Neil Shicoff / Margaret Price - Io vengo a domandar (duet)

[SHICOFF1]

I heard JB sing it live back in 1950 on Sirius Radio recently, opening the 1950 met. season and he did a Fine job, the sometimes fast Vibrato on top was not evident and his singing was really flawless. Neil is wonderful here- really great but his 1986 San Francisco performances that opened the season sung in original French was very fine also.

[silvr94]

Would you mind writing "I THINK (!!!) that her voice doesn't suit the role" in the info box??? That's your opinion, not a fact. Price sang this role countless times. I doubt Levine would have her sing it at the MET if he thought the role weren't ideal for her voice - he's an expert after all.

[GermanOperaSinger]

@silvr94 It is my opinion, she was spectacular in Mozart, where she outshone all others of her time. I simply prefer her in the aforementioned repertoire to her in Verdi. Doesn't mean she's bad - there are countless sopranos who sang this role much worse.

[SHICOFF1]

Of course I mean he sang Lenski in Eugen Onegin not Onegin .

[SHICOFF1]

They make stuff up about Peerce and Tucker as well as Neil and most of them never even heard him in house Peerce especially seemed to record in the 50's with RCA using poor sound with his voice (not nasal) which I heard in 1958 and about a dozen more times in the 60's and 70's liv. Tucker's voice was much larger live sounding then on records and Pav , Bergonzi and Jussi where less powerful live of course being more in the lyric mold than Tucker who had Corelli and De Monaco power on top notes.

[okaukuejo]

I think Shicoff is great here, very passionate as always, lovely recording. Amazing how much emotion he puts into his singing. Thanks to GOS and pearlmuth3 for this upload.

[SHICOFF1]

ANY singer can be flamed of course but when you heard Neil in house he had it all, power, beauty and Squillo in spades. He could trill in Ah Si Ben Mio and sing Ballo or Luisa Miller later in his career but Hoffmann and Onegin will always be a signature role for him. His Don Jose was among the best ever. He also could act like no other tenor in his time.

[gaytenor]

@SHICOFF1 Why is it that when American tenors are flamed the word nasal comes up so often? From hearing Peerce in concert I know he wasn't nasal and Shicoff sure as hell doesn't sound nasal, but the gott of the north can wobble from over pushing high notes for the volume he didn't have and all are silent!! I frankly rather hear Shicoff in Don Carlo than the gott of the north simply because his voice was BIGGER!

[SHICOFF1]

I have never seen him make a nice comment on a Shicoff post .. I usually don't Flame any singer on his own posts. I 'm not a Corelli fan and I don't get on a Corelli post just to flame him where he scoops lisps or sings flat or JB posts when he has that excessive Vibrato on top even in Studio recordings, if Callas wobbles late in her career I just don't listen or comment Some say Peerce and Tucker are Nasal, thats all Bullshit. I heard Peerce in recitals often and in opera not nasal live.

[SHICOFF1]

@CANTORMATIS I don't agree with you at all but you have your opinion and I have mine. He is not nasal here, taken from radio and far from crude but if you don't like it why bother, listen to others. He also did the role in French in SF before this in 1986 and was very fine. Here he is wonderful. Bravo!

[Cantormatis]

Oddly, I find the otherwise wonderful Shicoff to be quite unappealing here, rather nasal. I find his style really rather crude here- he barks alot instead of singing. Disappointing given what a fine singer he was so much of the time.

Price sounds wonderful, suptuous even, except when she decides to croon in straight tone.

[gaytenor]

@Cantormatis Where is Shicoff nasal? As to his style perhaps you should reference who you consider a paragon of Verdian style. I have studied this opera and I fine the style used by Shicoff to be totally appropriate and Shicoff's singing has his customary bloom to the tone. Lastly this is an exceptionally trying role for the tenor and Shicoff sang it far better than Domingo, Pavarotti, and some of the real turkeys the Met has employed in this role.

[quequitoAR]

Price is overrated? and by English folk? Curious: I've got a pretty extensive list of overrated singers, who happen to be top at the best seller list... (let's no make names). Nevertheless, I think this is not the most suitable role for her.

[Rahela83]

THANKS FOR POSTING THIS!!! I am a huge fan of Shicoff, Raimondi and Bernd Weikl and I wish so much I had this recording!... This duo is amazing!!

[silvr94]

I don't think people overrate Margaret Price. I think people overrate Callas (especially in her late career), for example, with her very loud high notes with that unmistakeable wide vibrato.

Second of all, her "own folk" aren't the English, they are the Welsh!!!

[moghedien13]

huge callas and price fan, but ur totally right about callas being overrated in her late career. also price friggin rocks here her lower register in particular impressed me here

[silvr94]

i'm a callas fan too... i just don't overrate her!

yeah, she was trained as a mezzo so she had a really nice low register.

[moghedien13]

it doesnt surprise me she has a very sumptuous voice. and i shouldnt have said overrate really, because the woman was a damn genius and deserves all the praise. wat gets me is that with all the recordings of her in good voice, where she was just as dramatically alert, why do people always have to feel the need to refer to her when she was falling apart i.e. 1962 through to the end pretty much. shes a very dear artist to alot of us and its painful to hear a legend in such bad shape.

[halavey]

No it's not available, it was taped here from the radio brdcst. not available but someone must have the entire show. I have some of it.

[pearlmuth3]

I taped the entire performance on radio and he was great from the start to the end.

[tagliavini]

Is this available commercially?

[pearlmuth3]

Prime Shicoff here at 39 years old.

[okaukuejo]

Thank you so much pearlmuth and GermanOperaSinger for that, the only bit of Carlos available with him...

[Dudewoah2]

This is just a hair raising scena. It gives me goosebumps to hear it however many times. Thank you for putting it on. I have it, but I wish it was on DVD rather than a cassette tape. After Hoffmann, I always thought this was his finest role, including La Juive, which has its moments but isn't a compelling an opera throughout. Oh, Lord, for a video of any of his Carlos that wasn't taken from the peanut gallery by a palsied pirate!

[Elvira1003]

It isn't possible to overrate Price in my opinion.

[stevevandien]

Agreed!

[pearlmuth3]

Hope you post his Boheme next, Che Gelida from 1984 radio brdcst as it was very good.

[pearlmuth3]

His father the Cantor has one Cantorial recital record out of Cantorial numbers, his name was Sidney Shicoff but the record on a local Brooklyn LP record is hard to find. I have it and the voice was perhaps heavier then Neil's but as Neil has said in intervews his dad was not interested in opera. Sidney had a good position as a cantor and was well known he died young when Neil was a teenager. Neil's grandfather they say had a terrific voice also and sometimes sang as a Cantor also!

[pearlmuth3]

She was not my favorite but I liked her on stage when I saw her she was for me very good but I was not moved say like when I heard Millo or Tebaldi on stage but I liked her so I am not offended at all but I only heard her in house that one time or twice at most. Hard to judge plus it depends on what they sing also, no big deal. Hope to hear the Neil Boheme Aria you are going to post, it will be a winner also. Thanks, P

[patjan92]

This performance was acclaimed at the time. There is good reason for that since they were both in great form AND very convincing on stage.

[tHEnOOSEsWING]

Thank you pearlmuth3 and GermanOperaSinger. Neil Shicoff is definately in grand vocal as dramatic tenor. I admit that I have only his performance with Barbara Frittoli in Luisa Miller, however this video is convincing enough to put him on my list next time I'm out. Of note 5:21 8:53

[pearlmuth3]

Interesting he originally studied to be a Cantor like his very famous tenor father who was a well known Cantor in NY but after sometime at hebrew union college he went for opera instead, sounds like the movie the Jazz singer. Glad he went opera. His father had a fine voice and so did his grandfather, both Cantors so like with Bjorling it was inherited.

[GermanOperaSinger]

INteresting, never knew he was Jewish, and his father a cantor.

[paulostroff99]

@GermanOperaSinger -There are and were loads of both male and female famous Jewish opera singers.Wikipedia it if interest is there.Tucker,Schmidt,Merrill,P­eerce,Tauber,Shicoff, to name just a few of the more famous male members.

[pearlmuth3]

I think I have the entire performance but the met opera player may make it available to hear.

[pearlmuth3]

I sure agree with that sospello and I just e MAILED NEIL THIS WITH MY COMPS. THANKS TO GERMAN OPERA SINGER, neil lives with wife and son in Vien. BORN IN BROOKLYN OF COURSE!

[ShawDAMAN]

Very nice thanks guys. I wonder, do you have "Dio che nell'alma infondere" from this performance? One of my favorite duets ever..

[sospello]

Wow, go Neil. This is just great to hear.

[pearlmuth3]

I thought she was  from wales no?

[pearlmuth3]

YES 1989 IS CORRECT SHE IS NOT MY FAVORITE BUT WAS VERY GOOD WHEN I HEARD HER in house AND HERE SHE IS FINE ALSO.

[pearlmuth3]

Neil was 40 years old, never better and this is a tough tenor role but hyer already was a lyric spinto and spinto enough to pull it off wonderfully.

[pearlmuth3]

She sang here in Chicago and I still remember her rich sound in house and it was about 20 years ago. He was excellent here after doing it a few years before this in SF Calif. in the original French.

[pearlmuth3]

She was great and anyone who thinks otherwise is seated on their ears and Neil was in his prime here, thank you so much for this.

[Mooorhe]

Oh please, Margaret Price overrated? She's the finest soprano ever, all other voices pale in comparison to hers!@!@! Even Rosa Ponselle sounds like a dying cat when compared to Margaret Price! It makes me proud to be English!!!!!

=P

Seriously though, she was a wonderful soprano; not one of the best, but she had a very pleasant voice. And Shicoff is wonderful here.

[Klassizismus]

Margaret Price overrated???????????????????? She was one of the most underrated singers of the last 50 years!