| From: Michael Gordon Organization: Mr. Chen's Cookies To: vocalist Subject: Domingo - a baritone? Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Dear List:
This is in response to Karen Mercedes comments on Placido Domingo. Note that Mr. Domingo is not my "favorite" singer, and I do not own any of his solo recordings. I have however heard him quite a bit and do admire his singing.
Ms. Mercedes writes, "he (Domingo) has gone on record as saying he is truly a baritone who has to work to sustain the tenor _fach_. ... Listen to his Figaro on the undistinguished BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA recording he made and you will realise that there's no way this man was ever truly a baritone. He is a tenor who has simply never found the technical key to unlocking his top notes."
Now Domingo may not be the greatest vocal technician of all times, but he certainly is a great singer by most reasonable standards and definitions and one of the world's most successful tenors. It does seem a bit presumptious to me for Ms. Mercedes to "know" that Domingo struggles as a tenor simply because he "has never found the key to unlocking his top notes." Again, the assumption is that we all fit into nice little boxes - so Mr. Domingo is NOT a baritone, but he IS a tenor. Isn't it possible he is kind of in-between, and tenor top notes are hard for him because tenor isn't a perfect "natural" fit for him, even though his competitive advantage is optimized as a tenor? Ms. Mercedes is narrowly focusing on his statement that he is "a baritone" and missing what I believe to be an essentially accurate statement - I believe Mr. Domingo is merely attempting to explain to the interviewer that he has to work (via daily practice) to sustain the tenor "tessitura" and that it is not natural for him.
For what it's worth ...
Cheers,
Michael Gordon
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