Jennifer Larmore : "Haendel's "Ombra mai fu"

[Rawrlawlsaws]

GREAT!!!!!

[theoneandonlymagnum]

wow she has such a special, deep voice!

[mmtrebuchet]

I have two tabs open right now: This and "Florence Foster Jenkins sings Bach."

Such a contrast! It sounds like a loud squeaky cart has been included in the opera.

[Tsgarlin]

Wow, she's a babe..!

[dAMatlhoko1935]

JUST FULL OF CELESTIAL WONDER AND BEAUTY

[racerunner247]

Jennifer Larmore < Mary Bennett

[alexvivacqua]

Jennifer: sua voz é linda!

[Domino65100]

Vos commentaires techniques me fatiguent.

Moi, je dirai une seule chose : cette femme chante divinement bien...

[sunsdomain]

The contrast between the lyric and the junkyard visuals may seem too obvious.... but it really affects me very strongly. Evokes some lovely shimmering forests I've seen chopped down and paved over in my time. :*-(

[coreolis7]

@sunsdomain  you're absolutely on the mark there, sunsdomain :)

[queenfreaky]

@millertj27 The song itself is about a garden, specifically a tree, and how beautiful it is. She's using irony.

[cantorgasma]

Mid-range OK. Listen to Merrill-Menuhin if you want to hear musicians who understand Haendel.

[pierrezzcote]

Une merveille...

[czech698]

gatopfuelsaver

[JanMelet]

Teriffic. Such a longing

[kaleenasanimals]

I like it

[millertj27]

Why is she shown standing in a junkyard?

[Meyerbeer1]

@millertj27 So you have something to ask about. ;-)

[baldassare01]

@millertj27 it's perfect... it simply shows that we don't know what we got until it's gone

[vnessie1]

@millertj27 to show the irony of the words she is singing...

[crockogold]

this is a great rendering of Ombra ma Fu i like it a great deal almost as much as Kathleen Ferrier

[AshlandIT]

@rlane91 Careful you don't give too much time to people who would sell if their IQ ever hit 80.

[raigekimaru]

jennifer larmore, joyce didonato, dolora zajick, marilyn horne...we have more good mezzos around now than sopranos

[TrekBass]

I wanna marry her. Holiiii smokes !!!! Such prominent gorgeosity.

[danieledapote]

Wonderful! Among the all classic music pieces, this is the most touching at all. It touchs my soul....

[poetessabs1]

bravaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa­aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

[mikeberry1948]

Magnificent! makes my eyes moist

[GEMINISKO]

BELLISSIMA!

[reubendan]

Wonderful rendition! Such depth!!

Hard to understand how anyone could dislike this... :-)

[4047hg]

Natürlich eine wunderbare Interpretation, informiert an der historischen Aufführungspraxis. Eindrucksvoll die Videaoaufnahme: visionär und geisterhaft, sozusagen eine "Erinnerung" an Fukushima Daiichi März 2011.

[toulouseforever1]

@4047hg gott was redet ihr deutschen geschwollen

[Whistlejocket]

She is very good...reminds me of Kirsten Flagstad, although two very different voices.

[paulostroff99]

Astounding.! As god as I've ever heard this sung. TY MUEZZAB for posting.

[ClassicPerformances]

She does this comparably to Dame Janet Baker and to be honest, I have never heard her so good!!

[seanseanleprechaun]

Sublime!

[Petrov8034]

This is one of the most beautiful performances I ever heard of Ombra mai fu!

[ronwgood]

I love her voice it has richness and depth,

[mamp71]

This was the first video I saw here on YouTube!!!

[vibraharp226]

Those men who work in the spare parts yard of the train factory must have been really surprised at her presence!

[ccdg1066]

I am spellbounded! 

[SwingDanceBand]

@ccdg1066 SPELLBOUND

[cantorga]

I think she would be a fine Frasquita or Flora or Countess of Ceprano but for God''s sake keep herr away from the Baroque

[AustenBiss]

A lovely mezzo with musical intelligence. 'Ombra mai fu' just melts the heart. Truly beautiful.

[jinxgirl15]

my music instructer made us sing this in the 6th grade....I was so good i got applause and a twizzler XD Im sure that she's better though XD lol

[classicalgalNYC]

@rlane91 Then how come I've never heard of her? Cecilia Bartoli I could believe or even Joyce DiDonato.

[Pre114]

Handel's music is awesome, I love Baroque composers!

[MrAbellink]

Stunning rendition of this aria by Handel. This tune has to be one of the greatest tunes of all time!

[JRZGRL55]

Sweet!! And cool video too. I love love love Jennifer's voice.

[camposi]

wonderul - love this piece and this singer1!

[marchesedecoccibus]

mezzo soprano.... ma quasi un "soprano drammatico" :) per quella certa grazia sui regisitri più alti. Quell'incipit in lieve crescendo è assolutamente incantevole

[Febronius]

ovo je najbolje,hvala muezzabu,malo neobično za Larmore,ali divno

[Kedavra73]

Somebody! Help me please to find her Discography! I need a link immediately :))

[CantoSemper49]

Wow, this amazing. Her voice is like cashmere!

[antione101]

This is the best female version of this aria

[Transoxiana94]

Sublime...

[Kushnerova]

Perfekt!

[Guichotpresident]

I had the pleasure of singing with her 2 years ago, beautiful voice!!! And so nice...

[velp1946]

Mooi, heel mooi. En ontroerend.

Perfect gezongen.

Je zweeft al luisterend door de wolken.

Prachtig gedaan Jennifer.

[fadoluisi]

Lovely... Dark colored female voices are my favorites!!!

PS.: Isn't it funny how youtube is plagued with "critics" who haven't sang two notes together in their lives but are quick to point out flaws in singers like Mrs. Larmore? Just saying...

[thebiggestchild]

her eyes like the door of her soul and the voice breath taking....

[bests4ng]

fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable

[1centi]

xs4all.nl/~pj7/jennifer/

[horseyak]

This is a gorgeous version, bettered only by Bartoli.

[larvin25]

I pity some of you. I am not a music major but I love music and I love playing and I am glad I am not majoring in it. Some of you pick apart a song so much and focus on critisizing so much that you totally miss the point of just enjoying the music being made. Its sad and I deal with it every day in my music ensembles. Who cares if its not perfect, what person is? She is singing with her heart and doing a very good job.

[Zeitgeiste]

@larvin25

Well-said. This is often what's wrong with music critics and why we would never listen to them perform. They would simply be paralyzed by their own critic.

[TGTSTS]

@larvin25 I am a music major, but I could not agree with you more. So many musicians are so engulfed in perfecting the technical aspect of the music, or picking apart the "imperfections" of a performance, that they forget to let the beauty and the passion of the music move both audience and performer.

[MindinViolet]

@larvin25

That's right. Technically virtuosic performances may impress, but the performances with emotional depth and passion are the ones I remember.

[crockogold]

This is beautiful but my favourite version is the one by Kathleen Ferrier.....but what a magnificent piece of music this is.

[vivegedda]

@rlane91 She,s cheating on vowels. By yourself a goo pair of ears!!

[bradleyjenks]

@vivegedda Buy yourself a spelling book.

[Cyberbob1987]

very good performance especially because the timbre of her voice matches this song perfectly

[mgunar]

The best vocal rendition and the only one I listen to.

[hootersnooter]

Far nicer to hear a womans voice unaffected by over done vibrato and predictable gliding to higher notes - this form of singing was only developed to be able to compete with the volume of an orchestra - now we have microphones and sound systems, I wish we could go back to the natural voice - we lose an immaculate quality with singers being trained to develop what they call the "chest voice" YUK - fabulous piece by Handel though!

[Bla7695976565486]

@hootersnooter Sounds like mostly headvoice to me, female popsingers usually use chest only, why dont we also abolish the acoustic guitar while we are at it, who needs acoustic when we have electronic.........

A baby crying is probably as natural a voice as you´ll ever get and you lost that long agoe i would wager ;)

[raigekimaru]

her singing voice is rich and low, but her speaking voice is relatively high

[tamerlano236]

Very nice. Great aria. But IMO it sounds best of all in countertenors renditions. The most beautiful version is Nicholas Spanos's.

[MrMagyar7]

La voz de Larmore está llena de belleza de paz, especialmente en esta aria su tesitura la hace especialmente bella y su vibrato ¡no tiene comparación!...mi sueño sería cantar un dueto con ella!

[maritate]

So beautiful voice!!

It is the fisrt time I heard her voice

Brava Jennifer!!!

[dangmills]

@rlane91 considering the fact that she is the most recorded... not very popular it seems.

Maria Callas, Angela Gheorghiu, Magdalena Kozena, Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, Laura Claycomb, Charlotte Hellekant, Tuva Semmingsen, Inger Dam Jensen, Virginia Zeani, Grace Bumbry, Marilyn Horne, Joan Sutherland, Jennifer Larmore, (in order of my favs, though I don't really like Larmore, her diction in Carmen's "Habanera" hurts my ears, but her voice in other operas is exquisite)

[newenaneca]

Spot je EXSTRA

[mreldude]

@rlane91 i thought cecilia bartoli was more recorded than her

[cor8995]

музыка, the love, fire moves against time to one uniform space:.perfection How an apple, Or a flower in the emptiness, which purpose beauty. музыка ,любовь ,огонь движется против времени в одно единое пространство :.созревает ? как яблоко ? или цветок в пустоте ,цель которого красота ..А .Корепанов

[Lancebowski]

Stunning voice and visual juxtaposition going on, here.

[kplmeister]

Yes, she is fabulous and probably has been all of her life. We went to the same school (I for choral conducting) and I first heard her sing a Brahms song in voice class. I was bowled over and vowed to NEVER sing in voice class.

In regard to this aria, several of us were listening to a performance of Janet Baker singing it and someone remarked that it was impossible to sing it better. Jennifer replied that she could sing it better - silence from us all. Well, I think she was right.

[csmatteson]

She is putting in trills that might sound like a wobble at times to someone who does not understand this style of singing. This woman has a wonderful voice. Glorious.

[Schwertleiter]

Please compare with Kathleen Ferrier's version. Then you can comment.

[Gustavian]

@Schwertleiter In the era of Kathleen Ferrier the baroque sound was wrong, but a wonderful singer. Based in the last studies in baroque stile, this the way to sing baroque music: Larmoore is a great singer too with a perfect technic.

[UnAneBouffeurdeMerde]

Douces et charmantes branches de mon cher platane, le destin vous sourit! Que le tonnerre, l’éclair et la tempête ne troublent jamais votre précieuse paix, et le rapace vent du sud ne vienne pas non plus vous violenter! Jamais l’ombre d’aucun arbre ne fut plus douce, plus précieuse, plus agréable!

[lamiacuffietta]

@rlane91 I totally agree with all that you wrote, but I don't believe that she is THE most recorded mezzo of all time... do you mean rossiniana mezzo only??

[CriticaLxThoughX]

Mezzo-Sopran-Power! ^-^´

[Allicia123mm]

She has most dramatics voice!

[jamesglory1]

I know nothing about Opera but since I discovered Jennifers singing, I like to settle down and let the world drift away as she caresses my heart with her beautiful voice.

Praise the Lord for blessing us with Jennifer!

[ThisIsAdriana]

The song is talking about the beauty of a tree... and mixed in with the industrial shots.. wow. Just wow. This is such a beautiful little piece.. one of the first I ever sang... she does a beautiful job.

[DCFunBud]

Great music, great singing, great lady, awful video -- the "edgy" junk yard scenes add nothing because they mean nothing; the super close-up shots are poorly handled and uninspired.

[MrJoeybananas11]

were singing this in chorus! hhahahha

[kimosozoro]

beautiful

it makes me cry...

[BeautifulPast]

Lover her voice ... so versatile and full of personality!!!

Great performer!!!

[Fuliginosus]

I love the junkyard; the contrast between dirty reality and heavenly music.

[UrsulaZampieri]

Amei. Maravilhosa, além de ser muito bela a sua vóz é profunda, aveludada, doce e forte nos momentos precisos, e a solista é muito expressiva e bonita. Quanto a esta ária , é bela, bela. Meus ouvidos choram ao ouví-la. RD

[88Ed1962]

Beautifully sung without excess. Great!

[dmitrit81]

~ great music! and the video is good

[LolitaAlchemist]

Her sister was my math teacher in high school. I was able to talk to her over the phone one day. It was pretty cool!

[MrPOsorio]

Such an exquisite music in a junkyard doesn't seem very proper...

[ramron333]

translates as .. how much can i get for my scrap car

[cavendishable]

Mon classement. L'indépassable Cathleen Ferrier, ensuite ex aequo Jennifer Larmore et Joyce Di Donato et puis Renée Fleming. Maix le choix est difficile.

[cantanteporsiempre]

@cavendishable Larmore y Ferrier, poi, basta!!  la Prima sempre sará Janet Baker

[selfidentity1]

now thats more like it! that bertoli one didn't set the music free!

[msresearchblog]

Who said "should not be singing"? Mezzo-soprano is very good too. Good staging: well done, encore!

[warmind1000]

She is a beauty and her voice is wonderful

I¨ts a privelege tom be able to hear such great artists - not to forget Anna Netrebko:

Warmind Denmark.

[johnnyvegas1985]

1.30 is definitely Sigourney Weaver!

Lovely piece.

[laskerono1]

it is so painfully beautiful

[sonicmariogurl]

... my teacher wishes for me to learn this song so I may sing it along with his violin and the pianists.... I don't know if I'll be able to... ^^;

[dencam1234]

@sonicmariogurl yes, you will and to be a little nervous will be a good thing as the adrenaline will only add to your voice to make a beautiful performance. good luck (if you have yet to perform) well done! (if the concert is over)

[josevaladez]

Bravo Miss Larmore !!!!

[Kittalia]

Starting at 1:30 - in this pose which comes several times in the piece - she reminds me so much of Sigourney Weaver, though the two women have no other similarity. Funny how the camera 'sees'.

Beautiful rendition - just lovely. And, yes, I agree with Etnecserc about the staging - really inspired - especially after seeing the 'The Road' - very haunting, lots of layers.

[pianomags]

O wow, I just spotted the 1:30 bit - it's the side-view of the mouth isn't it?!

[giuseppemordacci]

Sing Handel's "Ombra mai fu" in exceptional cases but could give some less horrible.

[mariasarda]

Belle et divine.

[carnisero43]

A great lady and singer!! Bravo Jennifer!

[iltempodiberta]

@carnisero43

no "BRAVO"

jennifer è donna,

"BRAVA" Jennifer !

[Schwertleiter]

The voice is so swallowed. with a lovely wobble to go with it. She is sitting on her cords. And strangling out a sound. This woman should not be singing.

[jr1844]

Schwetleiter: Oh get real, and stick to the market!

[aglooka]

This has to be one of the worst performances of "Ombra mai fu ever".....this is not Haendel, but some modern musical or so....

Compare this to the Joyce di Donato , or Andreas Scholl's versions.

(sorry to be so negative, but had to say this)

[Etnecserc]

DiDonato's rendition certainly has more baroque signatures like trills and tremolos and her voice has a higher register. Clear as a bell, her rendition is great but the comparison with Larmore is like between apples and oranges. Same with Scholl whose performance I like too but I wouldn't compare him to Hvorostovsky's which is my favorite male version. Why? Again, different voices and treatment.

[Etnecserc]

Great ambience. The idea of presenting this song about planting a tree amidst the ruins of an industrial factory is capital. Larmore's deep yet silky voice is both pleasing and haunting. Did I mention that she is devastating with her smashing good looks?

[Ljosalff]

Great - my favourite performance

[yumystery]

Elle parle l'anglais!

[belspace]

Ombra mai fu by Händel , my best favorite classical music !

[HalleyVIEW]

George Frederic Handel, 282 years ago he composed amazing songs like this, he never imagine about YouTube or DVD, but his work trespassing the time in a haunting melody. He made a perfect job.

[despina64]

Jennifer est BELLE et chante merveilleusement

[baalhaophanim]

The video is not irrelevant!!! It says that the capitalism and the pollution of the atmosfere is distroyng the beauty of the trees, as the sweet shadows of the Platano so beautiful the King Xerxes sings...

[hobgobblet]

lovely but the video is totally irrelevant!

[WillardBaker]

In "The Silver Chair", by C.S. Lewis there is a song so beautiful and so sad that it is beyond description. It is played at the death of King Caspian, and Lewis describes it as "a song that would break your heart."  He must have heard this piece by Handel.

[jorgegrillo55]

Ella es hermosa igual que la musica...♫

[Mauricio12345ful]

There are things that go terribly/beautifully deep into my soul. This video makes feel too close to cry and too close to smile ¡ Her eyes, tender and penetrating, speak maybe more than just her voice...love you Jennifer

[KHCorvi]

Ooh wie schön ...

[mlkoln]

... wenn dieses Video nur nicht so unerträglich von Kitsch triefen würde ...

[kaskadaks]

Beautiful version, although i find it kind of odd that they chose a run down industrial environment to illustrate the song. After all, it is about the lovely shade of a tree or something like that.

[CalifaJohn]

In the song, she is singing about the lack of shade. Mai means never. The character has just returned home from a journey in a treeless land which is, I think, why they chose an industrial wasteland as a setting.

[ianmcrobbie1]

This moved me to tears. Lovely.

[GosfordAbercrombie]

the purity of vowel is a bit off here! the tone, however, is quite excellent!!!!

[FRUTIGH]

wunderschön gesungen - morgen wird meine Version auf der Panflöte hochgeladen

[Thom176]

this rocks.

[gmperregrino]

when did she learn french?

[Aro87x]

Ummm...why is she in a shipyard? Was anyone else thrown off by this?

[nessie96]

The setting in a shipyard is supposed to be ironic...the height of irony if you ask me.

[1401JSC]

I'm open to modern restatements or explanations of texts, but I sure miss the plane tree....

[BethInBlack0]

not really but i was put off by the spelling of Handel's name in the title xD

[beluczak]

the "ae" stands for original German two dots over the "a", you know...

[htshoward]

I am so taken with her....Love the voice.

[minaphilie]

SUBLIME !

[Beldarw]

amazing

lovely aria

wonderful

SING

[OlDoinyo]

'Haendel' is an acceptable alternate spelling of 'Händel', though perhaps a bit archaic.

Lovely aria.

[ld357]

This is lovely...but please please change the name in the title to "Handel" (not Haendel)

[SANDRAKARINARO]

SIN PALABRAS...

[mabizka]

Beautiful... I sing this but not so good like she. This is so light and gentle... I'm impressed.

[PL3NTY]

Nearly 300 Years old.

Not her... the song

[jucameron]

All other versions pale into insignificance compared with that of Enrico Caruso.

[karinfkrause]

I think you don´t know much about periods and styles. Enrico Caruso was a great singer, but for XIX opera, not for barock.

[mediarolf]

Das ist Musik vom Besten

[flemingway]

She was really good, I didn't expect that. There's often something not good but this was good. Usually I listen to Suzie Leblanc's version. And if course Dmitri Hvorostovsky

[doddsalfa]

the best is andreas scholl

[WloScielaneve]

un angelo!!! Meravigliosa!

[kareldeclercq]

Echt een vertolking die kippenvel geeft.

[Aramendil]

Wow..what a moving rendition.

[MATEUDG]

Esta mujer canta muy bien, pero mi amiga Antonieta canta mejor!!!

[todds7]

devera...

me gustaria oirla algun dia.

[fernandofernandezgar]

Beutiful Jennifer, beutiful the music, beutiful Händel, BEUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!

[dayglofunkstar]

I adore Jennifer Larmore. She is so brilliant at coloratura, but this just shows that she also has the ability to show immense control and restraint. Brava!

[mlkoln]

man kann sich an dieser Stimme gar nicht satt hören

... einfach wunderbar, dieses Piano!

[miCeciliaBartoli]

magnifique je l'adOre!!

BravOOOoo jennifer! <3

[grakelonia]

Ombra mai fù di vegetabile,  cara ed amabile, soave più.

[Pansy1980]

I don't understand the start- What's with the cars and such? Isn't the song about a tree?

[jr1844]

Think postmodern deconstructionism . . .

[wowmom76]

Gerard Manley Hopkins explains the connection thusly: "Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; and all is seared with trade, bleared, smeared with toil; and bears man's smudge and wears man's smell .... And for all this, nature is not spent; there lives the dearest freshness deep down things ..." That's what industrial images have to do with trees.

[iammeanmrmustard]

"Haendel" is a way to spell "Händel" without an umlaut; Händel and Handel are the same person, he just took the umlaut out when he moved to England.

[aliensliveamongus]

modernday pedagogic disaster, tense throat indeed.

real singers combine a technique based on yawning and laughing, as possibly, our bodies are constructed for singing without all these artificial lip tensing, extended neck and whatever.. sigh

[classicalgal14]

I thought this was composed by Handel ? O_o

[anipito]

sorry, too much echo, too much recording technic making the voice sound bigger than it is, in the reality very average voice, but high musucality, compliments

[doddsalfa]

Please dont call Jennifer Larmore average !The recording technic here is average.