Good v. Bad Verdi Singing | Soprani 2/2 (Souliotis, Obratzsova, etc. v. Garanca, Scotto, etc.)

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  • čas přidán 6. 09. 2020
  • Good examples are: Mirella Freni, Ghena Dimitrova, Elena Obratzsova, Elena Souliotis.
    Bad examples are: Maria Agresta, Anja Harteros, Elina Garanca, and Renata Scotto
    This is not really about old school vs. new school since some of the "bad" examples are older than/the same age as the "good" examples. It is mainly about open (pharyngeal) singing vs. restricted singing in the mask or throaty singing, or some combination of both.
  • Hudba

Komentáře • 243

  • @nelsonjoseperez-sosa8809
    @nelsonjoseperez-sosa8809 Před rokem +18

    Mirella Freni such a beautiful voice!

  • @pasqualeperrone1560
    @pasqualeperrone1560 Před 2 lety +29

    Love how you used Freni to open up this video. What a great role model for singers in how to promote vocal longevity.

    • @robert111k
      @robert111k Před rokem +3

      Vocal longevity is not a value for us, the audiences. Vocal excellence is the goal. If a particular singer can excell for thirty years, good on him/her. If It is just for ten years, let's enjoy those ten years and then look for another excellent one.

    • @pasqualeperrone1560
      @pasqualeperrone1560 Před rokem +3

      I don’t necessarily agree with the whole discarding of singers after they burn out, especially when young. If an artist has great technique, they’ll have consistent and thrilling performances because they’ll have all of the colors and dynamics their voice is capable of. The highs, the lows, the pianissimi and fortissimi.

    • @Twisterjoe
      @Twisterjoe Před rokem +2

      @@robert111k We should certainly not confuse self destruction with dramatic thrill. Music is not a demolition derby. With the exception of Souliotis, the "good" singers had long careers because the artistry of their singing was safer than hurling untamed passions at the audience.

    • @ER1CwC
      @ER1CwC Před rokem +1

      @@Twisterjoe In other words, vocal excellence is vocal health!

  • @e.l.2734
    @e.l.2734 Před rokem +5

    My dear God, the pianissimi by Souliotti are something to behold.

  • @LigeiaNoire
    @LigeiaNoire Před rokem +13

    Swallowed up voice is a perfect term because that's exactly how it sounds. On a different note Obraztsova and Demitrova... no words. Thunderous voices!

    • @raynardi2326
      @raynardi2326 Před rokem +3

      La agresta sembra quasi mezzo tono sotto la freni

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před rokem +2

      @@raynardi2326
      It’s core versus woofy ”mellow”

  • @daphnebeloved
    @daphnebeloved Před 2 lety +21

    Mirella Freni was so good!

  • @vladtepes71
    @vladtepes71 Před 3 lety +61

    Sadly, the public is now conditioned to perceive that muffled, “gargling” singing as normal. Thus I imagine many shrugged their shoulders at the first comparison pair.

    • @russpenney5775
      @russpenney5775 Před 2 lety +4

      I must agree. As a Verdi singer I was taught that all of Verdi is rooted in the Belcanto. Slender, legato singing. Released high notes. Open throat and steady airflow.Then, the voice must be Big enough Naturally. No trying to simulate size of instrument. Freni!!

  • @BaroneVitellioScarpia1
    @BaroneVitellioScarpia1 Před 3 lety +58

    Elena Obraztsova is amazing!

  • @hermajesty52
    @hermajesty52 Před 2 lety +25

    NO fair!!!! Scotto.......she was a fabulous singer in her early years. just like Souliotis was in her early years. Compare apples to apples not oranges.

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před rokem +6

      No she was a dark lyric squeeking high notes and then a wobbly tiny ridiculous something else wannabe.

    • @JosephGiarusso
      @JosephGiarusso Před 17 dny

      Exactly! In all her early recordings she sang from the chest- only after 1975 did she start pushing into the mask. But the same can be said of Callas and Tebaldi.

  • @Tygelin86
    @Tygelin86 Před rokem +6

    The c6# or whatever that high note was in 7:35 is the most beautiful thing i've ever heard. This woman have fantastic voice.

  • @quisnessness
    @quisnessness Před rokem +9

    I think like there's some modern expectation for opera to sound... Old? I feel like a lot of the modern "divas" sing in a way that sounds like an old person singing. The exaggerated trembly vibrato, deepened tone, wobbly high notes, visible strain... common things that even very good singers develop in their old age, but now have become the norm for opera singing. If you listen to the recordings of the great singers when they're past their prime, they sound a lot like modern singers who are supposedly in their prime.

  • @wallenstein6294
    @wallenstein6294 Před 3 lety +14

    By the way: Scotto and Souliotis studied with the same teacher (like Cossotto, Moffo, Kraus, Vinco) : Mercedes Llopard.

  • @user-iw7mn4qe6n
    @user-iw7mn4qe6n Před 2 lety +20

    I'm not convinced that we could compare a recorded version (Souliotis) with a live performance (Scotto). It is unfair, somehow.

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 2 lety +15

      Scotto's is still not a live performance of the opera either, it is only a concert. Regardless good technique is good technique; being outside of a a studio setting doesn't suddenly make you incapable of correctly pronouncing vowels.

    • @rugby8-Philadelphia
      @rugby8-Philadelphia Před 2 lety +1

      Absofreakinglutely agree!

    • @iluvpepi
      @iluvpepi Před rokem

      What is the name of the aria that they’re singing?

    • @kurtgarmaker3719
      @kurtgarmaker3719 Před 9 měsíci

      It was unfair.. but scotto sang that role at the end of her career and she was just terrible. Soulitis better but she was young.. and it four years she could not sing

    • @kamaori
      @kamaori Před 7 měsíci +1

      @@iluvpepi
      It’s “Una macchia è qui tuttora”, the mad scene from the Verdi’s opera Macbeth. You do should listen to it sung by Callas.

  • @daphnebeloved
    @daphnebeloved Před 3 lety +29

    Ghena Dimitrova was a force of nature, a phenomenon!And ana hartero s voice is tough, hard, constricted, unnatural and not free...

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před rokem +2

      Harteros is a lyric doing almost everything wrong

  • @eberlinpascal2837
    @eberlinpascal2837 Před 3 lety +15

    Freni est merveilleuse ici .L'autre est catastrophique en comparaison .

  • @draganvidic2039
    @draganvidic2039 Před 3 lety +31

    Maria Agresta is far from Freni’s beautifully sung Desdemona here.

  • @SingerGeneLeonard
    @SingerGeneLeonard Před 3 lety +11

    I love Freni❤️

  • @stevecampo1618
    @stevecampo1618 Před rokem +8

    I was never a great admirer of Renata Scotto. With that said, I must admit that early on she was a great artist. I saw her many times, most memorably as Lady Macbeth in 1982 or 1983. As a rather petite figure on stage she made a compelling choice. Rather than underscoring the character’s nakedly aggressive ambitions, she fully embraced the woman’s sexuality as the primary mechanism for achieving her ends. She virtually dripped in delicious obscenity, at moments rendering her husband pathetic and powerless.

    • @Twisterjoe
      @Twisterjoe Před rokem

      I saw her Lady M also. It was so incredibly compelling. Her musicality, and use of pianissimo to convey the wilting femininity, and sensuality became the silenced terror of her sleepwalking scene. Somehow one did not hear the flaws in the voice when watching her total performance. I don't remember a single quaver in the house, but I hear them on recording. She was a power on stage that I miss. And as Lady M, in one of her on stage bows to the floor in character, one of her breasts fell out of her costume, in a delightful wardrobe malfunction. She seemed to giggle and just pop it back in. She was so comfortable with herself on the stage.

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před rokem +3

      She just don’t had half of the voice required for her chosen roles…
      Horrible.

  • @VitaKoreneva
    @VitaKoreneva Před 2 lety +6

    The deterioration of opera is devastating! At the very least keeping the pitch should be a minimum barrier to entry to the stage! Then, a developed instrument from top to bottom. Disappearing resonance is a common culprit in modern operatic singing.

  • @bodiloto
    @bodiloto Před 2 lety +16

    Il video con la Dimitrova e realizzato in una sala che ha 4000 posti …
    Mi ricordo una Norma /versione concerto/ della stessa sala tutti artisti Baltza e company cantavano davanti un microfono.
    L’unica che non aveva microfono era la Dimitrova, di più durante tutta la recita si sentiva solo la sua voce…
    Incredibile ma vero.
    il vecchio

  • @Winnepausakee
    @Winnepausakee Před 2 lety +16

    These may be tortured comparisons in one sense: Obratsova would have been much better in comparison to those of her era (and any other era) not just better than Garanca.....I could never understand how Scotta got a professional contract...any era

    • @catbird-dq7ri
      @catbird-dq7ri Před 2 lety +5

      And sadly she's the soprano on so many recordings with an otherwise good cast.

    • @annaruocco8097
      @annaruocco8097 Před rokem +1

      @@catbird-dq7ri If you ever heard her in the house you would know why she had a thirty year career, just made some very bad chooses of roles at the last ten years of it.

    • @aaronmckone8973
      @aaronmckone8973 Před rokem

      Michael Phelps was generally way better than any other swimmer in his era. We didn’t say “oh well he’s just so much better than everyone, so let’s just focus our attention to a more ‘average’ swimmer instead.” No we celebrated him as he broke records and become the most decorated Olympian ever, still the most decorated swimmer to this day. And we didn’t say he’s too good to be the bar. No everyone, swimmers and spectators, raised the bar, as has always been done by athletes as world records are constantly broken. We acknowledge that they stood above the rest, we celebrate them, and we study them to try and understand their greatness so that others might one day surpass it and viewers can continue to be thrilled and excited. So yes, she may have been much much better than everyone else singing in her time, so that’s all the more reason to hold it up as a standard, to try to understand it and learn from it, rather than to say whelp she was just too good, let’s not waste our time trying to learn from it.

    • @JosephDoody1
      @JosephDoody1 Před 6 měsíci

      She's auditioning for you here 😉 czcams.com/video/uPCsdakFVsM/video.htmlsi=52uq9xjWNJc10hsK

  • @rosemaryallen2128
    @rosemaryallen2128 Před 2 lety +2

    I recall a jingle from childhood: 'When she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad, she was horrid!'

    • @lizlanman47
      @lizlanman47 Před rokem

      No, it's Mae West: "When I m good, I'm very good; but when I m bad I'm better."

  • @Laura-cq1np
    @Laura-cq1np Před 5 měsíci

    God! I really don't know if watching the extraordinaries singers or the so interesting and accomplishing commentaries; this is not so often, learning from commentaries; they knew what are they talking, thanks, " glorious" !!

  • @ransomcoates546
    @ransomcoates546 Před 2 lety +11

    Did people notice Kaufmann start to make an extremely ‘ingolata’ attack? (I heard Suliotis in her American debut as Elena, and then as Norma. The voice was loud, but there were very obvious technical problems from the start. As Norma she was booed by a normally very polite audience.)

    • @Paulofibonelli
      @Paulofibonelli Před 2 lety +5

      she tried to embody maria callas at great costs to her voice. this was a pity, she had a beautiful voice, very intense low register and a pure higher tones

    • @GordonLF
      @GordonLF Před 2 lety +4

      Yes, at 1:59. He was getting ready for it a few instants earlier and it was too noticeable for good acting.

    • @Yves_Ka
      @Yves_Ka Před 2 lety +2

      Her Norma at Carnegie was a hot mess - she didnt really recover from that

    • @pietrobrunetto334
      @pietrobrunetto334 Před rokem +3

      It would have been unusual if Kaufmann DIDN'T start to make an extremely ingolato attack. He's a great artist, but he's certainly not the best example of good singing technique around.

    • @GordonLF
      @GordonLF Před rokem

      @@pietrobrunetto334 Which are the best examples of good singing technique in your opinion? It's been years since I last heard on stage live singing from the chest instead of the nose, or even good covering.

  • @daphnebeloved
    @daphnebeloved Před 3 lety +9

    Obratzova, other force of nature!

  • @kimmillard9445
    @kimmillard9445 Před 2 lety +5

    Why is there a half step difference between Freni and Agresta??

  • @daphnebeloved
    @daphnebeloved Před 3 lety +15

    Maria agrestas voice sounds like genre musical kind of voice with sound inhancement, there is no body, squilo, chiaro scuro, density,sounds like popoera singers, the sound is hollow, no overtones and sounds audible because of sound enhancement...and her high notes are constricted, screamy and distorted due to some hidden microphone, it is not naturally resound freely...and her voice is vertical, doesnt project, and no legato...If she sang in the 30,40,50 with no sound tecnologyshe couldnt be heard in the Second row,It would bê heard a muffled,indistinguished Timbre ,a Very hollow muffled sound.

    • @russpenney5775
      @russpenney5775 Před 2 lety +1

      You render what is, in my opinion, too harsh a critique. It is easy to attack singers. We all try to do our best. If some people fall short, it is NOT a character flaw. If we think one girl is prettier than another, it is not because of any virtue in one or lack of goodness in another. Much of what we are we are born with. Charity goes a long way in commentary.

    • @Yves_Ka
      @Yves_Ka Před 2 lety +1

      Freni always had an intrinsically beautiful voice, though and through and Agresta's voice is definitely not anywhere as beautiful. I therefore also find the criticism about her sing being good or bad as not hitting the mark, Some singers just have more beautiful voice timbres than others.

    • @XPRT10R
      @XPRT10R Před 4 měsíci

      ​@@russpenney5775 Not too harsh. It's actually very accurate and spot on.

  • @KrysP125
    @KrysP125 Před 2 lety +5

    Is the current method of teaching opera singing new. (i.e., over the last 50 or so years)? It seems so prevalent that it can't be a coincidence - screeching sopranos, overuse of vibrato, extreme effort visible to the audience, appalling lower registers for sopranos, limited range). It reminds of current Broadway singers. Broadway sopranos sound like Disney characters - all nasally and difficult to distinguish one from an other.

  • @jiwanhawk
    @jiwanhawk Před 16 dny

    Omg Freni… Freni, she is inmortal, specially for these roles, it’s old school singing

  • @johnryskamp2943
    @johnryskamp2943 Před rokem +2

    The bad singers sing as if they are trying to put on an uncomfortable pair of shoes, which makes me want to put on a comfortable pair of ear plugs.

  • @SingerGeneLeonard
    @SingerGeneLeonard Před rokem +1

    That soprano opposite Freni has a Huge wobble !!

  • @daphnebeloved
    @daphnebeloved Před 3 lety +12

    Elena suliotis in her short prime was so good!

  • @wallenstein6294
    @wallenstein6294 Před 3 lety +12

    Well. I doubt, if an unsupported singing like Souliotis' can be an example for "Good Singing". Her voice was gone by the age, when Harteros started to sing heavier stuff, and she does now most successfully for more then 20 years. Or Scotto: true, singing all these dramatic parts was clearly not the "healthy" choice for a lirico leggiero, but by the time of the "Macbeth" in NY she was fifty (and 30 years most successfully on stage). Souliotis' carreer ended at the age of 30. Singing without technique had damaged her voice, as she herself frankly admitted in interviews later. Here carreer lasted just 9 years.

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +7

      Sure Harteros is "successful" but she has terrible technique. If we were measuring quality of the voice by how successful commercially someone is, then we would say that Kaufmann is great too…She has bad technique, so does Scotto - the length of the career doesn't matter, the quality of the voice does.
      Definitely Souliotis had problems, but on that recording she sounds good and is exemplifying better technique than Scotto who is singing restricted and in the mask… it doesn't matter whether overall Souliotis had problems, but she definitely does not sing "without technique" as you say - lots of singers have problems with their voice, even if they have solid technique at the beginning, and have to retire early or have a severe decline in their technique (like Tebaldi or Callas, or even Corelli who could have had a longer career, but retired only at 50).
      Souliotis' problem was that she started singing too early when her technique wasn't really solid, despite having laid the foundations of really excellent technique - if she had waited a few years she would have been better able to sustain the heavy load of parts she was taking.

    • @Paulofibonelli
      @Paulofibonelli Před 2 lety +4

      Souliotis' fault was her insistance to sing very dark roles many many times, giving no time to her voice to recover. Also she sang Abigail more than anyone else and this is general understanding that it's quite a harmful role, even Callas confirmed as much. she always had technical issues of course but I desagree when it comes to vocal support. I think she had quite solid vocal basis and great breath support, only problem though is that she"jumped the gun" but she was not to blame entirely. Even Callas let the side down many times by her unique aproach to the roles, even always driving the audience crazy and she payed the price without a doubt. Souliotis tried to do the same which was not sensible from her part but she managed to leave the best performance of Abigail ever IMHO

    • @jeffreymiller4814
      @jeffreymiller4814 Před 2 lety +4

      I agree with Wallenstein 100%.
      I also remember when Suliotis’ first Decca lp with the Anna Bolena final scene on it was first released. It was universally crucified, although I really liked her Luisa Miller aria. Her complete Nabucco with Gobbi is certainly good because she was only 22, and singing on the muscular resiliency of youth. That’s a VERY expensive price to pay. The Cavalleria with Del Monaco is quite thrilling too, for the same reason. Macbeth with DFD (🤮) replacing Gobbi is HER last acceptable recording. DFD ruins it, alas. I also like the “abridged” Decca Norma with Cossotto and MDM, but most people consider it a party record. The Anna Bolena with Ghiaurov is a crying shame, really. Her final recording, the Principessa in Suor with Freni is a total embarrassment and should never have been allowed. They should have tried to get Eileen Farrell.
      Ms. S. WAS able to take the high D in Norma trio and the Bolena Act 1 finale on recording. Not sure about “live”.
      I guess she had a “technique” of sorts…but it let her down big time.

    • @JohnHutchinsontas
      @JohnHutchinsontas Před 2 lety

      @@Paulofibonelli I have to agree with your comment about her Abigail. The most electrifying recording available.

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před rokem

      @@francisca1378
      People don’t get this.
      Thanks for your effort.

  • @Altonahh10
    @Altonahh10 Před 2 lety +12

    Scotto had a good technique early on, but already as Gilda you could hear the problems she had. That never bothered me, however, but I perceived it as a character. Scotto's Puccini portraits are so exciting that it sizzles, her Adriana L. is of course not as palatable as Freni's, but of a passion that can't be topped. Accordingly, she sings the duet with Obraztsova almost on the edge of her vocal cords. Expression is what counts with Scotto, less the beauty or correctness of the voice.

    • @rugby8-Philadelphia
      @rugby8-Philadelphia Před 2 lety +4

      LOVE that about her!!!

    • @cristino2oo8
      @cristino2oo8 Před 2 lety +8

      I understand that the sound of her voice may seem unattractive to some people, but her musicality and the importance she gives to words make her one of my favorite singers... at any stage of her career

    • @rugby8-Philadelphia
      @rugby8-Philadelphia Před 2 lety +3

      @@cristino2oo8
      Absofreakinglutely!
      😎😎😎

  • @hanslick3375
    @hanslick3375 Před 2 lety +16

    None of these singers are bad. Some are great. Some are mediocre.
    You're mostly comparing voices of different size. A lighter voice can't necessarily do what a heavier voice can.
    You're absolutely right that singing technique has deteriorated over the last 70 years. However, this is not the fault of the singers. It's mostly due to massive deterioration of vocal pedagogy. Sometimes I'm amazed that today's singers are able to sing at all and not lose their voice immediately with the kind of "technique" they were taught.

    • @jefolson6989
      @jefolson6989 Před 2 lety +10

      True. All singers have my respect. To follow your dreams and stand on a stage and sing, knowing you will be subjected to this kind of scrutiny and criticism takes courage. They actually DO it, and can call themselves opera singers. Arm chair critics who have never sung a note and bitchy opera queens who travel the world attending opera, not liking any of it, have always been the core opera audience. They buy tickets and recordings. They love to hate it, and it's always been that way. When Caruso appeared, they said " well, he's no Jan de Reszke". It's part of the fun, but these videos should be called " singers I like vs singers I don't. " its an opinion, not a statement of fact. One person's screaming diva is another's Zinka Milanov! Some of these videos that make proclamations concerning vocal production are just wrong, and rather shocking in their ignorance. CZcams , though great, is also a forum in which anyone is free to show the world how stupid they are. The question I can't answer is WHY DO I WATCH?

    • @Yves_Ka
      @Yves_Ka Před 2 lety +4

      Freni always had an intrinsically beautiful voice, though and through and Agresta's voice is definitely not anywhere as beautiful. I therefore also find the criticism about her sing being good or bad as not hitting the mark, Some singers just have more beautiful voice timbres than others.

    • @margaritatorrealdaysuescun6153
      @margaritatorrealdaysuescun6153 Před 2 lety

      @@jefolson6989 suscribo absolutamente hasta la última coma de tu comentario!

    • @jefolson6989
      @jefolson6989 Před 2 lety

      @@margaritatorrealdaysuescun6153 translation? Thank you for your comment!

    • @tulycreme
      @tulycreme Před rokem

      @@jefolson6989 Margaritas's saying that she completeley agrees with what you wrote. So do I!

  • @charlescoleman5509
    @charlescoleman5509 Před 2 lety +3

    Wow! Maria Agresta is singing it a half step down!

    • @brandonjla5190
      @brandonjla5190 Před 2 lety +1

      It's the just pitch on the compilation clip. I just played the same scene on my DVD of this performance and it's correctly pitched.

    • @Yves_Ka
      @Yves_Ka Před 2 lety +1

      Probably purposefully doctored to make her sound shitty

  • @juanclorduy9821
    @juanclorduy9821 Před 3 lety +6

    La Scotto no tenía la mejor técnica. Pero yo le perdono todo. Una actriz como ella imposible de encontrar hoy.

    • @user-vt5qn2tl3o
      @user-vt5qn2tl3o Před 2 lety +1

      Скотто в молодости была супер-прекрасна!

  • @xxluchino
    @xxluchino Před rokem

    whats the name of the last aria?

  • @user-jt4js7ed3e
    @user-jt4js7ed3e Před 3 lety +7

    Образцова - казка. Гена Дімітрова.. Еліночка Гаранча...(але ненавиджу "сучасне прочитання", котре дорівнює - перегадити класику.. Слухати з закритими очима. Хорошії дівчаточка. Спасибі.

  • @ryotasakai653
    @ryotasakai653 Před 2 lety +1

    What’s the last aria that Souliotis and Scotto sing?

    • @Arrigo1971
      @Arrigo1971 Před 2 lety +4

      Verdi- Macbeth : Una macchia è qui tuttora.

    • @stevecampo1618
      @stevecampo1618 Před rokem

      I was never a great admirer of Renata Scotto. With that said, I must admit that early on she was a great artist. I saw her many times, most memorably as Lady Macbeth in 1982 or 1983. As a rather petite figure on stage she made a compelling choice. Rather than underscoring the character’s nakedly aggressive ambitions, she fully embraced the woman’s sexuality as the primary mechanism for achieving her ends. She virtually dripped in delicious obscenity, at moments rendering her husband pathetic and powerless.

  • @romearomeo
    @romearomeo Před 2 lety +4

    Non sono però tanto d'accordo a mettere una Renata Scotto insieme alla Agresta, Harteros, Garanca...la Scotto è tutto un'altro livello...soprattutto musicalmente e come interprete dei ruoli...

    • @gualtier32
      @gualtier32 Před 2 lety +1

      Soprattutto a confronto della Suliotis che è stata una mera meteora anche per l’organizzazione fallace della tecnica!!

  • @MrTrackman100
    @MrTrackman100 Před 2 lety +2

    Scotto's last high note!!!!!

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před 2 lety +8

      Yes very thin and barely sung.
      For once a correct one according to the score.

  • @jeffwoodward248
    @jeffwoodward248 Před rokem +1

    At least Marilyn Horne wasn't a KGB agent.

  • @vangogh66110
    @vangogh66110 Před 2 lety

    What's the name of the aria Freni was singing?

    • @Mirabelliana
      @Mirabelliana Před 2 měsíci

      I'm a bit late but it's a duet from Verdi's Otello, già nella notte densa.

  • @victoriagrapsidou3474
    @victoriagrapsidou3474 Před 3 lety +7

    Callas, Souliotis,Troyanos, Verrett,Gencer ..the best in Eboli, lady Macbeth, Nabucco..etc..

    • @brunopicaude3092
      @brunopicaude3092 Před 3 lety +1

      Suliotis had an incredible voice and her interpretations were very exciting but... she had no technic and destroyed her voice conscientiously in a few years. Later, she tried to make a come back as a mezzo but there was nothing to do; the vibrato had become enormous and the voice was dislocated.

  • @silvialengova
    @silvialengova Před 2 lety +2

    Mirella😍

  • @davidjaraba5936
    @davidjaraba5936 Před 3 lety +1

    What is that opera Elina Garanca was singing?

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +3

      Don Carlo

    • @caseyfranco3959
      @caseyfranco3959 Před 3 lety +1

      Princess Ebolis first aria in the opera

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +4

      @@caseyfranco3959 yes, and in the french version not the italian (always sounds… weird to me).

    • @christophecesar4761
      @christophecesar4761 Před 3 lety +1

      @@francisca1378 The French version is very beautiful... when it's sung in French!
      Maybe you know Verdi even wrote the 4 acts version (Milano 1884) on the French lyrics.
      Toi qui sus le néant sounds much better than Tu che le vanita

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +3

      @@christophecesar4761 yes, I do love to hear the french version, which is rarely preformed! But I speak french fluently and I can't understand a word of that production….
      The original 5 act was written in french, then revised into the 4 act version in Italian.
      Although I do have to say my favourite version is the 5 act french version but translated into italian! (also rarely preformed!)

  • @ER1CwC
    @ER1CwC Před 3 lety +13

    Garanca never really developed her chest register, but I still think there are a lot of good qualities to her singing. And her upper register is actually quite sizeable. I heard her at the Met in Samson, and the higher notes filled the hall; the lower register, however, was inaudible. Still, I do appreciate that she at least tries to sing with her chest. The same cannot be said for many singers nowadays.
    I get that Scotto could be very masky, but I am inclined to say that her earlier performances in the lyric repertory were excellent. In this excerpt, she was clearly over-the-hill, singing a dramatic role that she should not have touched. Yes, there were many roles she shouldn’t have touched!
    If I recall correctly, Souliotis’s lack of consistency was a huge problem when recording Macbeth. No one knew what shape her voice would be in day to day. So whenever she showed up in good voice, they immediately recorded her stuff, knowing that her voice could basically vanish at any moment.

    • @raphaelpisano5462
      @raphaelpisano5462 Před 2 lety

      Garanca has now developed a real chest voice : I heard her as Principessa di Bouillon at Wiener Staatsoper a few weeks ago and it was wonderful singing !

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před 2 lety +2

      @@raphaelpisano5462
      Never heard a correct chestvoice from her sorry…

    • @raphaelpisano5462
      @raphaelpisano5462 Před 2 lety

      @@draganvidic2039 when did you hear her last ? In November in Vienna she gave some really good low notes

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před 2 lety

      @@raphaelpisano5462 See above

    • @whyeven919
      @whyeven919 Před 2 lety

      @@raphaelpisano5462 I also saw her then! She was amazing, you could hear everything very well. I agree on her Dalila being a bit weak in the lower register, but it‘s a bit unfair to compare an Eboli she had to sing in French with Obraztsova, who no Verdi mezzo could touch, not even Baltsa or Troyanos…

  • @saelind73
    @saelind73 Před 4 měsíci

    Souliotis una meraviglia.😍

  • @lissettejimenez7821
    @lissettejimenez7821 Před 3 lety +2

    Are the keys different in the Otello?

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +1

      I don't believe so…

    • @lissettejimenez7821
      @lissettejimenez7821 Před 3 lety +2

      @@francisca1378 It's probably because the timbre is so different that I'm hearing a change in pitch. Or... lol, I need my coffee already.

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +3

      @@lissettejimenez7821 honestly, i listened to it again and I thought actually they were different keys, too! But i checked it with a piano and (I think) it is the same! yea, probably just the really different sound of the voice…. weird how much it changes the way the music sounds..

    • @oliverdelica2289
      @oliverdelica2289 Před 3 lety +3

      From what I'm hearing, the new version sings in the key of G and Freni's is in Ab

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +3

      @@oliverdelica2289 … right, isn't it? I can't think though why they transposed it down? Maybe to make the high note at the end for Kaufmann easier?

  • @MarcoS-gk9nw
    @MarcoS-gk9nw Před 6 měsíci

    After being at La Scala for Don Carlo I had to cure my soul and thanks to this videos I have realized that I am not the only one to think that the so called stars of our days has taken the art of singing to a level really embarrassing. Am I the only one thinking that Anna sometime has troubles to keep the right tune of the melody ?

  • @pabloperdomo5174
    @pabloperdomo5174 Před rokem +1

    Totally unfair the comparison of Souliotis with the great Scotto. Souliotis had a great and beautiful voice which she lost in just six years of career for singing heavy roles too young and not having a good technique. On the other hand, Scotto sang Lady Macbeth (not her best chocie) after 25 years of singing Bel Canto and Verismo. Souliotis was a sort of a big lyric-spinto while Scotto had a Light Lyric instrument with a magnificent coloratura skills. You obviously hate Scotto.

  • @janosvas8597
    @janosvas8597 Před 2 lety

    Ich meinte vorhin Renata Tebaldi (und Franco Corelli dazu)

  • @whyeven919
    @whyeven919 Před 2 lety +5

    No one, I repeat, no one could even TOUCH Obraztsova‘s Eboli. She was leagues better in that role than Troyanos or even Baltsa. I just think that it‘s a bit unfair to even compare Garanca to her, as she was singing it in French in the clip you‘ve shown and as that was her worst performance… Additionally, Garanca‘s Eboli might not be the best, but her Santuzza is amazing. She‘s not an example of modern opera singing in decline, I just wish she would stick to the roles that suit her.

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před 2 lety +2

      Garanca is horrible.
      A spinto soprano trained as lyric mezzo now screaming dramatic mezzo roles.

    • @whyeven919
      @whyeven919 Před 2 lety +1

      @@draganvidic2039 Garanca has been my favourite singer for a long time. I love her Rossini and Mozart, but also the slightly heavier roles of Charlotte and Carmen. She is a great actor, both physically and vocally and has a warm, mellow timbre. I do wish she wouldn’t attempt to sing roles that are too heavy for her, I don’t think Eboli or Bouillon suit her. But I’ll have to disagree on her being a spinto soprano, as I have been listening to her when she was very young all the way to now, her high register stems from her great technique, it is only in the middle register that she sounds “like herself”. Her vocal character is clearly mezzo and her passaggi also indicate it. Her chest voice isn’t strong, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a mezzo, it just means that her voice isn’t developed and suited for dramatic roles, a soprano can (and should!) also have chest voice… It’s just a damn shame she’s singing dramatic repertoire a lot right now. Her Kundry is good, though.

  • @scottjohnson4850
    @scottjohnson4850 Před 3 lety +2

    What is the aria Ghena Dimitrova is singing?

  • @jiwanhawk
    @jiwanhawk Před 16 dny

    Don’t touch Scotto, she was the most complete soprano

  • @Wotan123456789
    @Wotan123456789 Před 3 lety +4

    To compare Freni at her peak to anyone else... not fair.
    However, I heard Harteros live many times and I love her Elisabetta

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +9

      Agresta is awful, and so is Harteros … I've heard her live many times too - very nasal, constricted singing.

    • @Wotan123456789
      @Wotan123456789 Před 3 lety +1

      @@francisca1378 this is silly

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +6

      @@Wotan123456789 i don't agree with you, so it is silly… okay. you convinced me.

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před 2 lety +3

      @@francisca1378
      Many people love bad singing

  • @GordonLF
    @GordonLF Před 2 lety +1

    Agresta lands flat and empty with her Desdemona, worsened IMO by the electronic amplification. Same for Harteros's Elizabeth. Maestro Verdi would not have approved.

  • @baspetiana
    @baspetiana Před 2 lety

    What about Joyce Didonato?

    • @oliverdelica2289
      @oliverdelica2289 Před 2 lety

      I hope we have no hard feelings. But not up to standard compared to the great mezzos

    • @baspetiana
      @baspetiana Před 2 lety

      @@oliverdelica2289 not bad feelings. My question is completely naïf , I want just now if Joyce Didonato have a good technique or not.

    • @annaruocco8097
      @annaruocco8097 Před rokem

      @@baspetiana Joyce has great technique but she is not a Verdi voice which is what is being compared here.

    • @draganvidic2039
      @draganvidic2039 Před rokem

      Soprano corto.
      Caprino.
      Bad.

  • @wiesawrudnicki5303
    @wiesawrudnicki5303 Před rokem +1

    Desdemona oczywiscie FRENI Elzbieta HARTEROS Eboli remis Lady Makbet SOULIOTIS szkoda ze pominal Terese ZYLIS GARE jako Desdemone

  • @nataliakatalitskaya5203
    @nataliakatalitskaya5203 Před 2 lety +1

    It’s Obraztsova, not Obratzsova.

  • @giancarloparis1759
    @giancarloparis1759 Před 2 lety +5

    mi spiace ma Renata Scotto è bravissima nel fraseggio e molto più ferigna ... la amo

    • @daphnebeloved
      @daphnebeloved Před 2 lety +2

      I like her fraseggio as well

    • @fulvioarborio9578
      @fulvioarborio9578 Před 2 lety

      Lasciamo stare i confronti (Souliotis era molto più giovane), ma il vibrato irregolare della Scotto è il segno evidente di una voce in forte declino

  • @GabrielaJorge30
    @GabrielaJorge30 Před 10 měsíci +1

    The excess of vibratto is also a huge difference between free and constricted singing. I feel many, many singers (especially modern vocalists) tend to over-use vibrato when I believe it should only be a consequence of unrestrained sound.

  • @GordonLF
    @GordonLF Před 2 lety +1

    0:33 Agresta is babbling out of tune. How is she allowed to get on stage? Edited: again at 1:02

  • @johnryskamp2943
    @johnryskamp2943 Před rokem +2

    Have you noticed that your bad singers are often flat? Just flat out flat. Girls, do try to hit the notes. The score is not a bib.

  • @Desmosfundraw
    @Desmosfundraw Před 3 lety +9

    4:25 - 4:28 so irritating , this is yawning not singing , go home and take a nap dear

    • @esterbruno8604
      @esterbruno8604 Před 3 lety +10

      This is even worse 5:11

    • @arnoldamaral3814
      @arnoldamaral3814 Před 3 lety +5

      @@esterbruno8604 You said it 🤷🏃🏃🏃 poor Lady. Arnold Bourbon Amaral

  • @lawrencejhutchinson
    @lawrencejhutchinson Před 2 lety +1

    Best Verdi sopranos: Sutherland, Callas, and Rysanek

    • @toscadonna
      @toscadonna Před rokem +5

      Ponselle, Dimitrova, Callas

    • @XPRT10R
      @XPRT10R Před 4 měsíci

      Hahah Sutherland scs rysenek best verdi singers?? Come off it!

  • @williamparsons8535
    @williamparsons8535 Před rokem

    Mature Scotto is generally bad, in her early years she was good.

  • @mattiheiskanen597
    @mattiheiskanen597 Před rokem

    No one knows how it should listen like now adays. A step at the time destroys

  • @christophecesar4761
    @christophecesar4761 Před 3 lety +3

    You are unfair : Maria Agresta is a far better Desdemona than Kaufmann an Otello 😜
    PS 1: and Garanka is incomprehensible (and I'm French!)
    PS 2 : thanks for my so loved Elena Souliotis 😍❤️💖💕

    • @francisca1378
      @francisca1378  Před 3 lety +5

      well Agresta is good at… rubbing Jonas Kaufmann's shoulders??? ahah

    • @oliverdelica2289
      @oliverdelica2289 Před 3 lety +1

      You had me at Agresta being a far better Desdemona ngl 😂

    • @claudiotracchia3346
      @claudiotracchia3346 Před 10 měsíci

      Maybe you are an Agresta hater. I heard her live in Naples and she was really moving. Furthermore I heard her in Traviata with a beautiful high E flat and a spectacular Gemma di Vergy in an absolutely integral version. A singer should be heard live and not through a site which compresses voices. You can say whatever you like about Scotto but she is Lady Macbeth and ends the scene in pianissimo as Verdi wanted. Suliotis is not Lady Macbeth. She ends the scene with a high B flat forte and has some fixed sounds. @@francisca1378

  • @vegtamvanderveg
    @vegtamvanderveg Před 11 měsíci +1

    What can one do? You go through the program so you can get auditions, but they wreck your voice in the process. These days you have to jump through their hoops. That's why most of the modern singers sound awful. I think the answer is to bring opera back to the small stage, more numerous small stages, as in the 1800s.

    • @rdberg1957
      @rdberg1957 Před 5 měsíci

      I've seen operas on small stages with a few hundred rather than 3,000 in the audience. I enjoy it much more.

  • @maxcornise7204
    @maxcornise7204 Před 2 lety

    Agresta sounds like Florence Foster Jenkins.

    • @Yves_Ka
      @Yves_Ka Před 2 lety

      Because the video has been doctored to play in a lower key - that would be enough to make any singer sound shitty

  • @user-tk9bc9dw6k
    @user-tk9bc9dw6k Před 2 měsíci

    音准音准音准

  • @mapjunior1722
    @mapjunior1722 Před 6 měsíci

    In this video, Scotto is much better and more expressive than Suliotis

  • @tiagodelode9368
    @tiagodelode9368 Před 2 lety +1

    O sea. algo así como cierren todas las casas de opera. la opera ya se murió. es un absurdo. está todo bien que te gusten solo las glorias del pasado, a mi tambien me gustan, pero no es tan así como goog y bad. blanco y negro, sin educar el oido a diversidad de voces y estilos en el canto. evidentemente que escuchar opera no quiere decir que se tenga un oido refinado.

  • @laprimmadonna2341
    @laprimmadonna2341 Před rokem

    Pues, mira que la Garanca no me parece tan mal cantante…pero frente a la Reina Obraztsova…nada que hacer…mi reina es maravillosa❤❤❤❤Gracias por tu vídeo.

  • @SingerGeneLeonard
    @SingerGeneLeonard Před rokem

    The soprano opposite Dimitrova is pushing the bottom of her voice.

  • @SingerGeneLeonard
    @SingerGeneLeonard Před 3 lety +9

    I loved Scotto😢

  • @spevoljub
    @spevoljub Před 11 měsíci

    Suliotis mezzo? Never.

  • @alejandrotm
    @alejandrotm Před 2 lety +3

    No sé quién es esa Maria Agresta, pero da mucha grima al lado de Freni, que sin ser una soprano todoterreno de su tiempo, escogió ciertos papeles que le iban muy bien a su voz y le sacaba todo el partido así. Anja Harteros, otra que ni sé quién es, y que emite la voz de un modo tan feo que creo que ni a propósito. El vestuario minimalista tampoco ayuda a meterse en el papel me temo.
    Garanca aquí no suena tan mal si nos abstraemos de la versión de Obratzsova, pero de nuevo el vestuario no ayuda a meterse en el papel, y creo que Garanca es suficientemente actriz para meterse en un papel si lo visten correctamente.
    Scotto, pues sobrevalorada en su tiempo, creo que tanto ansiaba ser la sucesora de Callas que al final la que mucho abarca poco aprieta.

  • @jimeisenberg6701
    @jimeisenberg6701 Před 3 měsíci

    Really hate the endless comparisons...Every dog has their day! A live staging vs. a concert vs. a studio recording vs. a poorly recorded live performance. These are not equal situations, and a reliable, even exciting singer can have an off night. Modern stage directors have a lot to answer for, not allowing singers to focus physically. Phrasing may be more important than the individual note...Be more generous. It is hard to pump it out!

  • @DiomedesDioscuro
    @DiomedesDioscuro Před 3 lety +7

    Agresta es particularmente pésima. La soberbia de Scotto la llevo a mamarrachos imperdonables.

  • @m.l.rayito4000
    @m.l.rayito4000 Před rokem

    Mirella Freni emits with her voice artificially "in maschera", plus a slight intubation, with all the negative consequences that this has, in the overall quality of her singing (incomparable, for example, with Renata Tebaldi or Montserrat Caballe, in the same role. of Desdemona, in the Verdian Othello).
    Elena Souliotis is not a dramatic mezzo-soprano. For starters, there are no vocal subtypes in the lower and middle voices of women and men (mezzos, baritones, altos, and basses), they only exist in sopranos and tenors, and secondly, Souliotis is a dramatic soprano.
    Kind regards.

    • @user-jo6sm9mf4m
      @user-jo6sm9mf4m Před 10 měsíci

      Абсолютно невярно! Френи има блестяща техника, което значи да се пее в маската на отворено свободно гърло при здрава, но не форсирана опора на тона. Слава Богу, живеем във време, когато е технически възможно да проверим научно, че всичко това е точно това, което наричаме правилна техника на пеене. Много хора неправилно разбират пеенето в маската и го бъркат с грозното носово-гърлено звукообразуване.

    • @m.l.rayito4000
      @m.l.rayito4000 Před 6 měsíci

      @@user-jo6sm9mf4m Unfortunately we live in a time in which the ability of hearing to distinguish the sound of a correctly emitted voice from that of another that is not has been lost.
      And this is the reason why you (and many other people) think as you have tried to explain in your response to my comment.
      You talk about how today what you defend is scientifically demonstrable. However, you mix and equate concepts that are opposite and incompatible. The emission of the voice "in maschera" and an emission with the throat open and free are not synonyms; They are two physiologically incompatible facts. This statement shows that you are talking about things you have not experienced. If you had experienced it you would never have stated something like that.
      I also thought like you until someone taught me the natural, physiological mechanism of emission of the human voice, common in lyrical singing and theatrical declamation, when microphone manipulation did not yet exist.
      My advice is that, with humility and patience, investigate, discover, understand and accept this mechanism, and train your ear by listening to and comparing the same operatic fragment, over and over again, sung by an artist who emits the voice incorrectly and then by an artist who emits the voice correctly (example: Desdemona scene from the last act of Verdi's Otello sung by Mirella Freni and later sung by Renata Tebaldi or Montserrat Caballe).
      Kind regards.

  • @pavel_SMN
    @pavel_SMN Před 11 měsíci

    При всем уважении к Елене Васильевне, но она во многих партиях звучит, как медведь....Гаранча - бесподобна...

  • @zivoren8971
    @zivoren8971 Před 2 lety +2

    Elena Obratzsova - is bad mezzo soprano
    Elina Garanca - not bad in Rossini (not Verdi of cause)))
    Ghena Dimitrova - good example. I am confused
    Do not think, today there is some good Verdi performers
    barocco, yes, there some singers
    czcams.com/video/ww8gkHxCxoI/video.html
    czcams.com/video/c4DpYgG3FyM/video.html

  • @walterharper79
    @walterharper79 Před 2 lety

    Freni was OK but boring Scotto before the voice started to go she was exciting

  • @michelklein6961
    @michelklein6961 Před 2 lety +4

    Agresta is a disaster!!

    • @Yves_Ka
      @Yves_Ka Před 2 lety

      Because the video has been doctored to olay it in a lower key - that would be enough to make any singer sound shitty

  • @robertharvey8536
    @robertharvey8536 Před 2 lety +1

    Freni sings constantly behind the beat. Good voice, bad training.

    • @Yves_Ka
      @Yves_Ka Před 2 lety +1

      haha true, She spent too much time singing under Karajan who just used to follow her