lloyd wrote:
<< I look for the opera singers to never let me loose the presence of the music even if it is tempting to want to create an "emotional moment". I want to hear more of Verdi and less of the singer. >>
lloyd,
i couldn't agree with you more (lloyd is now running for the nitro-glycerin capsules). if singers would just execute the text, all of it, there are plenty of oppurtunities to make decisions which reflect the 'feelings' of the singer without adding a bunch of cheap crap that doesn't belong. if the singer would give over to what the music and words say, they would be caught up in it as one is caught up in passionate debate. in such cases, anyone is capable of losing oneself to the purpose of the exposition. it is only vanity, when one seeks to impress, that causes the composer and librettist to be lost.
the thing i hate about so many opera singers these days is, it seems as if the most important person in their lives is their voice teacher. they look as if all they think of is 'support' or some instruction they've been given that will make them sound better. tito gobbi, obviously, was never particularly concerned with the flashiness of his voice. i hope peter pears wasn't trying to show off either. in the case of the latter, he was provided with almost recitative music by britten. his characters had to be 100%. there was no room for extra junk, no room for vanity. there was only room for getting the emphasis of each word in each phrase right.
think of how many singers only vocalize legato. do you ever hear many people vocalizing staccato? why not? is it so easy that it need not be practiced? how many singers vocalize in minor, for that matter? how many singers speak the text seperately as a character (and not as a vocal exercise)?
i hate to keep harping on the example of roderigo's death in 'don carlo' but, in comparing fischer-dieskau's performance to other recorded performances (not all), the rest all sound like they are singing while dieskau sounds like he's dying which is exactly how verdi wrote it.
mike
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