Tosca "Vissi d'arte" - The Metropolitan Opera - Sondra Radvanovsky

[chaiter1]

I was present at the MET at one of her performances in Tosca during January 2011.She mesmerized the audience.Her Vissi D'Arte was a great piece of singing.

[MsChilbilmil]

BTW, please stop comparing everyone to Callas! She was unique, she was fantastic, but she is indeed dead. If you like comparing, then have a look at great divas of our time such as Maria Guleghina for example, still the best Tosca!

[MsChilbilmil]

Incredible how much a singer can change over the years. I am not talking about her appearance - happends to all women with time. Besides I never really enjoyed looking at her when she sang, because of the tortured faces she makes when she sings! But her voice always made up for it. Until now. (IMHO) her voice deteriorated quite a lot. I heard her live in Trovatore and in Cyrano, and I must say she was one of my favourite singers. But, I guess, the time has not been nice to her.

[robin678]

Was that the best "Vissi d'Arte" since Gorchakova at Covent Garden a million years ago???

[ferrykalos]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Peter0262]

I'm not a huge opera fan but I listen to a lot of Puccini. I like watching vidoes of those who are no longer with us but I just don't understand all the "Callas did it better so this is shit". Callas is dead. Opera is a live medium. Radvanovsky is alive, well and exceedingly talented. She also has an impressive bosom. ;)

[Federicopera]

I prefer Callas!!!!

[blauauge2]

her timbre is not as beautiful as renee flemings, but...her sound production is so much more natural like flemings.

[flyinghow]

OK..I have to say it...WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First off, I have always liked her voice, but never really did her voice "wow" me. I have heard all of her Verdi, etc., and just felt something was lacking. HOWEVER, HERE SHE SHINES! Absolutely splendid from beginning to end. I have goosebumps it was so beautiful. BRAVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now she finally ranks up there with Leontyne Price lol. Loved it! Thanks for posting.

[intelegentable]

Radvanovsky has a wonderful voice,rich full bodied and gorgeous there is something about the timbre of her voice that reminds me of the quality I hear in the recordings of Claudia Muzio though her voice is larger, there is the warmth, beautiful,tone,and limpidity. She is one of the most promising sopranos in a while and has an important career awaiting her if she safeguards that instrument and does not allow her voice to be extinguished by too much wear and tear.

[7girlsDestination]

thats a crazy voice!!!

[SHICOFF1]

Wonderful voice and singer, I like who I like and I am looking forward to her Chicago Aida this season. She is a home town lady. This is a very fine soprano with a beautiful rich full voice. Enjoy her singing. --Brava!

[71Molina]

Actually, I think Sondra sounds a lot like Callas, esp. in her Travotore at the Met. That was really uncanny - I had chills. I've heard many singers described as the next Callas, but I really think she is it. A fine singer and actress, regardless of comparisons.

[sev9797]

I have no words....

[jmahlon]

She's a real talent! I see some jaw tension that causes her to be flat in her mid voice.

[flyinghow]

@jmahlon LOL....someone once told Leontyne Price they detected a bit of "strain" on the high B-flat and he was ushered directly into custody.  Now, now...picky aren't we.

[jmahlon]

@flyinghow Not really, its a consistent problem with Sondra... she is constantly under pitch.

[flyinghow]

@jmahlon I agree, and it is most always in her mid voice. I just cannot fall in love with her voice. I like her voice well enough, but something is missing.

[bagbyte]

@LeNozze447 yours is a stock answer!

People who don't know anything about opera always talk about Callas. Maria Callas had an amazing method but her voice, in my opinion, was not so good. Sondra Radvanovsky had a good performance.

Stop with the cliché of Callas.

Stop living in the past and live your life!

[fforganista]

VC É MARAVILHOSA !!!!! ATUOU MUITO BEM NO PALCO DO TEATRO MUNICIPAL DO RIO DE JANEIRO E FOI. UMA DIVA NA OPERA!!! E UMA DAMA AO DOAR SEU AUTÓGRAFO E FOTOS PARAS SEUS FÃNS .. ME SINTO HONRADO POR ISSO . MUITO  SUCESSO!!!! VC MERECE!!!!!!!

[MrPlattsmouth]

Beautiful voice, beautifully sung.

[MrPlattsmouth]

@pakleglia Amen ! Thank you for saying it. I'm so tired of listening to a wounderfully talented artist, and then having the mood spoiled by someone yelling Callas, Callas, Callas. Why can't they just enjoy Callas and leave the rest of us alone ?

[dutaromony]

Sigh... What passion! What drive! Sighhh... I want it. I want it so badly. I want to know what it feels like...

[MartialVidz]

I say......no need for comparison.

Callas was more of a "Diva-wild" soprano, her passion drew ppl to appreciate her character as Tosca in Zeffirelli's production of tosca - the one with Tito Gobbi (1964 i think). I mean its rather like saying Anna Nebrebko's Lucia is not as good as Dame Joan Sutherland. Callas' standard that time, doesn't compare to the modern singer's stress-the press, photogenic society.

I mean Deborah Voigt had to lose weight to perform in London-preposterous!!

[lickablefly]

I saw her last week in her performance at the Theatro Municipal here in Rio... she was flawless, wonderful performance!

[Flouridis]

Tosca was a delicate flower not this piece of burger. Not to mention the cheap dress!

[Flouridis]

Viva la Callas!!!

[heula1]

@Flouridis Yawn.

[fforganista]

Belíssima voz !!!! prazer sera ouvi-la pessoalmente  no teatro municipal do Rio de Janeiro dia 18 de outubro... certamente sera um grande sucesso aqui no Brasil!!!!!

[Josielmatador]

@fforganista Digo o mesmo, pois também estarei no municipal!

[mattbyrd18]

Callas was a great Tosca but so was Caballe and Kanawa. Personally i think this performance was great and anyone who thinks it is not, simply because this was not Callas or some other soprano is small minded, doesn't appreciate art and shouldn't comment in the first place.

[regulargonzalez]

@pakleglia No, Callas *was* that great, but that's a moot point. I feel sorry for those who can only take pleasure in one or two performers from the past instead of appreciating today's singers as well as the greats of the past. I love Callas, but it's 2011 and there are tons of great singers to appreciate today as well.

[noneisbetter]

This is GREAT singing. And by the way, I don't think Maria Callas was available for the 2011 season...

[77Opera]

Quelle merveille!!!

[hazelssister]

most opera singers have broad shoulders

[AlexForDisclosure]

Love it.

[blackolds33]

Wooooooooooooooooooow. So wonderful.

[fforganista]

maravilhosa!!!!  que técinica , que voz!!!! lindíssimo!!!!!!!

[Imadirtycommedian]

I actually cried watching this. So incredibly beautiful.

[modismith]

I heard Radvanovsky sing Tosca at the Met at the end of January 2011. She was thrilling, spine-tingling and I highly recommend anyone hear/see her perfrom given the opportunity. You will not be disappointed.

[johngilks]

@eurydike

I heard Sondra sing Aida in Toronto. She was fabulous.

[eurydike]

has anybody here heard Sondra Radvanovsky live ???? How is she?

[Mr13341334]

@eurydike I heard Sondra sing at the Perelada Castle Music Festival two weeks ago. Absolutely stunning, no other word for her. She sang as encores "Oh my beloved father" and had half the audience in tears, then she sang this and her the rest of us the same way. So quiet and tender and gentle on quiet passages, could stop a charging rhino at 50 yards when fortissimo. Just amazing.

[eurydike]

@Mr13341334 thanks for sharing your impressions:))) , i hope to hear her live in November:))

[chaiter1]

@eurydike I heard her at the MET in Tosca in 2011. Simply great, magnetic in Vissi D'Arte.

[robertdamico1]

Beautiful!

[MusicVocalism]

I'm sick and tired of people comparing each "diva" to the next! Callas is dead and yes she has a legacy, but her voice didn't suit everything she did + What kind of role model is she if she wasn't able to stay in the business for long b/c she was trying tooo hard to be versatility it damaged her voice :( In conclusion every singer has their strengths and weakness JUST ENJOY THE MUSIC! ♪♫

[tenorschofield]

Brava!!!, she is a beautiful Tosca, with a great complete intrpretation!!!! I knew, when heard her some time ago, that she will get to the top of the charts!!!Brava!!!, thanks for sharing.

[LohengrinT]

arent they tired after all these years to be wearing copies of Callas' Tosca dress? pay a top designer to have a new idea about Tosca's costumes

They all complain how Callas comes up in every singer's effort to sing Tosca.... Perhaps the fact THEY ALL LOOK LIKE CALLAS' CLONES has something to do with it?

We are tired of seeing demented Sopranos hallucinating they are Callas (from Sills and Caballe all the way to Gencer, Scotto and Gruberova)

We need NEW IDEAS - IDEAS? KNOW WHAT IDEAS ARE?

[jlbellos]

SOBERBIO E IMPRESIONANTE…

[peque1204]

No passion this?!! are you crazy?!.

BRAVA! Sondra.

[richardvergara]

Awesome...



[levipretorio]

I had the privilege to see/hear her one week after this video, at MET.

She's Great! She's beaultiful! I love Tosca and especialy Sondra's voice.

From Brazil, viva Sondra!!!

[77Opera]

Elle est merveilleuse!

[9opera]

pure beauty.

[DrFernandoBicudo]

Great technical skills, but lacks the most important element: emotion... An artist has to transmit what the composer wanted, not just exhibit technical achievements, but artistic ones...

[LordHettrick]

@DrFernandoBicudo Listen to her live; you'll change on that point. She was Leonora in Il Trovatore this year at the MET, and she was magnificent. The best in the whole production, no questions asked.

[LohengrinT]

@LordHettrick

Yes she was brilliant as Leonora and she truly sucked as Aida - why from time to time she sounds like an amateur while she has this "Rolce Royce" inside her throat (her words! loool) I will never understand.

Perhaps the fact that today's singers with all the Promotions and Super Productions forget how to be modest and sit their asses down and actually study? And who on Earth ever called her Voice a Rolce Royce? Callas and Sutherland ever did? I dont think so!

[srmerched]

We will respect the uniqueness of each artist, not to compare all the sopranos Maria Callas!! the voice of Sandra's beautiful!.

I agree that crude was not written only for Callas, people think horrible squabble here, which is a place to appreciate the works of great artists. Love Maria Callas, and I think the rude way they referred to it down here! Sondra Radvanovsky congratulations, a beautiful rough! I am Brazilian and it was translated with electronic translator

[OperaKim]

I sang in the chorus of Tosca with Opera Colorado last April and Sondra played Tosca then. She was absolutely brilliant. And her messa di voce is so powerful. Sondra is amazing.

[spizzell1]

I have not liked what I have heard from several of the recent singers at the Met, but I really like Sondra. Very Nice.

[kentie1964]

Love the aria but did not like the production.

[vivadomingo1]

Wonderful performance!

[39Martyman]

She has a great voice, but nobody and I mean nobody puts more passion into this aria than Maria Callas in what most critics proclaim the greatest Tosca ever recorded with Giuseppi di Stefano and Tlito Gobbi.

[LeNozze44]

@39Martyman OMG, SHUT UP! Yes, Callas was an awesome Tosca; did you really have to point that out? Do you think you're clever for bringing up Callas on a "Vissi d'arte" video? Well, you're not.

Sorry to get terse with you, but I'm sick of people essentially putting down other singers because they're not as passionate as Callas.

[Sieglinde85]

@LeNozze44 ya quisiera ser la mitad de buena que la Callas. Qué mal pronuncia, apenas se entiende!

[Giovannifabuloso]

@LeNozze44 I agree with you. I also am sick and tired of hearing about Callas. Callas had great feeling in her singing, but she was a bad singer. She completely blew her voice out by singing repetoire that was far toheavy and out of her range. She made bad singing respectable. This is evGet off hte Callas kick people. The ruth is that she screamed her way through most performancesidenced by all of the wobbly voices singing today.

[alexgomez2]

@LeNozze44 - I'm so totally with you! I love Maria Callas and love her rendition. I love Moserrat Cbaballe's, I love Kiri Te Kanawa, who is the best? All of them. As their voices are unique, their renditions are unique. I personally love this new production of Tosca and the new set at the Met. I liked aldo Zefirelli's set. What's best? Both of them in their own rights and historical moments. To say this or that is better, is to discount the uniqueness in every performer. That's not smart!

[Mr23541]

@LeNozze44 Sorry but you are probably not old enough to see and remember the incompatible Callas who made this girl appear very ordinary like a dozen or so others. I you were at Covent garden in 1964 as I was I firgive your ignorance

[horseyak]

tHE SINGING IS ABSOLUTEY GORGEOUS BUT SHE DOESN'T SEEM TORTURED ENOUGH. i'LL KEEP MY cAROL vANESS MEMORIES.

[robertaglass]

I loved her Tosca. She is the real deal.

[StarRaft]

i saw her up close at the met doing this part. she's a major talent, no doubt, but her interpretation of tosca comes across as very shallow, bland and inert. no fire whatsoever, and no major insights into the role. she should stay with verdi and leave verismo alone.

[gaoyipin123]

water melons. yum.

[FritzFanNY]

This singer must be heard live to understand how great she truly is. She is one of the most gifted singers I have heard at the Met or anywhere else for that matter. Huge voice, gorgeous voice, beautiful resonance, musical- she is the closest thing to Joan Sutherland technically we have had in a long, long time. Sometimes diction can be sacrificed in a huge house, just like it was for Sutherland. If you hear her live, you will not care- unless you don't know good singing when you hear it.

[dutchbaritone08]

@FritzFanNY you may well be right - i am going to hear the performance tonight - looking forward to hearing her live - i hope i'll admire her as much as you do - lord knows, we need great sopranos!

[kake1959]

@dutchbaritone Great!  The picture of you sitting at grandma's feet is heartwarming. Too bad granny didn't get to the lesson on manners and civility.

[dutchbaritone08]

@kake1959 oh kaka..... anyone reading your vicious little rants will know which one of us was civil.......

i hope you're able to get some help with your anger problems.......

[kake1959]

@dutchbaritone08 No anger here. Just no tolerance for little people taking cheap, unfounded little jabs at artists. You'll grow up soon.

[dutchbaritone08]

@kake1959 dear kaka: your increasingly hysterical and hostile comments are getting a little sara palinish, and in light of what's happening in this country, somewhat frightening. if this is how you handle dissent, i fear for the people you actually know and have contact with.

[kake1959]

@dutchbaritone08 Such a ignorant and pathetic response. My friends and I were having a good laugh at your expense until we realized how disturbed and idiotic it was. But, at least you're consistent. Always going for the cheapest, lowest, uninformed comment. Wow, after this statement you really are not stupid, you're a moron, and you should stop embarrassing yourself! Addio, foulness!

[dutchbaritone08]

@kake1959 oh kaka - these friends of yours.... voices in your head no doubt

what a hatefilled and bitter person you must be - do get some help before you become a danger to yourself and others - addio, senza rancor!

[kake1959]

@dutchbaritone.... I called the statement stupid, not you. But if the shoe fits.... well, you know. I am tolerant of other opinions, but there is a way to present criticisms that are constructive and not based on someones random desire to appear better equipped to perform any given music. Who are the "you people" you refer to, Americans? We'll all hold or breath until the MET knocks on your door. Oh wait..... no we won't!!

[dutchbaritone08]

@kake1959 ok - my grandma taught me never to argue with drunks or fools....... so i'll let you have the last word.

[drz61]

The date is correct. It's from the dress rehearsal.

[kake1959]

@dutchbaritone.... do you have ears? A truly stupid comment. and clearly only meant to be mean and get some kind of laugh.

[dutchbaritone08]

@kake1959 dear kake - calling me stupid doesn't make her diction better - it just makes you look rude and intolerant of other people's opinions

[StarRaft]

the date is wrong, isn't it? wasn't this on jan. 11, 2011?

[rlee1976]

@StarRaft

It says THROUGH April 16, meaning it is running continuously through April 16. I don't mean to sound rude, just clearing the confusion!

[Webarton]

this tempo is so slow its like the twilight zone

[8x8MaVerick8x8]

@Webarton Really? It's usually pretty slow - this might be a bit more than usual, but not outside of plausability, I think.

[Electivecp]

my best friend is in this show! her name is Kathleen Porter- well Kiki but she goes to my school and shes meh best friend@!!!!

[dutchbaritone08]

vassa d'arte? don't you people have diction coaches?