Birgit Nilsson Interrogates Montserrat Caballé
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- Highlighted comments from the commenters below:
-from John Mitchell:
I believe this was in S. America. The idiot conductor wanted Caballé to sing the role louder and tried to have her replaced. Nilsson replied 'If she goes - I go. You will never hear this role sung more beautifully'. No Nilsson - no show, so Caballé sang.
-From Claudio Capparelli Paladino:
This is from Buenos Aires. September 1965. The idiot conductor was Fernando Previtali who threw the orchestra upon Nilsson, with no result. At the last performance Nilsson was replaced by Gladys Kuchta who sang indeed well. (He tried to cover her sound? Im sure he got the surprise of his life...) YES, he did...! It was during the dress-rehearsal. At the end Nilsson told him "E la prossima volta canterò a piena voce!" (translation: And next time, I will sing full voice)
-From Lohengrin O
Birgit's Baby Pianissimo!!! 0:36
Disclaimer - I own nothing
The best Liù after Elizabeth Schwarzkopf's ❤️
u are the first person EVER to agree with me on this... dame Elisabeth's Liu is the only one that fills your eyes with tears
@@LohengrinO I do. She is the only one who conveys the sense of love, tragedy and sacrifice. It is the pain that accompanies you with that air up to the choir that takes Liù off stage
Caballe had a remarkable tone, technique, and vocal instrument. These allowed her to be heard with laser precision over any orchestra, particularly sotto voce. Madame Nilsson employed a similar approach to singing with the larger instrument, always lyrical. Absolutely remarkable to have these two ladies in the same performance. Thank goodness, Nilsson persisted in having her colleague sing Liu. Singers used to stand up for their colleagues in those days. Another wonderful pairing was Leontyne Price and Elizabeth Schwarzkopf in Don Giovanni.
There's a Nilsson Leontyne Price Don Giovanni recording. I love Price's Elvira better than her Anna.
Heard them together in Turandot at the Met, under Mehta in February 1969...my first time at the Met...unforgettable and unsurpassed is all I can say
I was thinking the other day that there will never be another Callas... as if a Sutherland or Nilsson or Caballe exist today... wtf is wrong... global decadence
Lohengrin O ....as a matter of interest, do you ever watch "Cardiff Singer of the World" competition which takes place every 2 years?.....there was a wealth of excellent singers in the 2017 competition.....but where are they?..... apparently Netrebko is the greatest artist in the world at the moment (really can't see it myself......such nonsense) has she got no competition?....my point is I've heard dozens of fine singers but almost no-one seems to make it into the "big time".....most of them are lovely looking women too.....so what's going on? Netrebko seems to have the monopoly for the moment.....in the 50's you could literally pick and choose there were so many, and that was just the sopranos!.....the public apparently are pleased and only too willing to accept the mediocre as high art!!!.....I despair..
@@pammyjones1151 Netrebko is extremely overrated. She tried to sing Lucia and couldn't manage it. And she cancelled Norma in London. Thank goodness.
Daryl you were really lucky to have heard this at the Met!
@@debbiejohnson2789 It was my 1st time at the Met...I was stationed at Fort Dix....the following week I attended Die Walkure with Nilsson, Crespin, Vickers, Stewart / von Karajan, which happened to be .the Saturday b'cast that week.
Caballe was perfection when she sang Liu. Her breath control allows her to give a meaningful rendition that is sad and beautiful. Caballe is always perfection with sensitivity and her pianissimo give an amazing contrast and meaning to every Aria she sings. It was wonderful that Nilsson stood up for her. It is so important to have respect for the different sounds every voice can bring. Nilssons Turandot was strong and powerful contrasted with Caballe's sweet and vulnerable Liu. This is when Opera was greatest and the importance was on the voice, not age, your waistline, or how loud you were.
she was also quite fabulous in stronger roles but indeed her ultimate peak were her ultra sensitive pianissimi
I believe this was in S. America. The idiot conductor wanted Caballé to sing the role louder and tried to have her replaced. Nilsson replied 'If she goes - I go. You will never hear this role sung more beautifully'. No Nilsson - no show, so Caballé sang.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW such a beautiful story that I had not heard before... It appears Nilsson was extremely ethical person... loved her even more...Placed your comment in the description above
The story is in Caballé's biography 'Casta Diva.' I heard Caballé do several recitals in her prime. One that I attended in Edmonton was recorded by the opera company and I have a copy. It was the most wonderful recital I've ever heard - grown men were weeping! I heard Nilsson three times - Turandot in 1969, a recital here and a concert with the Seattle Symphony on her farewell tour.
John Mitchell
what was her greatest role / moment?
Nilsson by all accounts was a very supportive colleague, but she also could be hysterically funny and teasing too. There is one story (maybe apocryphal) that after Caballe sang the Verdi requiem, Nilsson called her Aballe, because 'she had lost her C' lol.
jmiller05
I imagine how bored she would be when singing Wagner :D
One could not ask for a better Liu in Turandot. Nilsson was right to stand up for her. I can only imagin the struggle the singers must have had with that conductor.
Nilsson and Caballe. Two great artists. There is no one to match them today.
What a spectacle of pianissimos!
Caballe voice is one of the more gorgeous sounds in all music with her pianissimos and legato. Nilsson isnt far behind, but damn.
A genius scene from Puccini, and such beauty and drama by both.
Exactly my thoughts... and Nilsson's baby pianissimo in front of the Queen of Pianissimi :D Still, my ultimate favorite in this role and I am not afraid of saying it for years, is Elisabeth Schwarzkopf who fills this piece with an Ocean of Sentiment...
Due divine primadonne, sublime!
Since Caballe's passing I have been listening to a recording I have of a recital she gave in Edmonton in the mid 1970's. I flew there to hear it - she was in fabulous voice. The concert was recorded by the opera company and I have a copy. I went backstage afterwards and saw several opera singers in the hallway who were singing in Turandot that week with Caballe's husband as Calaf. One was leaning against the wall looking 'shell-shocked'! He had obviously been in tears! I told her that many of her selections had people in tears. She grinned and said. 'Weeech ones?' I gulped and said 'Errr - all of them' :)
besides a divine singer she was so sweet... velvet person
my two favorites together what a treat
Is there a singer today, that can float like Caballe on those high notes? Or does it take a special type of voice to be able to do that, or is it a lost art?
hamb4 Sondra Radvanovsky has STUNNING pianissimo. I think her’s are the best of the current generation of singers, but her voice is polarizing. You either love it or you don’t. I think she’s amazing live.
Netrebko has moments of real beauty with her pianos, but she can never (or I’ve never heard her try) get them all the way to PPPP, which Sondra can NAIL.
Having heard Radvanovsky several times live, I can attest to that! Also, I find the space of the hall does much to take away some of the hardness of the voice. At least in Chicago, she can sound pretty warm in this hall.
nobody can float like Caballe, now or then
Gencer had tremendous pianissimos as well
Nilsson est ici tellement grande, elle est magnifique ! Et Caballé n'est pas en reste. Un grand, très grand moment d'opéra ! Merci .
En ese mismo año Nilsson y Caballé actuaron en el Palacio de las Bellas Artes de México, el Calaf en la capital mexicana fue Pedro Lavirgen, en el Teatro Colón fue Dimiter Uzunov.
How Beautiful! Two Great Artists! Thanks for Sharing
I saw both of these legends in the theater. Caballe in Puccini, Cilea, and Wagner (of all things!). Nilsson in Wagner and Strauss. Extraordinary.
Dave, you were so lucky
And smart.
After the performance of Turandot the night before Caballe's Edmonton recital I asked the director why he had the Calaf move up and down the stairs during the Riddle Scene. He replied 'It's the only way to get a tenor to look like he's thinking'. LOL
:D
Merveilleux! Bravas! 🌹👏
That was gorgeous !
both of them so young and vocally healthy :D
She also knew her voice very well and didn't over-perform in terms of frequency of performances.
Vincent Tecchio
I remember Nicola Zaccaria, one of the greatest Timur we have heard, saying in an interview that Nilsson would go completely speechless for 2 days before and 1 day after the Turandot performances
Lohengrin O that's a person who knows what they are asking of their body is massively taxing and respects that. Brava, Birgit ! I've heard Renee Fleming comment that it's the bigger, more dramatic voices that actually need more downtown between performances than voices like hers. Something I find very interesting!
Vincent Tecchio
Fleming is an incredibly clever woman.. She actually managed though her career to sing roles that could have been destructive for a Soprano Lyric like Armida or Imogene or Daphne or even Manon the way she sang it, without the slightest vocal compromise (without cutting the very low and very high notes) and keep her voice healthy up to this age and considering the fact that the Lustrous, Shiny surface of her sound could have been very easily destroyed (Te Kanawa lost her voice by singing roles that were made for soprano lyric only)... She was always doing everything without pushing her voice to the actual limit... But I think that Birgit's vocal health considering the roles she sang (also the fact she didnt start singing them very early in her life) is a phenomenon of vocal longevity.. because as anyone can hear in her live Turandot, she was singing her guts out...
I know it is destrutive for the Voice but I wanna hear the singer touch her Limits like Callas, Nilsson, early Sutherland did... I completely disregard singers using Scoops, Slurs and cutting off low and high notes for vocal health reasons
If a singer cant sing a role the way it is written, then dont ... sing something else like Mimi or Liu or whatever...
South America, does that mean Teatro Colon ?
Any idea of the year ?
And the Caballé pianissimo at 6:14 is the stuff of legends !
the Ultimate Queen of Pianissimi
Buenos Aires, 1965
RIP MONTSY :(
Perfection!
Pues, a mi Caballe me hace llorar con Adriana Lecouvreur y con la Liu..madre mía¡ Gracias por el vídeo. ❤❤❤❤
yo las escuche a las dos en el teatro Colon maravilloso!!!!Betty
sublime!!!
Due magnifiche
This is a very fine Liu. I also love Scotto during the 1960s, as well as Moffo and Price.
This is from Buenos Aires. September 1965. The idiot conductor was Fernando Previtali who threw the orchestra upon Nilsson, with no result. At the last performance Nilsson was replaced by Gladys Kuchta who sang indeed well.
You mean he tried to cover her Sound? ahahhaha Im sure he got the surprise of his life...
YES, he did. It was during the dress-reharsal. At the end Nilsson told him "E la prossima volta canterò a piena voce!"
Claudio Capparelli Paladino Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahah Goddess!!!!! :D
placed the amazing anecdote in the description above...
That is funny indeed! There was not an orchestration that Nilsson could not overshadow with the gargantuan size and weight of her voice. What was his point in doing this?
Qui si fermo' il Maestro Toscanini,sarebbe bello che tutti I direttori d'orchestra lo facessero.
¡Estupendo!
Yes, Caballe has the voice for Liu and can float notes wonderfully. But I would suggest that what's lacking here is the vulnerability and tenderness that are essential to Liu. Of course, it's still better than anything I've heard live. Ever.
OOM OMG OMG
And whether or not it matters to opera queens, who is the excellent uncredited tenor, please?
Niki Minaj
@@LohengrinO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
This opera queen knows because this opera queen was there. Ask politely and this opera queen will tell you.
@@LohengrinO Damn! All this time I thought it was Justin Bieber!!
Einfach genial
Who was the caliph
El amor.