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From: John Alexander Blyth
Subject: Fischer-Dieskau, and others, was: Tenor timbre vs baritone timbre
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(This does go on a bit)

I'm not sure I really hear it either, until I go back and listen to
recordings. When I haven't heard him for a while he recedes in my memory
until all I remember are the mannerisms. Then I hear a recording again and
am bowled over: he's not a baritone or a bass, he's a Fischer-Dieskau! I
suppose I mean bass-like in the smoothness, solidity? - but, you know, it's
really hard to tell from recordings what a singer really sounds like.
I have heard recordings of Bryn Terfel and have wondered what the
fuss was about - he's certainly good, but what is it that makes him
exceptional? I deduce two things: a) a dramatic flair, totally uncaptured on
cd and b) a big resonance and vocal presence which recordings have been
faking for everyone for years, but which he has in real life.
Now, whenever I hear a recording of a singer, I listen for breathing
and perhaps other clues to tell me how close the microphone is, and what
other business the recording engineers have been up to. Yesterday I sang at
a concert which was being recorded (1)and the young fellow (just learning)
would have stuck a microphone in my face if I hadn't protested - though even
floating a meter and a half away it is going to give my voice more presence
than it really deserves.
On the same subject: I heard Andrea Bocelli a few days ago, on cd.
His singing is indeed beautiful and expressive, and the microphone is indeed
remarkably close. He is a singer for the new, even more technological
century. Me? 18th or 19th century, probably. For the cognoscenti, the lack
of true drama and scale is apparent, but his interaction with the technology
also allows some subtleties that only a great artist could begin to make
audible on an unamplified stage. Recordings determine how most of us hear,
and have done so since the proliferation of the electric microphone. As a
teen, I knew most of the symphonic repertoire before attending my first
orchestral concert. With increasing use of amplification in auditoria some
listeners may go through their whole lives loving music and never hearing a
professional voice live and unadorned. Indeed, as in the framing of a
painting, we may grow so accustomed to expertly balanced levels and
carefully enhanced sound that we consider anything else unfinished and
unprofessional.
John
At 01:17 16/12/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>> Yet another angle: some people characterise "baritone" as big and
>> warm, others as clear, others as manly (put in your own " "s!). In the mid
>> to late 20th century baritone seems to cover a wide range of voices, from
>> the almost tenor-like Verdi baritone (in my view, anyway), to the rich,
>> almost bass-like quality of, say, Fischer-Dieskau.
>
>There's no accounting for somethings in voices. I would never in a
>million years have described Fischer-Dieskau's voice as rich or bass-like.
>
>Mark Montgomery
>
>
John Blyth
Bass/Baritone (as opposed to Bass-Baritone) etc.
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada