Vocalist.org archive


From:  Jennifer <ihateegroups@y...>
Jennifer <ihateegroups@y...>
Date:  Thu May 10, 2001  3:59 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] heads buried in books


I find that when I have the music in front of me, my
musical interpretation tends to suffer, because I
don't get into the emotion of the music as much. Does
anyone else find this? Do recordings lack the same
excitement of live performances because of this
(setting aside lack of costumes, facial expressions,
etc.)?

Jennifer

> In all of the recording sessions of operas, etc.,
> I've seen (on video or
> film), the singers have used the music - even when
> singing operatic roles
> that they have performed repeatedly onstage without.
> I believe this is
> because of the nature of a recording - an alleged
> "reference" of the work
> captured for posterity. The need for absolute
> scrupulous musical
> correctness is not quite as important in a staged
> opera where so many
> other factors come into play to affect the overall
> impact of the work -
> acting, costumes, lighting, etc. One is quite
> willing to forgive even
> Maria Callas or Jose van Dam a misremembered note or
> even passage (and
> wonderful are the stories of singers who have made
> up lyrics and even
> music on the spot to cover up for lapses in memory -
> often so skilfully
> the audience has been none the wiser) given the
> brilliance of their
> PERFORMANCES overall. But on a recording, where one
> gets none of the
> visual or atmospheric layers that one gets in an
> opera house - and none of
> the immediacy and sense of risk of a live
> performance - there is an
> imperative for musical perfection, because mistakes,
> frankly, are much
> more noticeable when listened to in the quiet of
> one's own home than when
> experienced in the heightened excitement of the
> opera house.
>
> KM
> =====
> My NEIL SHICOFF Website:
> http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
>
> My Website:
> http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
>
> -----
> I sing hymns with my spirit,
> but I also sing hymns with my mind.
> - 1 Corinthians 14:15

_______________________________________________________

emusic.com