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100Singers uploaded a new video
(3 days ago)
THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
Please comment this artist!
Helen Traube...
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THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
Please comment this artist!
Helen Traubel, Soprano (1899-1972)
Clara Edwards - By the bend of the river
American Ballad
(Recorded 1944 in a Radio Broadcast)
My personal opinion: In 1951/52 Rudolf Bing took over the management of the New York Metropolitan Opera, and soon after he fired Lauritz Melchior to show his mighty power. For soprano Helen Traubel he offered a contract with some clauses (not to sing in operettas and nightclubs anymore), and on March 21th 1953, Miss Traubel gave her last Met-performance. "His despotic claims were absolute ridiculous and unacceptable", wrote Bjoerlings widow Anna-Lisa. With Traubel, Bing lost one of the greatest Wagner-Divas of all time. "She´s a very great singer and responsible for Wagner during my absence!", said Kirsten Flagstad. In his memoirs, Bing wrote, the guilt was on Miss Traubel´s side.
Just as the "Great Dane" Lauritz Melchior, Miss Traubel primarily was a Wagner-Singer in voice and stature. Her vocal instrument was rich, warm, intensive and without effort in its vigorous power. She was a real successor of Frida Leider and almost equal to Flagstad, but Helen Traubel only had sung in America. No wonder, she´s almost unknown in Europe. Born 1898 in St. Louis, Traubel gave her debut in a concert, age 27. It was a great success, and an operatic-career seemed near, but she prefered to go on with singing in an orchestra for twelve more years. She rejected two Met-Offers. In the mid-1930s it was composer Damrosch who won her for the stage, and Traubel sang in his forgotten opera "The Man without a Country" - her Met-Debut at last! In 1939 she took over her first Sieglinde (with Melchior) and became an over-night success - the leading Wagner-soprano alongside Flagstad, who stayed favorably. Helen Traubel was an unicum. During her Met-Career, she sang popular music in nightclubs, and she was seen in a movie with Jerry Lewis, and she wrote a novel about "The Metropolitan Opera Murders" - what Bing didn´t like of course! For Toscanini, Traubel was the "most beautiful Wagner-Soprano", and her recording legacy gifted us with sheer unlimited fullness of tone. She´s unforgotten and with 33 votings (most from the USA) you gave her place 24.
I would like to present her with a lovely rendition of Clara Edwards popular song "By the bend of the river", a performance I can´t imagine with Wagner-soprano Birgit Nilsson.
THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: GO TO ALL SINGERS IN THIS LIST
http://www.youtub...
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100Singers uploaded a new video
(1 week ago)
THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
French Soprano Nathalie Dessay one of y...
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THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
French Soprano Nathalie Dessay one of your Favorites too? Please let us know!
Nathalie Dessay, Soprano (born 1965)
Jacques Offenbach - Les Contes d´Hoffmann
The Doll Song
(Recorded 1996 )
My personal opinion: "A brilliant female pyrotechnist of ornamentic singing, but with the sound of a speaking puppet", this is an ambiguous description I found for french born Nathalie Dessay, one of the famous coloratura sopranos of today. With this special doll-sound (almost without substance and weight) she reduced tragic heroines to femme fragiles. I´m always a little bit in suspicion, if I can read about a singer´s wonderful presence on stage. Frequently it covers some vocal shortcomings. Certainly Miss Dessay is a "virtuosa in excelsis", but I can´t find a distinctive profile, no personality. For me, most of her renditions are bloodless, remain etudes. I miss vocal blaze and heart-warming passion. For instance her "Lucia di Lammermoor" is sung in typically nightingale-style and far away from Callas, Scotto, Sutherland and even Gruberova. It was William James Henderson who once (after Tetrazzinis Met-Debut) verbalized the naughty word of "Baby Talk" - and with Nathalie Dessay, I hear this "Baby-Talk". She´s a great soprano for all admirers of technical perfection, maybe she disappointed those who expect more, a singing between the lines. Her figures are brilliant, but indifferent and plane. Back to the metaphor of a "singing puppet". No surprise, her significant portrayal is that of Olympia in "Les Contes d`Hoffmann".
32 votings and place position 25 for Nathalie Dessay.
THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: GO TO ALL SINGERS IN THIS LIST
http://www.youtub...
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100Singers uploaded a new video
(1 week ago)
THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
German Bass Gottlob Frick made it in th...
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THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
German Bass Gottlob Frick made it in this collection - Do you agree? Please let us know!
Gottlob Frick, Bass (1906-1994)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - The Abduction from the Seraglio
O, wie will ich triumphieren (Osmin´s Aria)
(Recorded 1965/1966 )
My personal opinion: "In his singing was strenght, energy, assurance and confidence, that only a Master-Singer possesses", I could read about Gottlob Frick´s Hagen in Solti´s recording of "Götterdämmerung", and it was Wilhelm Furtwängler who spoke much-quoted words: "Frick was the blackest of all Basses!". In 1970, Frick retired from the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, but occasionally he returned and replaced indisposed singers who were half of his age - an indication for his outstanding artistry. His very last performance was in 1986, singing Sarastro´s great aria. Then Gottlob Frick was 80!
Frick´s career began, when Karl Böhm engaged him for the Dresden State Opera in 1938. Together with Kurt Böhme he became the leading Bass of the house and sang in the first performance of Sutermeister´s "Zauberinsel" (1942). 1950 until 1953 Frick enlarged his fame at the Berlin State Opera, and when he came to Munich and Vienna, he was already a star among Basses. Covent Garden called him in 1951 and he returned many times during the next twenty years. His best known roles were Osmin, Sarastro, Kaspar, Rocco, King Philip and of course all his great Wagner-Parts (Pogner, Daland, Hunding, Hagen and Fasolt). About Frick´s Hagen, famous critic Karl Schumann romanticized: "The power of a tuba has got into him!". Kesting put a damper on it: "Frick produced unusual fullness of sound and deep-black color, but his singing lacks the smart lissomeness and touching softness we have with Plancon, Pinza or Kipnis!" I don´t agree with this. Frick got it all and he was a very flexible bass too. About his performance of the great duet from "Bartered Bride" with Fritz Wunderlich, you can read a YouTube-comment: "Frick brings a tremendous rhythm in this!", and indeed Frick was able to dance with his basso profundo. For me, he was the best of all Osmin´s ("Abduction from the Seraglio") and his great aria is full of verve, elegance and scenic evilness! The selected rendition is from the late recording with Josef Krips.
You gave Gottlob Frick 32 nominations - and with this he climbed up to place position 25.
THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: GO TO ALL SINGERS IN THIS LIST
http://www.youtub...
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100Singers uploaded a new video
(2 weeks ago)
THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
Gundula Janowitz? Do you agree with her...
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THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
Gundula Janowitz? Do you agree with her placement in a favorite-list? Please comment!
Gundula Janowitz, Soprano (born 1937)
Johann Strauss II - Die Fledermaus
Klänge der Heimat (Czardas)
Conductor: Karl Böhm
(Recorded 1972 )
My personal opinion: Herbert von Karajan became her mentor in the late 1950s. This is of course a remarkable point in her biography, but Gundula Janowitz didn´t need it at all. With or without the maestro, she advanced to one of the finest sopranos the post-war decades saw. Born in Berlin, she grew up in Austria, studied in Graz (Hubert Thöny) and was heard at the end of the 1950s in "Schöpfung" with Karajan. We know almost all kind of sopranos, the big, loud, spectacular and ravishing - Janowitz´ voice was a noble instrument with bright pure sound, only little vibrato and excellent breath-control. She was one of those intimate singers in the line of Elisabeth Grümmer, the timbre was similar. The voice of Miss Janowitz was exceptional lyrical, despite this she sang some dramatic parts. I remember her Leonore ("Fidelio"). My personal favorite is her intelligent funny Rosalinde which she sang with the "grandezza" of a Mozart-Singer (In my own opinion far better than the high-praised portrayal of Hilde Güden, who really in fact was a soubrette). Unforgetable Miss Janowitz´ Countess in "Nozze di Figaro" or Pamina. Her repertoire ranked from Baroque to Richard Strauss, she sang with almost every great conductor. Praise is one side in the biography of a great singer. In "Opera on Record", Charles Osborne mentioned another side. He praised her "heavently, fine and pure" singing, but stated: "She wasn´t involved in what she sang!"
John Steane recognized, that some of her singing seemed to be in Trance - a metaphoric transcription for the oratoric sound-quality of her voice. No wonder, that Janowitz became a preferred interpret in the works of Bach, Händel or Haydn. It was a little step to song-recitals (Brahms, Schubert with Irwin Gage). "From her singing, angels could learn, but Brahms wrote his songs for human-voices!" judged critic Ivan Nagel after a Munich-Recital in 1971. "Her singing lacks eloquence, dramatic energy and pressure!", you can read in Kesting´s "Die grossen Sänger". But the author completes: "The highlight of her Mozart-Repertoire is the recording of "Magic Flute" under Klemperer. With Janowitz´singing, the great G-minor-Aria becomes Weltschmerz!"
Please let me return to her Rosalinde. I would like to present you the famous czardas from "Fledermaus". This is operetta on a high level.
With 32 votings you gave Miss Janowitz place 25.
THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: GO TO ALL SINGERS IN THIS LIST"
http://www.youtub...
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100Singers uploaded a new video
(3 weeks ago)
THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
Bass-Baritone Hans Hotter in the favori...
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THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
Bass-Baritone Hans Hotter in the favorite-collection? What´s your own opinion? Let us know!
Hans Hotter, Bass-Baritone (1909-2003)
Franz Schubert - Winterreise
First Song: Gute Nacht!
Piano: Michael Raucheisen
(Recorded 1942/43 )
My personal opinion: "He sings with nuances and refinement of a Liedersänger", I could read in an essay about german Bass-Baritone Hans Hotter. This compliment is all the more, because Hotter´s voice was a mighty instrument - full of energy and authority. "It was the artsong, that brought me to singing", When Hotter began his career, he was 21 (Sprecher in "Magic Flute"). He first sang "Winterreise" in the 1930s, his last was in the 1990s (!). High acclaimed was his 1955 recording with Gerald Moore, but for me he was better with Raucheisen one decade earlier. John Steane raised an objection: For him, Hotter´s softly singing didn´t have the quality we know from Kipnis, Schorr or Hüsch - Hotter was faint and breathy. Many said, there was a wobble in his voice, and Jürgen Kesting decided, it distored his recordings. Even in an interview, producer John Culshaw did not deny Hotter´s weak point, but he supplemented it was quite clear, "as the leading Wotan in his era" Hotter was indispensable. Wagner was his domain. Between 1952 and 1966 he was a regular guest at the Bayreuth Festival with Holländer, Wotan, Gurnemanz and Hans Sachs. 1947 he sang at Covent Garden, 1950 he came to the Met: The first of his four seasons there (Rudolf Bing gave him "Dutchman" for his debut.) Hotter´s portrayal of Gurnemanz (Parsifal) was preserved on record in Hans Knappertsbusch´s second live recording at Bayreuth, and he was also celebrated for his Pizarro in Beethoven´s "Fidelio". His international fame was almost entirely in the German repertoire, although he also sang Verdi (1952 in a Met-broadcast of "Don Carlo" with Tucker). I confess, there´s not much more about him I can say. During all my years as an admirer of opera-music and Lieder, Hans Hotter always for me was a marginal figure, particular he never came to my attention. It was paradoxical, but may I say so: For me he was an impersonal personality. With 30 votings Hans Hotter rose up to place 26.
THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: GO TO ALL SINGERS IN THIS LIST
http://www.youtub...
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