasion of the first performance of
ARIADNE. I also recall Lisa Della Casa's ARIADNE with the Washington
Opera Society and here was a persona and voice with tons of glamour.
Third up was probably Christa Ludwig [Salzburg, '64] at the time she was
thinking more of taking on soprano roles. Also, there was Lucine Amara at
the old Met and she was quite good. There was Hildegard Hillebrecht in
Munich, Johanna Meier and Stephanie Sundine at the NYC Opera and of
course, Jessye Norman at the Met as ARIADNE. I would have to place Ms.
Voight after Jessye or near Johanna Meier.
Only the ARIADNE of Rysanek, Della Casa and Christa Ludwig are those
enshrined in my personal pantheon in the "A" category. Voight would be
close to the bottom in the "B" group and that's just one role which is
associated with Ms. Voigt. You have to compare new artists with those
you've heard even though some of them are no longer performing.
James Jorden
dkessler wrote:
>
> Speaking of this term 'Wagnerian diva regnant' I don't see Voigt being
> crowned this too soon.
I would like to remind everyone that this thread began as a list of
"important" or "major" Wagner singers in the 21st century. Ms. Voigt's
name was not on a list that included Martin, Polaski, and Eaglen. I
offered the opinion that Ms. Voigt certainly should be expected to be as
important an artist as those on this list. In typical fashion, this
thread turned into a discussion of "the greatest", and now has turned
into a debate about "the greatest ever". While I admit there is some
validity in comparing recorded performances, I see little purpose beyond
an attempt at superior smugness at comparing the live performances of
currently-active performers to those of singers who are no longer on the
stage. It's not as if one has the choice to hear Rysanek or Ludwig sing
the role of Ariadne next season!
dkessler
Let me remind you James Jorden, this tread commenced with Vincent Lau's
inquiry as to Deborah Polaski and whether or not she and some others
[Voigt was missing from his list] would be the reigning hochdramatische
soprano for the next decade.
You side stepped his question and offered the name of Voigt. Now getting
back to his question, have you heard Ms. Polaski?
True, the thread became somewhat discursive and seemed to degenerate over
whether or not Ms. Voigt would be one of the reigning hochdramatische
sopranos in the next decade.
My comparisons come from witnessing performes 'live' and you can't fake
live performances as easily as you can in the studio and they were
perfectly apt to the subject. There's nothing wrong in taking out
performances 'cameo-style' and discussing them and in doing so, one is
not to be deemed superemely smug just because the artist in question is
no longer 'treading the boards'!
Voigt not only lacks glamour but I doubt that anyone in this group could
identify her voice in a vocal line-up. The voice is not distinctive in
that way true legendaries are, such as Rysanek, Ludwig or Schwarzkopf
[who never sang ARIADNE in the theater but recorded it] are all very
identifiable voices. Oh, I forgot to mention Guandula Janowitz whom I
heard under Karl Bohm in Vienna and Washington and even she had some
vocal and physical glamour to bring to the part.
James Jorden
dkessler wrote:
> My comparisons come from witnessing performes 'live' and you can't fake
> live performances as easily as you can in the studio and they were
> perfectly apt to the subject. There's nothing wrong in taking out
> performances 'cameo-style' and discussing them and in doing so, one is
> not to be deemed superemely smug just because the artist in question is
> no longer 'treading the boards'!
I submit that the discussion concerned singers who look likely to be
important Wagner performers in the 21st century. Ms. Voigt certainly
belongs in such a discussion. Christa Ludwig, Leonie Rysanek and the
others you name are utterly irrelevant-- they will not be performing
during that time.
Now, should you care to discuss the importance of glamour to operatic
performance (a potentially interesting topic), I suggest you start a
thread on that subject.
I have not heard Deborah Polaski. I do believe she should have been
offered this season's Brunnhildes at the Met. I look forward to hearing
her Kundry next season.
Thomas F. Lukens
Thank you dkessler. The comment about distinctive voices (or as a
friend of mine likes to put it, "immediately identifiable vocal
timbres") is relevant to the Voigt case.
Few of us admire the type of antiquarian temperament that can see no
good in anything current. On the other hand, those of us with some
pretension to discernment and taste in matters of operatic
interpretation (i.e., most of the correspondents to this newsgroup),
have formed our tastes and standards from performances that are to a
greater or lesser extent historical. Ultimately a criticism of a singer
should refer to the details of the performance and the score. But if the
tremendous possibilities in a role have been exemplified for us by one
or several past performances, it is not reasonable nor particularly
desirable to expect us to completely forget those when experiencing the
new.
One advantage of performing new music is the opportunity for an
interpreter to have the "first crack" at making an impression without
having to deal with the accumulated weight of history. The disadvantage
is that audiences are less familiar with the music and less likely to
seek it out.
Those who make their living interpreting established classics of the
repertoire should be prepared to contribute something substantial if
they want to be remembered favorably.
TL
dkessler wrote:
>
> Let me remind you James Jorden, this tread commenced with Vincent Lau's
> inquiry as to Deborah Polaski and whether or not she and some others
> [Voigt was missing from his list] would be the reigning hochdramatische
> soprano for the next decade.
> You side stepped his question and offered the name of Voigt. Now getting
> back to his question, have you heard Ms. Polaski?
> True, the thread became somewhat discursive and seemed to degenerate over
> whether or not Ms. Voigt would be one of the reigning hochdramatische
> sopranos in the next decade.
> My comparisons come from witnessing performes 'live' and you can't fake
> live performances as easily as you can in the studio and they were
> perfectly apt to the subject. There's nothing wrong in taking out
> performances 'cameo-style' and discussing them and in doing so, one is
> not to be deemed superemely smug just because the artist in question is
> no longer 'treading the boards'!
Thomas F. Lukens
Very true. Ms. Voigt is certainly at least as great as Martin, Polaski,
Eaglen and a number of others (such as Schnaut).
TL
James Jorden wrote:
>
> dkessler wrote:
> >
> > Speaking of this term 'Wagnerian diva regnant' I don't see Voigt being
> > crowned this too soon.
>
> I would like to remind everyone that this thread began as a list of
> "important" or "major" Wagner singers in the 21st century. Ms. Voigt's
> name was not on a list that included Martin, Polaski, and Eaglen. I
> offered the opinion that Ms. Voigt certainly should be expected to be as
> important an artist as those on this list. In typical fashion, this
> thread turned into a discussion of "the greatest", and now has turned
> into a debate about "the greatest ever". While I admit there is some
> validity in comparing recorded performances, I see little purpose beyond
> an attempt at superior smugness at comparing the live performances of
> currently-active performers to those of singers who are no longer on the
> stage. It's not as if one has the choice to hear Rysanek or Ludwig sing
> the role of Ariadne next season!
James Jorden
Thomas F. Lukens wrote:
>
> those of us with some
> pretension to discernment and taste in matters of operatic
> interpretation (i.e., most of the correspondents to this newsgroup),
> have formed our tastes and standards from performances that are to a
> greater or lesser extent historical. Ultimately a criticism of a singer
> should refer to the details of the performance and the score. But if the
> tremendous possibilities in a role have been exemplified for us by one
> or several past performances, it is not reasonable nor particularly
> desirable to expect us to completely forget those when experiencing the
> new.
My problem is that the comparison between a current singer and a past
diva is not really a fair one. We tend to romanticize and idealize
those great performers from our past: my memory of Renata Scotto's
Butterfly, for example, is a composite of the greatest moments from the
eight times I heard her in this role, plus probably a bit of "looping"
where I replace subconsiously what I heard on stage with the sound of
her superb EMI CD of this music. When Maria Soprano sings the role
today at the Met, she is in competition with my fondest memories of the
greatest Butterfly of our time, and, if I'm not careful, Signorina
Soprano just won't measure up.
By extension, Signorina Soprano may face an even more formidable
opponent: a composite of all the best features of a number of great
artists. This superdiva has the dramatic awareness of Callas, the size
of voice of Tebaldi, the melting timbre of Price, the pianissimi of
Caballe... and poor Signorina Soprano has no chance at all of competing
these divas, each in her own best event.
That's why I say we should be very careful when we try to compare an
artist of today with those legends of the past.
paul
dkessler wrote:
>
> Still, if 'Maria Soprano' as James puts it, assumes an operatic role with
> something new and exciting, we should be ready to applaud her for that.
> I, too, dislike the person whose judgment is totally numbed by the greats
> of the past and as we grow on in years with performances, we must watch
> ourselves carefully so as not to fall into that situation.
> For instance, as much as I thought Gabriele Benacova owned RUSALKA, after
> seeing Renee Fleming really exceed her in the role at the Met recently I
> almost felt it was a cause for celebration since Renee's appearnaces in a
> number of roles at the Met have disappointed me, i.e. her Fiordelighi
> failed for lack of a glamorous chest voice, her Ellen Orford wasn't up to
> Lucine Amara and of course, Renee had no trill for the end of the Jewel
> Song in her recent Marguerite in Gounod's FAUST. Frankly, I rather liked
> Renee Fleming's Desdemona but she really didn't dislodge any of the far
> better ones such as Tebaldi, even Scotto in her good voice and a host of
> others that I had witnessed. As far as RUSALKA goes, Renee is now my
> 'gold standard'.
>
>
>
>Fleming, is indeed magical. Having heard her in a few excellent
recitals, a televised Marschillan, concert performances of Thaďs &
Russalka, I found her singing radiant. Beautiful. A few things I've
heard her in (Grimes) were not quite what I was hoping for (but still
wise career moves & glad she did 'em). However, I think the best thing
her best role was Desdemona. I wouldn't put her "above" Tebaldi or
Scotto (to me the greatest Desdemona's I've ever heard) but I would rank
her right up there with them, even if only in that role. She's one of
the few sopranos currently singing who seems to know those Italian
tricks of Verdi singing (getting that sad "catch" in the throat in the
mid voice; not being afraid of a slight glottal attack at the start of a
phrase. As Dedemona, she did those stylistic things that I've not
head any Desdemona do since Scotto. Honestly. By that feat alone
Fleming truly won me over. BIG time.
Paul.
dkessler
Thomas F. Lukens
I very much agree with you. The converse situation of Maria Soprano,
whose legitimate good work is needlessly criticized by references to
performances long gone, exists with a number of major roles.
To my mind, a number of the leading roles in the operas of Wagner and
Verdi have no really first-rate exponents among currently active
singers. The roles of Siegfried, Brünnhilde, Wotan, Tristan and Aida (to
name a few) fall into this category. It is also distressing to hear
performances rapturously praised that sound to me notably deficient.
Those of us with true discernment realize that great interpretations of
a role can be very different from each other and equally valid. Anyone
who ever saw Jon Vickers' portrayal of Peter Grimes must have been moved
by the intensity and power of his interpretation. Philip Langridge has
recently recorded Peter Grimes, and his interpretation is about as
different from Vickers' as it could be without actually singing
different music. Yet, I accept Langridge's interpretation on its own
terms and admire it and enjoy it and am grateful that he is a currently
active singer.
So, while in some cases I believe the best available interpretation of
a role may not be even a good interpretation, in other cases I am very
grateful for new singers who find their own way with roles that have
been made dear to me by singers of the past.
TL