Villazon sings Monteverdi

[ghyuuga]

whats the title for this piece....

[marcusunlimited]

Awesome job of mixing early music sensitivity in the vocals, but adding the new things we've learned about placement and forte since, also LOVE LOVE LOVE the subdued organ setting.

[gkopij]

Just wonderful! I had this disk for a few years. I found this very engaging. I can listen to it over and over again. His voice and interpenetration is just amazing. He brings such an energy to the Brogue music otherwise I would not probably listen to it !! Just love to listen to it. Thanks Rolando.

[LordMgls]

3:07 renaissence rock

[fernandoeltenor]

GENIAL

[ferbaritono5917]

@fernandoeltenor Concuerdo tocallo pero en tenor jeje, es fenomenal VIVA VILLAZON!!!!

[Svatopluk]

Really terrible singing. I find it astonishing that someone of his profile would sing this in public. Has he read nothing about singing Monteverdi? What about Monteverdi's description of the three registers? Villazon just does the 'modern tenor thing' and sings everything in the same strained and wobbly way. The dictum? Focus on the modern technique and forget about everything else. Zzzzzzz.

[bwv243]

is he singing monteverdi?? its more like verdi....

[MYRHAH]

il est évident que la présence de Villazon rehausse cette production: l'artiste est talentueux, engagé. Mais il n'est pas certain que sa voix soit monteverdienne, et de manière plus générale, baroque. C'est plutôt un timbre pour le romantisme italien.

Quant aux gesticulations de la chef, elles sont inutiles et franchement ridicules; la musique se vit de l'intérieur : minimum de gestes pour maximum de contenu a souvent été la devise de grands interprètes...

[drtmuir]

"L'onta irrita lo sdegno a la vendetta"-- I thought that was going to be a lot worse than it was!!! ;)

[drtmuir]

Is it me or Villazon look like Rowan Atkinson? It;s like seeing Mr. Bean sing Monteverdi.

[neelsdp1]

@drtmuir You are right...they really have similar very interesting facial expressions, but , as you know, Mr Bean stays away from singing...I guess if he could sing like this we would have missed out on the funny movies...

[anocheciendo]

Una lastima con el divismo de los cantantes, sin el compositor no existiria la obra

[ileanabarandiaran]

ileanabarandiaran

BRAVO, Rolando!Voila un autre magnifique visage musical de ta carriere ..Sei straordinario , come sempre !.Ti vogliamo tutti un sacco di bene.Desde Rumania , en donde te esperamos lo mas antes posible, nuestro amor a ti, para siempre !

[marisolyd]

que pedejo baltazar rolando es de los meojores de estos tiempos.

[belcantomania]

D'accordissimo..

[Bajazet]

mah... per quanto mi piaccia villazon, non riesco a capire il perché di quest'operazione, ahimè, fin troppo commerciale. La declamazione richiesta dal testo di Tasso e dalla musica di Monteverdi non ne esce come avrebbe potuto, vista la razza pregiata degli esecutori. Mi sembra un'occasione persa. L'aria della Notte è senza mistero, la voce è sempre troppo presente e uniforme, senza i giusti accenti e le pause di declamazione... peccato

[graulud]

sono d'accordo

[ardnail]

It is interesting to add such emotions to Monteverdi

[drtmuir]

One might argue that the emotions are there-- he just expresses them more, um, emphatically.

[maryrapshody]

Bueno fluye sentimiento..pero no es Verdi.Aparte ,su voz tapa los matices e intención de la orquesta como que no estan en comunión ambos planos...pero ya esta hecho...y creo que eso querian a hacer una versión ...el publico elige

[wasdwasd1337]

The conductor is strange^^

[ortruda2009]

Lo lamento ademas de cantar mariachi canta monteverdi como nadie BRAVISIMO!!!!!!!!

[belcantomania]

oimè,caso acerbo!!!!!!!!!!!

[melisandedebussy]

me parece fantastica su interpretacion, a pesar de la adversion q veo q provoca su vibratto, pero señores el espiritu del barroco es la provocacion de los afectos, no un canto purista llano q no provoca ni a la abuelita ajoajoajaojaoj

[cggchat]

Ridicule!Rien à voir avec le style monteverdien.

Monteverdi n'est pas Verdi. Comme d'habitude E. Haim préfère l'exhibition à l'introversion et privilégie le star system ( on a eu droit à N. Dessay dernièrement).Et en prime on a ses contorsions.

[Kerlerot]

J'ai raccourci après 1 minute de Villazon. Tout à fait d'accord avec toi. C'est pas du Monteverdi mais du Descenduverdi si je puis me permettre.

Un chanteur verdien peut-il avoir une bonne conception d'interprétation pour les baroques ?

Emma Kirkby par ex, bien pour le baroque par contre chez Mozart, déjà, ça me laisse perplexe...

J'abhorre -aussi- les contorsions de cette chef...

[wm0912]

Ich schliesse mich diesem Urteil vor allem in Bezug auf Emmanuelle Haim an. Dieses ewige Chargieren ist nervig und hat überhaupt nichts mit der Musik zu tun - unorganisch und einfach nur lächerlich! Kein Wunder, dass der Klang derart drahtig und überspannt rüberkommt! Ein Absteller! :<

[xpywe]

connaissez vous seulement l'histoire de cette piece? et que pouvez vous me dire du "style monteverdien"... Mr Villazon est bien meilleur dans ce repertoir que dans du verdi ou du donnizetti. et quel est cette maniere de denoncer des artistes et des professionnels qui ont fait leur preuves...eux!

[cggchat]

Je ne dénonce pas , je donne un avis sur une interprétation qui fait l'objet d'une commercialisation. Toute critique est légitime et ne pas être chanteur n'interdit pas de dire ce qu'on en pense. Faut-il être metteur en scène pour critiquer , dans un sens comme dans un autre, un film? Je persiste à penser que Monteverdi n'est pas Verdi et que Mm Haïm privilégie les stars pour ses interprétations; business oblige!

[cantantesmexicanos]

Bravo!!!Grande!!!

eres un artista muy completo Rolando!

Felices Fiestas!!! 20-12-2008

[lexjulia44]

Villazon ponte a cantar Mariachis!

Aprende: Laerte Malaguti, Carlo Gaifa, 

Werner Hollweg, te dejan bien atrás.

[Aficionadorientalis]

Villazon clearly put everything he's got in it and seems to be in awe of Monteverdi and his music. He also seems to be able to handle the complexities of 17th century operatic singing with as much poise as any of those who specialize in it....and I've listened to many. And the power of his voice excels.

[Aficionadorientalis]

I don't know much about the technicalities of 17th century opera, but I have heard other singers and compare him to the best I have heard. A more powerfully delivered piece of singing I have never heard.

[dulcissimusverus]

Far too much vibrato, sounds like 19th century opera!

[BlauerBooo]

i watched this right now on tv (arte). very nice =)

[eddi1178]

Bravissimo...

[Cosifantuttee]

Mais qui est donc cette chef d'orchestre ? ne serai-ce pas Emmanuelle Haïm ??

[Veraeikon]

si la pc tiembla con ese vibrato... no es usual para este periodo

[cyclingviolin]

This is fabulous -- to find a 'mainstream' tenor sing Monteverdi according to HIP. Even if aspects could be more 'perfect', it is fabulous, and he has a voice! We need more performers to cross-over between HIP and mainstream.

[acitipo]

Monteverdi, unido a Villazon es un dueto bellisimo, ah! por favor no pueden filtrar un poco las opiniones de gente que no conoce este Genero culto y antiguo

[Javaking9000]

Questo e' perche' mi piace la musica classica, ma non mi piace la musica classica, perche' e' la bellissima, ma ognuno pensi che conosci tutto degli stili.... la maggioranza sono persone che non sono cantanti.

[jsaltod]

demasiado vibrato! demasiado antinatural

[Imperath]

Too much vibrato? Is your favourite music "Cats" or what? Then please never listen to renaissance era music again, please.

[jsaltod]

usted a estudiado canto antiguo, si hasta mozart lo dice, el vibrato natural es muy bonito pero cuando pasa a ser exagerado, se hace antinatural y es molesto.

Y además esta cantado muy romanticamente, y piensa que es barroco, y tampoco es Lully a sin que según mi gusto como la escuela del canto no esta tan evolucionada, la gente cantaba más natural, sin hacer tantisimo vibrato. Parece una ópera de Wagner

[Imperath]

I can understand this point of view, but why should this kind of musical art always depend on "natural" paradigms ? I see your point, but I think that coloraturas based on this kind of vibrato give baroque music its authentic and characteristical traits. "Possente spirto" from L'Orfeo is the best example for the intensity and profoundness of vibrato.

[tachiniger]

Por lo mismo que tu dices deberias aceptar libremente las versiones...

[guyosborn]

why is all that sound coming out of his chest - it's not heavy rock music

[Lohengrin]

- such a beautiful piece

- im surpised vilazon does not have the perfect technique of tenor coloratura to sing the complex ornament without shouting... i thought his voice was truly no1 material or is it he didnt exaclty know how to sing this?

[AngeMarais]

mmh... bello, molto bravo. Però deve stare attento a non confondere Verdi con Monteverdi....

[Adachmar]

this is nice!!!!!

[arcsense]

"What now, ma'am? Ah, let me see the score. So we're singin'... Verdi... Yah, I remember my Verdi lessons (Or was it Verdie?--I think it's short for Monteverdie)... he was a kewl guy"

[mltube]

Tremendous! And to those arguing about the Monteverdi style, I suggest to see the whole DVD and listen to the explanations by RV and Mme. Haim. Makes perfect sense and sounds great.

[Gealach74]

I agree that is not the "style" of Monteverdi, but i quiet liked the first bit...

thanks

[tenorbear60]

I have heard 3 performances of the 1610 Vespers and several Poppeas and I am convinced that Claudio Monteverdi loved adult and ripe sounding voices capable of fast coloratura and a wide range of dynamics. I don't think he would have responded to an English or French boys' choir sound. I don't think Emma Kirkby (despite her awesome musicianship) would have impressed the maestro. But then, we'll never know! I just like the blood and guts of this strong MODERN music...

[raxmeger]

Ok. Perhaps isn't the Monteverdi style. But is a greath thing that a "traditional" opera singer try this repertory. Agree to anything wrote tenorbear60

[murksov]

Me too, raxmeger. Tancredi is a man and a warrior. Also, phrasing and coloratura is good. Monteverdi would have loved it!

[firebreathone]

awful. This is monteverdi, not verdi

[picapin]

lmao!!

[medesmentego]

Liric style in baroque music: Villazon sings Monteverdi like Verdi. It isn't good.

[muzicarka]

well,i must say that i didn't expect that from villazon.i'm always suspicious to voices like villazon when it comes to old music,but he did it very good.just...i don't like the vibrato.but his voice is very movable,and i have to say that this is very good!!

[Samurai9]

Very impressive singing from Villazon. He shows excellent agility and intonation in this difficult music.

[talornin]

I bought this disc as a direct result of stumbling over this clip here. I must say, as a devout Monteverdi-fan that I love this. Sure its not the Tallis Scholars, but I absolutley love it! Its something new! Ive never heard Monteverdi with such vibrato and passion. Screw tradition and conformity! Prais creativness and fresh thinking! Kudos to Villazon for venturing where the common crowd think he should not!

[drtmuir]

@talornin I am a big Monteverdi fan, too, and I was trained in the early-music style, and I have to say I absolutely love it when I see singers from the "big" opera world attempt it. They have varying degrees of success (Bostridge-pretty bad; Keenlyside and Villazon-- have their good points; Rolfe-Johnson, Allen and Murray- amazingly good), but I give them big points for trying.

[empedokles1983]

@drtmuir True, true, but whatever is happening around 3:20 is not excusably.

[Hirnhinweg]

Buy the disc!! I got it and I can tell you: the ensemble is fantastic and co-singers Topi Lehtipuu, a real tenor, and the soprano Patrizia Ciofi fit. And even if Villazon sings like Domingo on drugs here - fine with me if it helps selling this wonderful music

[foropera]

Unexpected, but Monteverdi was Italian, and what seems to be bad taste or too bright for northern people, I am nearly believing that it's a good choice of interpretation. And we have also to think to recreate life, not only trying to be philological.

[huhas1]

People who are not happy with a style keep forgeting that all project has director Ms. Haim. She was looking specially for him, Rolando.

She needed HIS voice, HIS temperament,HIS

personality. They of course were agree with HIS degree of energy. And this is another Rolando's success. That's right-- this is a war.Thank you tenorbear60 and m0e4q2 for your comments.

[Monrealese]

So she took another tempo in the Handel-piece then you preferred. So what! Only amateurs nag about tempo! Is an artist supposed to do what people expect them to do? I don't think so.

[Justino111]

it's just the performance. I have a recording of this piece and it sounds fantastic and definitely very much Monteverdi at his best. the problem with some singers is that they seem to ignore what style is about in order to show off their powerful voices. the guy is good, of course, but not for Monteverdi, or at least not in this interpretation. it destroyed this fantastic piece.

[lilastabilo]

I must disagree with them who wrote this style would be ok for monteverdi:

this is a COMPETE WRONG IDIOM for such a music. Villazon sounds like a italian pizza-baker, with all this 'forza' in his voice, i don't understand how a such a clever musician (who he is) could let this happen!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Justino111]

very well said: the ensemble is actually quite fine and I was expecting a great performance based on the first seconds, but it's extremely unfortunate how the voice is completely out of Monteverdi's style!!! It happens quite often, unfortunately!!

Now, this is a masterpiece, no question.

[AuroraDeVenessia]

stupid.... This is a real ancient italian singer... passionate and very careful to the pronunciation... not as many northern singers

[Justino111]

no, there is nothing stupid in saying that this performance is a fiasco. By the way, if you can't argue using more intelligent words and being less aggressive, please stay out of the discussion. Very bad, pathetic performance of this "ancient" singer.

[leblanc1000]

Justino, espero que algún día aprenda a apreciar el bel canto...

[Justino111]

bel canto is fine when the music asks for it. It's not the case in Monteverdi's ouvre. I don't want to be aggressive here, I just trying to say that this performance is highly affected and that's not a positive thing. Emotion doesn't mean affectation.

His has a powerful voice, but this is a total distortion of Monteverdi's piece!

[m0e4g2]

Passion is also the second theme of this very fine piece , and Testo here is being the witness for us of this love story between Tancrede and Clorinda .Rolando's interpretation of Testo is astonishing ,showing that Monteverdi was refering to melodies perhaps influenced by El-andalus ,as he mentions in one of his letters having choosen an arab musician for the originality of his instrument.that passage 'notte.....fame..' marvellous discovery with this wonderful voice,a Monteverdi .

[tenorbear60]

To those who say Rolando's singing is not the correct style for Monteverdi - I must disagree. This opera is about warfare, and Monteverdi is not some bloodless Oxford esthete; he was Italian. This is a battle scene and should be violent. I think we get the English sound of the late 60s and 70s in our heads for this early Baroque music; that was a valid approach, and so is this. Regarding the flailing, singers do that in rehearsal to get their bodies moving; its perfectly legit.

[benjaminvox]

i wholeheartedly agree with tenorbear60. it is ridiculous to think that this music can only be performed in the affected style that's currently accepted as performance practice. it is italian music, and italianate voices aren't any different now than in the 1400's or 1600's, regardless of stylistic differences. a full bodied voice sounds quite appropriate here.

[cantanteporsiempre]

oh no!!! no Rolando, this music is not into your brain!! I love you, but no in this!!!!, Monteverdi must sound with a highly less brilliant sound!!

[Monrealese]

you got to be kidding me...? less brilliant sound? what sound did you intend?

[swampman]

Who gave them cocaine?

[SteveLatch]

I have a performance of this piece by William Christie's arts florissant, more restrained but I think this is fine too. It's such a powerful text that having the narrator being so passionate about it makes total sense.

[juandatocas]

too much, beautiful voive but it is not monteverdi

[BeniaminoGigli]

I agree with you,it is too much.And his voice is good,but not that good.

[steinwayalways]

I like him, but he's gotten the whole lot so whipped up into a frenzy that it's getting a bit weird. The director is too busy flailing around. They made it almost sound like flamenco music or something...?

[apodyterion]

I liked the performance very much, but I wish the director at the key boards would take a valium and sit down. I've never been involved in a performance of this piece where such hysterical gesticulations and jumping up and down were necessary.

[juadan]

It's a little like the "good old days" before the musicologists ruined early music by insisting on "authentic" performances--when you could hear singers like Gwynenth Jones and Vickers sing the repertoire. Wouldn't it be nice to hear real voices tackle this repertoire?

[Cleessina]

Beautyful voice, but I don't find Monteverdi!

[operaoaf]

There is something in this singer which reminds me of Domingo. Anyways, he is a terrific lyric tenor and sings this music with so much abandon which is a rarity. I would to hear some clearer pronunciation though. Most of the early music artists like Emma Kirkby and anthony R Johnson who truly specialize in this music, deliver this arduously meticulous music with such agility and pure tones.

[k0229071]

Wow, what an incredible voice. I wonder why I have never heard of this wonderful singer.

[SuNuraxi]

mi piace il suo canto, si sente la piena voce maschile. chi puo` dire come venivano esibite queste cose al giorno del Monteverdi...insomma, le opere hanno una vita propria che non dipende piu` dall`autore o dallo stile! Lasciamo che ci siano piu` varianti di una cosa...

[SinoSene]

Wow. I usually nitpick at such "modern" voices in early music, but I love this:-) Anachronistic or not.

[Orbazzano]

Che schifo

[danensago]

summa plus ultra

[radiosupply]

This is lovely... he's a bit too showy for Monteverdi, but he's stylistically appropriate most of the time. I still think he's fantastic.

[lasultanica]

Me gusta muchísimo Villazón cantando Monteverdi.

[UNHStudly5]

I commend Villazon at a wonderful attempt at this music. He has extraordinary passion for the music but his voice and ornamentation do not fit Monteverdi well. I love him singing Bellini and Donizetti though. This music requires a clearer, more free tone. It is such an amazing piece of music. Go Monteverdi!

[OperaBR]

Wow! That's a DIFFICULT music! I don't know if Villazón has the right style for this music, but his singing pleases me a lot. ;-)

[BeniaminoGigli]

He has no idea for Baroque Musics

[linow666]

I don´t agree. He sang very weel. The Baroque´s aria can be played with energy too. Fantastic. And he sing other aria too much well.

[BeniaminoGigli]

Maybe his way of singing is suitable to dramatic rules,and I'm so tired to listen to only one color of voice in different operatic rules and musics,I don't know what about you guys,but I don't think always being "SHOW OFF" could be a great singers

[carmen1945]

!Impresionante¡

[trojaio]

interesting- i like the performance, very emotional ; also, the rythm is intense- a bit "gipsy",maybe...some flamenco in it

[bobbygnosis]

Pretty good. I liked it. The singer went a little overboard here and there, but it was great fun to listen to.