100 Greatest Singers: HEDDLE NASH
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:48:54 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! English tenor Heddle Nash in this collection? Please comment!Heddle Nash, Tenor (1896-1961)Georges Bizet - Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The pearl fishers)Je crois entendre encore - sung in english - (Recorded 1944)My personal opinion: The tradition of great english singers is very long. Especially in the years between WW1 and WW2 we can find amazing tenors, most of them concentrated on oratorio, folk songs and ballads. To refresh my memory for this project, I once again heard the recordings of Evan Williams, Dan Beddoe, Walter Hyde, the wonderful Gervase Elwes, Walter Widdop, Tudor Davies, Richard Lewis, Joseph Hislop, Webster Booth and Heddle Nash, for me the most impressiv one.His voice was tentalising beauty, sweet as honey, outstanding in musicality and technical sovereignty (even when he sang foreign repertoire in english). In my opinion his performance of Nadirs romance (with wonderful mezza voce) is a highlight equivalent with Caruso, Gigli, Simoneau, Kraus and Gedda. I rate Nash as an excellent "tenore di grazia" in top five. What´s your impression of him?

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100 Greatest Singers: LOTTE LEHMANN
Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:22:42 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! German soprano Lotte Lehmann in this? Please comment!Lotte Lehmann, Soprano (1888-1976)Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy - Auf Flügeln des GesangesSong for voice and piano after a poem by Heinrich HeineFrom "Book of songs"Composed 1822-23(Recorded 1927)My personal opinion: "She owned the secret, the only secret we have: A pure heart. A sound from within her heart that goes direct to a listeners heart. It makes him happy".Words about Lotte Lehmann from an admirer. Words from Leo Slezak.It´s significant, critics rather wrote about the effects of Lotte Lehmanns singing than about her artistry. There was something magic in it. It was this intensive soulful tone only a very few possessed.The picture of her shows us a beautiful woman, an image according to her exceptional voice. But it would be deficient to reduce the soprano only to beautiful sounds. Lotte Lehmann was a performer of characters, a tragedian. She´d sung Wagner and italian heroines with same intensity as she did with Mozart. Walter Legge said, she never sang like a virginal maiden, what means, her singing expressed superior wisdom. When she performed the first Suor Angelica in vienna, Puccini wrote: "She´s indeed a german, but a fine and subtile artist easy and without affectations of a primadonna, with a voice sweet as honey".Lehmann first came to Metropolitan Opera at age 46 singing Sieglinde with Lauritz Melchior. In 1951 she interrupted a recital in New Yorks Town Hall, annunciated it was her last performance. The audience wept.Tears are all what´s left. We´re not having voices like hers anymore...

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100 Greatest Singers: JOHN McCORMACK
Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:08:45 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What do you think about John McCormack in this? Please let us know!John McCormack, Tenor (1884-1945)Gaetano Donizetti - La FavoritaSpirito gentil(Recorded 1909)My personal opinion: For many listeners the quality of John McCormacks voice isn´t recognizable immediately. It was a tiny, thin and nasal voice, sometimes near to an unappealing sound. And it seemed, McCormack didn´t like the opera stage: "I´m the worst actor in the world. There´re only a few roles I enjoy to play. My favourite is Rudolfo in La Bohème. He´s a real guy. I can sing him and feel myself as a human being. I can walk over the stage, my hands in my trouser pockets!" (Re-translation from german). American music critic Henry Pleasants described him as a "primitive": Extroverted, self-satisfied, always felt sorry for himself, reluctant against conduction, deaf against critic (Re-translation from german). There is an anecdote: As someone welcomed Caruso with the words "greatest singer", Caruso answered "But McCormack ins´t here!"McCormacks strenght was his ability, to told a story with music and singing. To play a part on stage in make-up and costume, it wasn´t his cup of tea. So it was evident, he became a better singer in concerts. In 1923 at age 39 he retired from the operatic stage (the real reasons remain speculative). He concentrated himself on England and Ireland, each of his innumerable folksong recordings became a great success and McCormack a millionaire. He made a movie and resided in luxury houses.Ernest Newmann wrote, only a few were able to recognized, what a great artist he was. He was perfect in little things, for McCormack always part of greater whole. He gave his performances sublime and artistry. Newmann said, "I never witness he was inelegant". Everyone talks about McCormacks "Il mio tesoro", indeed a masterpiece of singing "on the breath" with perfect controlled scales. We have it here on YouTube many times. But may I draw your attention of McCormacks "Spirito gentil", wherein he sang the first four phrases"Spirito gentil, ne´ sogni miei, brillasti un di, ma ti perdei"with only one long breath of air? The same with the next four phrases. This is what I call style and culture in the sense of belcanto. McCormacks legacy is filled with fine singing like that. Sometimes little unimposing things bring out the great!

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100 Greatest Singers: META SEINEMEYER
Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:38:40 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! To find Meta Seinemeyer in this collection, what´s your opinion? Please comment!Meta Seinemeyer, Soprano (1895-1929)Franz Schubert - Gretchen am SpinnradeComposed 1814, based on a selection of Goethe´s Faust(Recorded 1928)My personal opinion: The voice of Meta Seinemeyer was colored with tears and sorrow, a quality we know for instance from Caruso´s recording of "Cor´ngrato" or the singing of Kathleen Ferrier. It´s a sound that came from the bottom of the heart. Seinemeyers voice was unmistakeable, her timbré unique. It was a rich voice, luxuriant and luminiscent. Even the bad acoustic of her recordings are unable to make this unhearable.She died in 1929, only 34 years old. Although her career was a very short one, she left us some recordings with amazing singing. Verdi was her domain, she was one of the protagonists when in Dresden the Verdis Renaissance began. We have great recordings with her of "Pace, pace" and the Otello Love-Duet with Tino Pattiera, but I want to present you the amazing performance of Schuberts first successful song "Gretchen" (with orchestration). Some singers are saying that Verdi should be sing like a Schubert-Lied, with elegance and cantabile. Here, Seinemeyer sings Schubert like Verdi. I know these sample is already here on YouTube, but it´s one of her most thrilling legacys, and worth to hear it again, over and over!

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100 Greatest Singers: FEODOR CHALIAPIN
Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:19:22 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! Feodor Chaliapin here in this collection? What do you think? Please comment!Feodor Chaliapin, bass (1873-1938)Charles Gounod - FaustLe veau d´or(Recording date so far unknown)My personal opinion: Chaliapin was the real "Phantom of the opera", just like his contemporary Lon Chaney a man of a thousand faces, a chameleon. His force of suggestibility was stupendous, "he left his audience breathless" wrote Maxim Gorki in "My friend Fedor".Russian born Fedor (or Feodor) Chaliapin was the "Caruso" among basses, at his time a superstar beyond comparison.I only know Chaliapin from his recordings, I don´t rate the 1934 Eisenstein movie "Don Quichotte". Chaliapins own words: "I stood beside myself. Theatre drove me out of my mind." After he saw an opera, he "tried to change the real life into an opera".Indeed, in his recordings he tried to reach a symbiosis of singing and speaking. Chaliapin again: "In opera you have to sing as if you speak!" That makes stunning impression, but it damaged the musicality. In almost every Chaliapin recording I found for myself strange mistakes of breathcontrol and singing on the line. Critic Michael Scott defended him: "It was an effort to gave a new feeling into an old form"(!). This is very interesting, it shows you have to make concession with Chaliapin. Every piece he´d sung became (even on records) a piece of pure vocal acting. Like Carusos stifling sob in Canios lament, Chaliapin also was imitated by countless successors. Around the first decades in the 20th century it was in vogue to suffer tragic music. What a Pity, because Chaliapins vocal capital was big (although that of Lev Sibiryakov had more substance). But he was anxious to change cantabile music into dramatic life, that´s the way he was! Sometimes he even didn´t cares about note values. We have better (musically) recordings of "La calunnia" or "Madamina", but there´s another important side: Chaliapin never was boring. Each recording is a surprise: What will we hear this time? The singing actor or the acting singer - with this attributes Chaliapin has his place in music history... And certainly in this list! Do you agree with this?

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100 Greatest Singers: TERESA BERGANZA
Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:48:51 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! Spanish mezzosoprano Teresa Berganza in this? Please comment!Teresa Berganza, Mezzosoprano (born 1935)Giaocchino Rossini - L´Italiana in AlgeriO, che muso, che figura!with Fernando Corena, bass (1916-1984)(Recorded 1962)My personal opinion: Teresa Berganza, her name means masterly virtuosity, musical intelligence and winning stage presence. When she recorded in 1962 Rossinis "L´Italiana" alongside Luigi Alva and Rolando Panerai under Silvio Varviso, she was always wellknown as specialist for baroque and early belcanto music - with age 27. Her instrument was far away from that of Callas, with whom she performed together in the Dallas "Medea" in 1958. Berganza was not an artist for fans with admiration for furious effects. She more was for connoisseurs who like vocal cleverness and aesthetic singing. She prefered composers like Monteverdi, Scarlatti, Händel, Gluck and of course Rossini. As a spanish mezzosoprano and primadonna, Bizets Carmen was an unavoidable concession she performed not before she was over fourty and sure of it. She showed us a proud and noble Carmen without sounding despiceable. I believe, Teresa Berganza was a legitimate successor of Conchita Supervia, who perhaps had more temperament, but the same verve. Berganza always was a very intelligent person and knew the limits of her sensible voice, a fine and velvet-like instrument. For me she is at her best by presenting women with pride, finesse and pretended indignation.From "L´Italiana" we have here on YouTube many Berganza versions of "Cruda sorte", so I choose the comedy duet Isabella and Mustafà with the wonderful Fernando Corena, who also was a central singer in the last century. Sorry for some scratches. I took the scene from an old cleaned vinyl.

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100 Greatest Singers: GEORGES THILL
Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:39:33 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! Georges Thill in this collection? Please comment!Georges Thill, Tenor (1897-1984)Charles Gounod - FaustSalut, demeure chaste et pure(Recorded 1930)My personal opinion: Critic and chronicler of the Met history Irving Kolodin wrote, the whole audience was disappointed when Georges Thill ended "Salut, demeure" with a high C in "voix mixte". The Metropolitan Opera brought him less reclaim and after two seasons, he disappeared. At Covent Garden he couln´t win a prize as well. What happened?Thill was a tenor especially for the french. His diction and phonation was formed by the french language, by "singing in the masque". Thill was a very rigorous tenor with great discipline. "Canto fiorito" seemed to be a strange kind of art for him. Although he studied with Fernando de Lucia, we can hear almost nothing of ornaments in Thills performances. Probably he orientated himself indeed in direction to Toscanini. Thill was a lyrico spinto with addiction for singing Radamès and Calaf, Andrea Chenier and Canio, Samson and Don José. It´s good to hear him in verismo straight (in spirit of pure classicism), but maybe you´ll miss poetry in his Faust or Werther. As always a matter of taste. In France he´s a legend, and probably with the words of a famous german critic "the last of a great tradition", the tradition of great french tenors.His way of singing Faust here is an example for an alternative. May I say, for me this is nearer to the context of Gounods music? I believe, many of us were much too accustomed in loud and effective music making. Or what do you feel?

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100 Greatest Singers: ALEXANDER KIPNIS
Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:49:12 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What´s your impression of Alexander Kipnis? Please comment!Alexander Kipnis, Bass (1891-1978)Albert Lortzing - Der Wildschütz5000 Taler! - sung in german -(Recorded 1932)My personal opinion: Declamatory art frequently turned out to be a handicap for good singing. To much phrasing expression is a typical verismo style. Many basses and baritones prefer to declaim their renditions of tragic or enigmatic portraits. It happened that Rigoletto sometimes was more suffered than sung on stage, especially in "Cortigiani" and "Si, vendetta".Basses and baritones with the greatest voices tended to declaim their lyrics. For instance an unnamed famous italian baritone had one of the most brilliant and beautiful voices the world ever knew, but many times I felt his singing was too loud and like vocal "overacting". He was a giant, but I prefer others with more feeling for phrasing and musical control. Many basses also tried to make effect with the power of her voice, lesser with musicality.A bassist who combined almost every sublime virtue of great singing in my opinion was Alexander Kipnis, born in former russia. His voice was beauty and expressiv in a natural way. He was a vocal artist, qualified to color his voice different from one portrait to another, sometimes demonic, sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious. He sang almost everything with nuances. No wonder that he was a high acclaimed Liedersänger ("Erlkönig"!) for which Gerald Moore only had admiring words. He was great as Sarastro, Boris and Leporello to name only a few.May I draw your attention on his recording of Baculus great bass-aria "Five thousand thaler!" from "Wildschütz" (The Poacher) in which he´s surprised about the enormous prize he received for his bride Gretchen.I beg your pardon for bad sound quality!

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100 Greatest Singers: RENATA TEBALDI
Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:01:38 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What´s your opinion about Renata Tebaldi? Please comment!Renata Tebaldi, Soprano (1922-2004)Giuseppe Verdi - La Forza del DestinoPace, pace mio dio(Recorded live 1953)My personal opinion: When the important reformer of italian opera Arturo Toscanini in 1950 placed Tebaldi for a performance of Verdis Requiem on a position high above the chorus, a legend began. Her voice should sound like a voice from heaven and with this, "La voce d´Angelo" was born, an attribute Renata Tebaldi ever was associated with. But this was only a promotional etiquette for one of the greatest spinto sopranos the world ever knew.Her first recordings are surprising, we hear another Tebaldi that we expected. In scenes from Verdis "Giovanna d`Arco" (1951) she was a dramatic virtuosa, her voice almost flawless, full, rich and with exciting agility. But then came Callas with her canto fiorito and her own applications of dramatic singing and Tebaldi was intelligent enough, to think it over. She changed her repertoire and leaves belcanto. Renata Tebaldi was a friendly shy person and to avoided a feud with Callas fans, she focused herself on america. Her admiration for Callas was great, and she confessed she never was fit for roles like Norma or Medea.So, Tebaldi continued the tradition of verismo and lyrico spinto with a beauty sound unequaled. Tebaldis first roles were in Faust, Mefistofele (Boito) and in Lohengrin. Early she adapted Aida, probably too soon. After a crisis in 1963 she came back with still a wonderful mezza voce, only affected a little bit in her pitch. Renata Tebaldi showed us, how wonderful and substantive a repertoire like hers is able to sound. Her Mimi, Leonora (amazing in the 1953 in-house recording), Desdemona, Minnie - did we hear all these equally beautiful again from another spinto soprano?I would like to present you the live recording of "Pace" I´ve mentioned before, 1953 when Tebaldi was in her prime. Just hear the incredible floating first "pace" followed in the reprise with a magic pianissimo. The conductor is Dimitri Mitropoulos. A document of a great singers career!

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100 Greatest Singers: CHARLES SANTLEY
Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:42:22 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! Charles Santley in this project? What do you think? Please comment!Charles Santley, Baritone (1834-1922)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Le Nozze di FigaroEhi, capitano... Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso(Recorded 1903)My personal opinion: We will never know how many singers didn´t have fortune to record their voices when the grammophone was young. For Maria Malibran and Giuditta Pasta the invention of soundrecording came too late, and Patti was over sixty when she make her "dialog with the afterworld".When english baritone Charles Santley at last felt confident to make some recordings, he was age 69 after 45 years on stage. His debut was 1858 in La Traviata, Caruso was born 15 years later.A 69 year old singer with more than four decades on stage, what is to be expected? As early as 1886 a critic wrote, Santleys voice became "older and grey just as his beard". Seventeen years later he sang Figaros satirical song with surprising fresh and clear voice. His musicality wasn´t affected. Singers like John McCormack always admired Santles technique and fluency and said so many times. Everytime I hear his "Non piu andrai" I can´t believe, this is a singer near to 70. May I please you to take your earphones and listen carefully to this unique baritone. You will hear no mistake, no breathlessness, no physical fatique. If Charles Santley sounds like this with 69, how must it have been when he was a young man? It seems, Santley don´t sing along the pianoplaying, the pianoplayer seems to run aftewards this dynamic singer. At Wikipedia you can read: "Although the voice lacks much of its former brilliant resonance it remains firm and steady. His most famous record preserves his remarkably vivid and lively rendering of 'Non piu andrai' (Figaro), employing a portamento (notably on the word 'narcisetto', usually broken by modern interpreters) that is fit to satisfy Garcia himself."Enjoy and please comment!

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100 Greatest Singers: LJUBA WELITSCH
Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:39:18 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What do you think about Ljuba Welitsch in this list? Please comment!Ljuba Welitsch, Soprano (1913-1996)Richard Strauss - SalomeFinal scene (from "... und das Geheimnis der Liebe ist größer als das Geheimnis des Todes")(Recorded 1944)My personal opinion: It would be unfair reducing Ljuba Welitsch only to Salome, but who would deny this was HER role? Once you heard her with the final scene, you may be immune for all other sopranos in this.The bulgarian born red hair beauty made her debut 1936 in Sofia. Ten years later she came to Vienna State Opera House. Two years before that she sung Salome conducted by the composer himself. With this, her future was predetermined. What Ljuba Welitsch made with the ambivalent play of love and death became history. She didn´t sung Salome, she lived Salome. Her final monologue is an attack on the audiences nerves. The effect is breathtaking: How she, with innocence and yearning passion, phrases each line, word by word, is singular in the history of opera recordings. For presenting Ljuba Welitsch, I choose the first recording under Lovrò von Matacic 1944. Please pay attention how she phrases all significant words. The highlight is the line "Sie sagen, dass die Liebe bitter schmecke" (They said, love tastes bitter). She cuts the word "schmecke" into two pieces, the orchestra shortly breaks, and the effect is morbid and perverse but brilliant. In every moment her voice flickers in a thrill of excitement.Alongside her Salome she recorded scenes from Ballo, Onegin, Tosca and Bohème and all sung with sensibility and passion. Her career was a short one, her voice soon burned out. It reminds me of Edna St. Vincent wonderful poem:My candle burns at both ends,It will not last the night,But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends,It gives a lovely light.

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100 Greatest Singers: SIGRID ONEGIN
Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:21:40 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! Sigrid Onegin in this collection? Please comment!Sigrid Onegin, Contralto and Mezzosoprano(1889-19 43)Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orfeo et EuridiceChe faro senza Euridice?(Recorded 1930)My personal opinion: A true shocking scandal in High Society, but when it came to disclose, that swedish born Sigrid Onegin had married a wife, Agnes Elisabeth Overbeck better known as Baron Eugen Borisovitch Lhvoff Onegin - , her reputation was big enough to obtain amnesia. Baron Onegin aka Overbeck was a young russian pianist and a connoisseur of voices. Overbecks mother studied with Garcia, the famous spanish baritone and teacher. Later, Onegin characterized this encounter as the turning point in her life. Onegin / Overbeck died in 1919, three years after that Sigrid Onegin came to New York and to the Metropolitan Opera. She was much more on the concert stage where she sung more than 500 songs in 13 different languages. A critic once wrote: "Madame Onegin seems to be exceptional, because she´s a contralto and a soprano at once." Indeed Onegin enforced back many roles from the contralto repertoire, which were in hands of sopranos. Audiences acclaimed her as legitimate successor of Ernestine Schumann-Heink.Sigri d Onegin was one of the greatest belcanto heroines the world ever knew. The sound of her voice was resonant, warm and exuberant. She was a master of richly ornamented singing, but she also sung Carmen and one of my personal favorites Orfeo, for which her voice seemed to be ideal: Cautious and pathetic at once. Some critics wrote, Onegin possessed the most cultured voice a woman ever had. I do agree, just hear her Habanera also on YouTube.

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100 Greatest Singers: ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and NEWS
Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:46:35 -0800 by 100Singers

A HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!Best wishesMikeSingers in this collection up to now in order of appearance:Jussi Bjoerling, Conchita Supervia, Fritz Wunderlich, Mario Lanza, Beverly Sills, Giuseppe di Stefano, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Victoria de los Angeles, Willy Hofmann, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Richard Tauber, Maria Ivogün, Herbert Ernst Groh, Peter Anders, Rosa Ponselle, Amelita Galli-Curci, Mattia Battistini, Leo Slezak, Joseph Schmidt, Robert Merrill, Leonard Warren, Aksel Schiotz, Luciano Pavarotti, Sandor Konya, Placido Domingo, Nicolai Gedda, Emma Calvé, Francesco Merli, Giuseppe de Luca, Tito Schipa, Carlo Bergonzi, Licia Albanese, Leon Escalais, Alfredo Kraus, Kathleen Ferrier, Zinka Milanov, Giovanni Martinelli, Marilyn Horne, Heinrich Schlusnus, Sena Jurinac, Helge Rosvaenge, Maria Callas, Richard Tucker, Eileen Farrell, Anneliese Rothenberger, Lauritz Melchior, Pol Plancon, José Carreras, Sergej Lemeshev, Kirsten Flagstad, Antonio Cortis, Montserrat Caballé, Ezio Pinza, Leontyne Price, Ninon Vallin, Samuel Ramey, Sigrid Onegin, Ljuba Welitsch, Sir Charles Santley, Renata Tebaldi, Alexander Kipnis, Georges Thill, Teresa Berganza, Feodor Chaliapin, Meta Seinemeyer, John McCormack, Lotte Lehmann and Heddle Nash so far.Still remaining: 27 singersGreatest agreement for Marilyn Horne and Renata TebaldiGreatest refusal for Placido Domingo and Mario LanzaNext singer updating: January 7th 2009

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100 Greatest Singers: SAMUEL RAMEY
Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:44:34 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What´s your point of view about Ramey? Please comment!Samuel Ramey, Bass (basso cantante) (born 1942)Gioacchino Rossini - L´Italiana in AlgeriGia d´insolito ardore nel petto(Recorded around 1980)My personal opinion: Sometimes it takes time to find out, how great a singer is. Most careers came late, perhaps too late. In case of Samuel Ramey it was clear from the very first moment, he was something very special, a basso cantante who seemed to come from another age of singing. He made his first steps with the New York City Opera House and his idol there was Norman Treigle (we can hear in the "Tales of Hoffmann"-recording with Sills).Rameys repertoire spannend an immensive wideness, from belcanto Rossini to Mozart (Don Giovanni, Figaro) to Berlioz and Gounod (Mephistophélès in both), even to Stravinsky.I would like to present you the fine but very difficult Mustafa-aria from Rossinis L´Italiana. It´s one of Ramey greatest showpieces. Please notice how lissome he slides through the coloratura lines. He was one of the very few basses with a sense for demonic and erotic undertones.

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100 Greatest Singers: NINON VALLIN
Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:30:31 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! Ninon Vallin in this collection? What´s your opinion? Please comment!Ninon Vallin, Soprano (1886-1961)Georges Bizet - CarmenPrès des remparts de Sèville (Seguidille)(Recorde d 1928)My personal opinion : What is Carmen? An Opera, an operetta or even the first musical? Whatever Bizets masterwork is, it´s a desired object for almost every soprano, mezzo or contralto. The last century saw thousands of gypsywomen, big and tiny, dramatic and lyric. But only few remained in memory. And among this we find Ninon Vallin, who first had no intensions to sing opera. When Vallin sung in February 1911 in a private house performance, general director Albert Carré heard her. "I noticed a young shy lady with a voice that made a very lively impression to me. The extraordinary quality, her pureness, her freshness, the timbré, the color, her flexibility, her emotional character and her taste left no doubts. We were in companion of a great artist!" Vallins voice was real sympathetic and her diction was accurate and crystal clear. She simply was one of the best sopranos in french repertoire. Her presentation of the famous Seguidille is pure enjoyment! Please notice how she phrases "mon nouvel amant" (My new lover) Simply delicious!

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100 Greatest Singers: LEONTYNE PRICE
Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:20:53 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What´s your opinion about Leontyne Price in this collection? Please comment!Leontyne Price, Soprano (born 1927)Giuseppe Verdi - AidaQui Radamès verrà... O patria mia(Recorded 1961)My personal opinion: A wellknown story: When Rudolf Bing engaged Marian Anderson in 1955 for singing Ulrica at the Metropolitan Opera, a taboo was broken: She was the first colored singer in this traditional house. And of course every colored singer after her were kept in connection with this milestone. This is one important aspect in the story of Leontyne Price, who became after this the first great black primadonna in opera history.But, there is another side of this modern fairytale. It´s sad, but the qualities that made her quite right a star were not lasting very long.I remember seeing an early sixtys video with her scene from Aida, and I thought with tears in my eyes: "O my god, what a wonderful singing..." But when I heard Price in the seventys, I was shocked about a permanent yowling undertone in this formerly incomparable voice, and as I could read, I was not the only one who noticed this. When she sung Leonora in the Met telecast in the mid-eightys, I had again tears in my eyes, but for other reasons. I think, she never had an adequate technique. She´d sung Mozart, but widely avoided the "canto fiorito". She never sung Traviata in a complete recording, and the late Verdi was much more her favorite. When she was young, her voice was expressive, smoky, dark gleaming and sensual tender. So, she was predestined for singing Aida, indeed her best role and generally one of the best portraits ever.Sometimes great singers only needed one role to became immortal, and Leontyne Price will ever be associated with Aida.The recording I choose is from 1961 when Leontyne Price was in her prime. Enjoy!

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100 Greatest Singers: EZIO PINZA
Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:36:46 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What do you think about Pinza? Please comment!Ezio Pinza, Bass (sometimes Bass-Baritone) (1892-1957)Gioacchin o Rossini - Il Barbiere di SivigliaLa calunnia e un venticello(Recorded 1940)My personal opinion: Sometimes you have an option between two great offers. In this special case I asked myself: Who was better, Ezio Pinza or "the other great Don Giovanni"? Both owned preferences the other one hadn´t, and finally I had to make my decision in view of style and culture. Pinza sang with more instinct for melody and line, and his "Calunnia" is a paradigm for a controlled performance of a masterpiece that often became a cheap comedy.Pinza was a central singer!

Related: ezio pinza bass baritone don giovanni mozart rossini verismo belcanto

100 Greatest Singers: MONTSERRAT CABALLÉ
Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:37:59 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What´s your opinion to find Caballé in this list? Please comment!Montserrat Caballé, Soprano (born 1933)Gioacchino Rossini - ArmidaD´amore al dolce impero(Recorded 1966/1967)My personal opinion: Montserrat Caballés success began when she walked "through the doors Maria Callas opened before", so Caballé herself once said. The old belcanto repertoire was her profession, and in that she attained her very best. Who would deny she was one of the best lyric sopranos in the last half of the 20th century? Her singing was ethernal beautiful, the voice silvery gleaming, her pianissimo like a breeze from heaven.I choose the difficult coloratur aria from Rossinis Armida, that a young Caballé (around 1966) decorated with fine ornaments. One of the last immortal sopranos the world know!

Related: montserrat caballé maria callas belcanto rossini donizetti bellini norma traviata armida spain josé carreras

100 Greatest Singers: ANTONIO CORTIS
Wed, 10 Dec 2008 01:36:53 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What do you mean about Antonio Cortis in this list? Please comment!Antonio Cortis, Tenor (1891-1952)Giuseppe Verdi - RigolettoLa donna è mobile(Recorded 1930)My personal opinion: Spain gave the world many great voices and especially tenors. In the first half of the last century three of them dominated the opera stage: Hipolito Lazaro, Miguel Fleta and Antonio Cortis, in my opinion the best among them. He was a stylish singer, but no regular belcanto hero anymore. His "La donna" has a wonderful timing and great sense for phrasing and affect. May I say, this is one of the three best recordings of this aria? As a Puccini-singer he was one of the best, and his Nessun dorma (here on YouTube) show you why... By the way: Cortis and Caruso were friends and in 1917 they stood together on stage in "Pagliacci". Cortis career was outshined by other tenors. His singing wasn´t much extensiv and expressive, but he was more controlled and with plainness. And that´s the reason, his recordings are still fresh and without vocal gimmicks.I would like to say, for a short time he was Carusos successor until Gigli took over the scepter.

Related: antonio cortis miquel fleta hipolito lazaro spain giuseppe verdi rigoletto duke

100 Greatest Singers: KIRSTEN FLAGSTAD
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:50:27 -0800 by 100Singers

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What do you mean about Kirsten Flagstad in this collection? Please comment!Kirsten Flagstad, Soprano (1895-1962)Richard Wagner Tristan und IsoldeMild und leise (Isoldes Liebestod)(Recorded 1939)My personal opinion: There´s a nice anecdote: In 1935 Kirsten Flagstad began with the first rehearsals for Wagners Valkyre at the Metropolitan Opera where she was invited as one of these new talents. Her contract was on probation. When she opened her mouth and began to sing, the conductors baton fell out of his hands and Siegmund missed his inset. Such a voice with this volume and capacity never was heard in New York before, and soon after that, the american Wagnerians classified an age before and after Kirsten.There is no doubt, Flagstad possessed one of the biggest voices of the last century, and it´s said, her recordings were not able to reproduce how big these voice indeed was. But I´m sure, her Liebestod (here a recording from 1939 with Edwin McArthur) leaves great impressions.What do you mean?

Related: kirsten flagstad richard wagner tristan isolde walküre sieglinde lauritz melchior max lorenz bayreuth