Dear Mike, GWendel and co-vocalisters,
Mike: Of course I can’t say, whether the special quality of Ms. Karnéus voice has anything to do with a possible asymmetry of her vocal chords or not. It could be just a pr-stunt from her agent, who knows. But if you don’t hear anything noticeable different in her tone, well then you need a new pair of hearing aids, or a better stereo set (or both:). I hope at least you did not listen to her using those cheap plastic things called pc-speakers, because their sound compares to reality like a kangaroo to a leopard: you can hear very obvious things with them, but that’s all.
Having said that, I want to go back to the issue the asymmetrical vocal chords were just part of: my original point, which was, that there are singers with an exceptional wide range, and that those singers have more opportunities to switch to another Fach. That’s the only point I wanted to prove, and maybe the vocal chords asymmetry has nothing to do with it, or even does not exist, but people with an exceptional wide (and easy) range do exist and I think ms. Karnéus is a good example.
You can hear the ease with which she sings throughout her range, can you? Can you hear that her lower notes still are clear, and that they have a nice kernel? (The complete track reveals that also her pp lower notes have a kernel.) Can you hear that her F5 is an easy one, that reveals that there must be many notes above that? Can you hear that throughout her range her tone has the same 'chiaroscuro' quality, without even the slightest grinding, shrill or husky sounds anywhere, yet using an impressive range of dynamics?
You don’t have to answer: I know you cannot. Your stereo set will either add harmonics to other voices, so they sound more or less like ms. Karnéus, or add distortion so the special beauty of her voice will be spoiled, and probably do both. To hear the real quality of a voice, you need to hear someone live, or to have excellent stereo equipment and only very few people are willing to spend enough money to buy that (I am such an idiot, but on the other hand: I am divorced, so I can do with my money what I want.) The big difference between Karnéus and Otter my B&W 801 mk3 speakers reveal (by the way: the speakers with which 80% of all classical recordings have been monitored by the record companies in the last couple of years), shrinks amazingly when listening via my Sennheiser HD 580 precision (also not bad) and yet even more when listening to my car speakers (still better than those of the average stereo set).
I think this is where the discussion stops, until the moment you’ll hear ms. Karnéus live, or be somewhere near Amsterdam, then I would be happy to listen to some recording with you and discuss them. (Well that goes also for other vocalisters!)
Gwendel: I agree with you about the beauty of a good mezzo-voice, and so did the journalist of BBC Music magazine. But as a tenor, when it comes to comparing tenors to baritones, I would say: just speak for yourself. Most tenors of any size do have a couple of notes below their lowest C (C3), a G2 is not uncommon, and even F2 and E2 are very well possible. Tenors that can sing such low notes do have a lot of warmth in their voices, just think of Caruso. But every really good voice proves, that the Fach in which it excels, has it’s own beauty. That is an essential part of the special charm of voices and especially opera, in my opinion.
To make this even more complicated: Caruso would have been an excellent baritone if he would have chosen to be so, yet he was an even better tenor. (And Battistini would have been a reasonable, or even good tenor, yet he was an excellent baritone.)
Best greetings,
Dré (who finally found the time to write, because he has a bad flue and cannot sing, well as a bass, but he does not want to be that.)
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