On Wed, 11 Oct 2000, Lloyd W. Hanson wrote:
> COMMENT: Most of the singing I hear from more recently touted opera
> singers such as Dawn Upshaw, Cecelia Bartolli, Kathleen Battle, and
> many crossover singers such as Audra McDonnald do not display a good
> vowel line. The seem more concerned with articulation of consonants
> and "accurate" rendition of the language as if spoken. This is
> especially true in Upshaw's recording of Barber's "Knoxville, Summer
> of 1915" in which vowel line is constantly distorted for the sake of
> "clarity". Compare this recording to the one by Leontyne Price.
I'm not sure I agree with you re: Cecilia Bartoli, but in premise, I
couldn't agree with you more. I find your statement to be a chronic
problem in many classical singers today. I think there are several
reasons for that. Both Maria Callas and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, two of
the most influential singers of the last half of the 20th century, painted
with fine brushes, an approach which, to my ears, destroys the vocal
line (to my ears, the more of this that crept into their singing,
the poorer their singing - harshness in one, resorting to crooning
in the other.) Who has not noticed the constant use of straight tone,
word-pointing (!) and over-articulated consonants used by many of the
singers on today's operatic stages to 'be textually expressive'? With our
ears accustomed to radio/microphone presence, the intelligibility of song
texts is a problem due to that which we are accustomed to, rather than a
failing of good classical singing. Good diction is NOT spitting out the
words, a common ailment which distorts the vocal line and pulls the
voice out of alignment. Consonants should be 'wet', not hard. I also
believe that 20th century pop and rock properties have been assimilated
into modern operatic/classical singing. The music tells the story; the
text is the vehicle.
Mark Montgomery
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