Rolf Bjorling - Ingemisco - Live 1985

[crnguy1]

I do not understand the adverse comments. This is fine singing for any opera singer and especially for one aged 57 years. His top notes are produced with admirable and surprising ease.

[SHICOFF1]

IF YOU HEARD HIM IN THE EARLY 60'S LIKE I DID IN RECITAL IN CHICAGO WHERE HE LIVED AT THE TIME, MARRIED TO A CHICAGO GIRL, THEN YOU WOULD HEAR A SOUND IN THE MIDDLE VOICE MUCH MORE LIKE HIS FATHER THAN HERE BUT NOT AS MUCH LIKE JUSSI ON THE TOP. HERE HE IS OLDER, MID 50'S AND HIS VOICE IS DARKER AND WITH MORE VIBRATO. HE WAS A VERY GOOD TENOR IN HIS OWN RIGHT BUT HAVING THE NAME BJORLING IS TOUGH, ALWAYS UP FOR COMPARISONS. I TALKED TO HIM AFTER THAT RECITAL AT ORCH. HALL HE WAS A NICE MAN.

[jostreed]

This is marvelous singing!

[hallyd]

Here he is 8 years older that his father was at his death.

[ForAll23]

RB had not JB capacity, it is not a question of will or technique.

Rolf was a lovely man and a good friend with an open heart.

[valdengo1]

....amazing...Bjoerling genes pass, yet Jussi set the bar so high almost nobody can ascend there........

[PEAinSwe]

Third generation excellent singing.

[GERMANYFrankie]

impressive!

[jblo9]

Wonderful things these genes.

[maxhansendk]

I like Rolfs singing in this song very much!!

Thank you Rolf! You have a beautiful powerful voice that suits this song perfectly!

I have enjoye this song of you many times! And continue to do so!

LOVELY SINGING!!

[Zva26]

The physical resemblance to his father is almost creepy!

[sallpario]

his is a parody of his fater. Rolf! why? why are you so lazy

[ForAll23]

@sallpario (the great moron)

First, he is not a parody of his father.

Second, he is not lazy, he is dead.

Fuck you until you are dead!

[sallpario]

@ForAll23 angry man keep your tongue in your ass

[ForAll23]

@sallpario

No, you better keep your tongue in your ass.

[MrGVTS]

BRAVO!!!

[paddaman1]

Hell, how heavy is that voice compared to the dad's, never knew he had children that sang as well. Rolf has got one hell of a strong support here. WOW, I quite like this, not fantastic, but quite impressive.

[maxhansendk]

A moving rendition!! Son of Bjorling!

Wonderful!

[metteholm75]

There is no way, we could compare him with his father. They have quite different voices. Rolfs voice is much heavier and juicier. I heard an earlier recording, and his voice did not wobble that way.

[Marinausbcn]

Soberbio!!!!! digno de su padre!!!! Sr. Rolf Bjorling, yo soy un gran admirador de su padre, le felicito! Bravo!

[sammyscroll]

Aguacun, I agree with your comment....enjoy...whatever...­.

[lpizzella]

muy buena voz, un gran tributo para quien fuera el mas grande de todos, su padre.

[Alfifa]

Beautiful!

Would like to hear more him,

Karlott

[sammyscroll]

After listening to the entire rendition, not quite as sharp as his Dad with the high notes, those ringing high notes but still quite good.

[sammyscroll]

In my fifty years of listening to opera, I never knew Bjorling had a son especially one, who in later years, possessed such a magnificent voice. Absolutely wonderful, just like his Dad.....

[halavey]

As I remember he was tall and very modest when I talked about the Recital and by the way he got a good review in Chicago .

[halavey]

Jussi was 17 when he was born in 1928 but don't judge him by this late in his career cause I heard him in the early 60's in Chicago and met him after the concert. but here he has wobble in the voice because he did what so many do --he was a lyric tenor and he sang roles not for a lyric even sang Calaf in with Nilsson in Sweden. He used to live in Chicago , married to a Chicago girl and was fine when I heard him, sounded in the middle even more like Jussi then here. He was a nice man.

[grandoperamaniac]

Answers to some of the peoples questions:

The tenor was here 57 (he was born when Björling was 16 or 17, in 1928).

He sang leading roles at Royal Swedish Opera from 1964 to 1985.

He died in cancer in 1993.

[AUDIOPHlLE]

If I hadn't known of the Jussi connection I probably would have said he partly reminds me of Gedda, although it's probably the accent more than anything. Impressive!

Doesn't the audience know not the applaud in the middle of a performance of the Manzoni Requiem?! Or did he only sing "Ingemisco?"

[zfranklyn]

@AUDIOPHlLE Yes! I was just thinking that it sounded like gedda! the mid range has that rich quality of Gedda's, and the vibrato sounds very similar too.

[yonkoff]

Amazing! Probably not flawless, but I think it's great ...And the resemblance is pretty obvious-look at the way he opens his malt and shows his teeth on 1:03 "et latrOnem"! How come I never knew he sung too?!!! Beautiful voice!

[aguacun]

WOW!

[donaldrose]

Lovely. Totally different technique to JB's but in a few places there are some tones which remind us of JB.  Wonder why he didn't have a much greater career?

[Gary2837]

@donaldrose I heard them too!!! Thanks a million for posting; I wondered if his children had any musical talent and apparently so.

[sarado88]

I agree, his technique is so similar to that of his father. Great voice.. Bravo!! Thanks for posting!

[alexgomez2]

Incredible! His technique is so similar to that of his father and amazing legato and diction! Why not compare him to his dad. He's as good as him and it's rare to inherite the same great abilities, style and technique. That's for this video!

[maxhansendk]

Wonderful! Very moving rendition.

If I was Jussi Bjorling (his father) I would be extremely proud.

Well done Rolf!

[operataste]

His way to sing is corageous, going to top notes with certainty that everything is going to be fine. And it goes. Like his father, at this point they are very similar. Bravo! I appreciated very much this video, thanks for posting.

[Amunhotep4th]

This is an excellent performance. I have no idea how old this man is but it is quite respectable to say the least. This is a very difficult aria, as most Verdi arias are very taxing on even a highly trained voice. I have nothing but good to say about this fine performance.

[tauromaniac]

he is really bjoerling's son!! bravo

[jakegrady]

yes he is ...

[fabrizzzio48]

A bounded score would have looked more elegant!

[Pawelp]

Too bad of the wobble.. Too much weight.. but very good material for sure.. He got it from someone :)

[GermanOperaSinger]

Well he had a lot to live up to as the son of one of the greatest. Voice aside, he uses a similar approach like his father and upper register attacks. Yes and this is far past his prime.

[gpoec]

What pressure to be under! Everyone comparing Rolf to his father, and in a live performance yet. I think Rolf sang this with his heart and soul and I hope Jussi could hear it, wherever he is. I'm a Bjoerling "sound" fan and always will be. Oh that they could do an encore for us. Ther is a Swedish recording of selection by Jusssi, Rolf, and Raymond: "Three Generations." If not under copyrite, I hope someone will post this. Everyone, have a sincere Thanksgiving Day!

[pearlmuth3]

Lanza's daughter who is gone now sang with a nice little pop voice when a teen ager I heard her at the Cocozza house. Bjoerling's father recorded this twice, near the end of his life was the last one, just the aria but several good recordings of this exist. JB did the entire Req. on an earlier rec.

[stevevandien]

Absent the wobble (and I've heard MUCH worse as far as that goes, from singers in virtually every fach), this is a moving performance, especially since few if any tenors sang the "Ingemisco" more powerfully and beautifully than Rolf's father --

[ShawDAMAN]

Very nice.

[Mooorhe]

I agree :P. Seems like alot of effort to get the higher parts though, but he's fairly old here.

[ShawDAMAN]

Yes I was impressed actually with his high notes considering his age, etc;. At least he didn't crack- :D very respectable performance I think!

Nice that Jussi's descendants have inherited some of his talent. For so many of the great singers I wonder if their kids will inherit their talent but it hardly ever seems to happen. Like Lanza- 4 kids, none of them really sang. Maybe Pava's little girl will be the next Sutherland or something- nah... :P

[Mooorhe]

Lol, I was thinking the other day that perhaps Jussi passed on his 'tenor gene' to Rolf :P.

[Astradamors]

@Mooorhe ...that "mi-i-i-hi quoooooooque" (i think it's a B flat) is VERY difficult, because of the way it's written, so I think he has done a good job with this difficult aria. It's funny, but in that particular high note I found his voice similar to Jussi's.

[Ettoredipugnar]

@Mooorhe I met him after a concert in Phila. 1971. Nice man. Nice Job Rolf.

[pearlmuth3]

He died in 1993 it must have been very hard for he was constantly being compared to his father and of course you cannot win when your dad is the greatest or at least one of three greatest lyric tenors of all time. He worked for sometime in Chicago for a co. I worked for later and was a super nice fellow. He was taller then Jussi who wanted his sons to have an education and really not go into singing. His two other sons are very successful and well. They are Rolf's half brothers.

[pearlmuth3]

Please do not think of this as Rolf in his prime because this is late for him vocally he sang a concert in the early 60's and I was present in Chicago where he was living with his wife a chicago girl. It was quite good actually and the middle of the voice was similar to his father but not the top, his Italian was good and he was a good singer musically but later he did Calaf live and I have it with Nilsson and roles like that finished his voice so it had the wobble. I met him, very nice man.