Anja Silja "Hojotoho" Die Walkure

[coryisawake]

There are major intonation & pitch problems here; and at such a young age, the overtaxed voice is already begins to spread at the top.

This sort of career could brings in new audiences on dramatic merits alone.

But to Hell with anyone who is just LISTENING or who thinks a professional singer should have a patent ability to sing on pitch more than 60% of the time AND be a compelling stage presence.

With so many contemporaries who COULD, I fail to see why anyone ever paid attention to Silja.

[DemisLian]

I don't normally like her or her repertory (except as Senta) but here she is amazing, she may well be the perfect Brunnhilde: young voice and physique, perfect German pronunciation, great stage presence, deep knowlegde of Wagner and most off all a fearless approach! These are her first 2 minutes in the Opera, she is still not warm, but how she "attacks" these hight notes! Like laser beams, sharp, she is not coming up to them gradually and "safely" like most other singers. Brava!

[Littlechatteringman]

Swing those hips you sexy bitch!

[onotuoedaul]

fodaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Bastikalk]

What does Adam sing? "Bald entbrannt' brünstiger Streit"? "Brünnhilde stürme zum Fight"?

[TsarBovov]

@Bastikalk He does not sing. He barks. Silja is too light for this part, she has to scream to make dramatic effects.

[gratecourt]

It may be Schippers conducting, but she's singing at Böhm's tempi... Revelatory clip; where do you get this stuff? Thanks again!

[amfortas1978]

I just listened to her in ROH in late 2009. he's about 70 years old then.

This woman is unreal.

[Brunnhilde66]

This is pleasantly surprising as I still don't believe her to be a dramatic voice. Still, she does a very good job here...though you cannot compare it to Nilsson...

[Chapulinazuladomx]

La cabalgata de las valkirias.

[nohaylamujer]

ANJA! MIRACLE OF MIRACLES!

[Buondelmonte123]

Silja has one of the longest and most important careers in opera. 

[fofisternurinha]

supernatural

caraca!

[Chrissie19242]

She was amazing as Senta. I am surprised by her Johotoho! Marvellous.

[Chapulinazuladomx]

La cabalgata de las Valkidias

de Rikjard Wagner.

El Tercer Reich admiraba a Wagner.

[nohaylamujer]

@Chapulinazuladomx

SO WHAT!

[A7madeus]

what a voice !!!!!!!

[MissFireMagic]

HOT!!! Thank you for posting!

[Altonahh10]

If you really want to enjoy the miracle Silja, then get her live Holländer recording from Bayreuth. Awesome!

The conducting sounds like Schippers instead of Böhm.

[segu82]

che bello!

[felipetavares79]

Is this Böhm conducting?

[fabriou]

It s knappertsbusch conducting

[segu82]

I believe the conductor is Thomas Schippers

[sportjungegmx]

Theo Adam is my favorit Wotan and i am very impressed of Anja silja with 27 years as Brunhilde. wow ! Power and you can understand every word !

[SopranoSandra]

Too bad that sound and image are not synchronised 'cause it sounds and looks magnificent!

[Leonnidik]

I buy it.

[grizabela00]

Tiene una voz perfecta para esta aria y llena todo el escenario, tiene una gran presencia esta soprano. Me encantó

[isabelle070209]

Franchement on aurait que des Brünnhildes de ce niveau actuellement le chant wagnerien se porterait très bien. on sait très bien que cet air est casse gueule. Et Merci de rappeller que c'est un rôle de Soprano pas de Mezzo.

Bravo.

Et dire qu'elle n'avait que 25ans (née en 1942).

[babydrane]

25 ans? Mais c'est plus incroyable en fait. Je la trouve merveilleuse .

[isabelle070209]

Imaginez si nous n'avions QUE des Brünhilde de cette qualité?

[babydrane]

Absolument. Malheureusement, on n'a que des froussardes aujourd'hui qui s'inquietent toujours a elles-memes et pas a la musique. Grace aux engregistrements, on peut profiter des vraies serviteuses de la musique Wagnerienne.

[climatechangekills]

Oui mais bon... si on avait de meilleurs prof de chant aussi... entre nous sa technique elle est impeccable.

[isabelle070209]

Quand on pense à tout ce qu'elle a subit.

[climatechangekills]

Je ne connaissais pas cette chanteuse et je trouve son interprétation de grande qualité. Je vais me renseigner un peu plus pour savoir ce qu'elle a subit. ;-)

[isabelle070209]

J vais vous le dire. Comme elle avait une aventure avec Wieland Wagner on a prétendu qu'elle chantait mal. Les critiques l'ont lapidée. Et une fois Wieland mort elle n'a jamais pu remettre les pieds à Bayreuth ne rechante du Wagner.

C'est que maintenant que JUSTICE commence à lui être rendue. Ecoutez sa magnifique Elisabeth de Tannhauser.

[CONTESTAR]

I have to admit i am impressed with Sija when I remember some clips of her very young, singing a delightful Queen of the Night!

[ilovechocolatechip]

Wow I don't think I've ever seen anyone who sings Brunnhilde well AND looks the part as well.

[babydrane]

They say Gwyneth Jones did but she had, in my humble opinion, just as wide, if not wider, a vibrato and a less focused sound. I feel like I would be a greater fan of Silja's Brunnhilde if I could hear all of it.

[CONTESTAR]

Heard Gwyneth's Walküre live and we all know the centennial ring DVD. I was lucky enough to get some(...) performances with no annoying vibrato at all! On a good evening there was hardly a match for her Brünnhilde... Audiences went MAD! Had sceptic friends who came prejudiced and by the end of the evening almost jumped from the balcony screaming "brava" at the top of their lungs. I have only experienced similar reactions for one or two great singers in my rich -not a brag- opera going history!

[donmelvin5000]

wow, Adam sounds like he's on his last legs!

and laughing because no one realizes it's not Silja singing at all--the soundtrack is out of sync because it's the Nilsson/Bohm recording, overlaid!

[martello79]

Donmelvin buy yourself a few ears. This is 100% Anja Silja.

You can hear it from a hundred of things: the vibrato, the throat "r" etc etc etc.....

[weepingforbrunnhilde]

There's no way that's Nilsson. Tone is way to "impure."

Plus, it's just not her voice.

[petatap]

If there is a voice that can ALWAYS be recognized, it is the voice of Anja Silja >> HERE

[raigekimaru]

dude not cool. this is obviously not nilsson. quit talkin' smack.

[countceprano]

Only an idiot with no ears at all would either think Adam sounds on his "last legs" here, or she sounds like Nilsson.

[Cerra33terra]

Pardon my pedestrian comment, but this KICKS ASS.

[sigridonegin]

There are many singers who do justice to ho-jo-to-ho: Kirsten Flagstad of course, Helen Traubel, Helene Wildbrunn - several others. The one for me that is the most exciting - and the way Wagner intended it (I think) is Frida Leider.

[Operaman41]

She is Flat & has a wobble!

[TakeThisUserNameN]

I could watch this all day.

[Alleeexoscm]

Exelente interpretación, y para no recaer como generalmente se hace. Yo solo añadairía que si bien, ella no es la Brunnilda perfecta, es capaz de transmitir la fuerza y coraje de la poderosa valquiria (aspecto que era uno de los fundamentos del estilo musical de Richard Wagner). ¡¡¡Extraordinaria la obra de 'Die Walkure' y EL ANILLO DE LOS NIBELUNGOS.!!!

[BDSCalgary]

Everyone thinks that singing the portamenti Wagner wrote is wrong. Each of those octave jumps IS to be done with a portamento and the upper note IS to be sung quite short and cut off as soon as you reach it. That is what Wagner wrote. You may not like it, but he was, after all the composer. Just because no one sings what he wrote doesn't make it "right" or even "good." The trill he wrote is also SELDOM Sung, and no one seems to notice that. I like singers brave enough to sing Wagner.

[karlakor]

BDSCalgary--How do you know that the octave leaps are to be done with a portamento? Did Wagner write the word "portamento", or was it just understood in his day? Please don't think I am being confrontational; I am really interested to know more.

[mariahelleberg]

I suggest you read the score it's all there

[germanengeneering314]

This Woman is really Wagnerian. Better stage acting than Nilsson. She is astoundin . Her voice is also perfect for this Aria.

[Operachikie]

Wow. I am blown away by her voice and it's magnitude...simply amazing....

[VivaMariaCallas]

Excellent performance, not at all poor. She's one of the few Brunhildes whose high Bs and Cs are hit head-on (rather than scooped or let go after a split of a second). She reminds me (slightly) of Nilsson here, though Nilsson's high Bs and Cs were, of course, unparallelled in strength, ease, and shine in this.

[Steinweg9]

Let us begin to promote the ceasing and desisting of comparing singers. It is absolutely ridiculous to compare Anja Silja anad Birgit Nilsson in any way. Voices are made of human tissue...it's not like comparing cars or computers. Or even violinists or pianists. Every single voice has its own size, weight, and color, and every artist who learns a specific piece of music must teach it to her body and muscles, her psyche, her personality...comparing is silly.

[VivaMariaCallas]

I brought up Nilsson to complement Silja; I wasn't really trying to compare the two. Even if I was, so what? It's not as if I would be stepping down on one singer to elevate the other. A lot of the fun of opera, precisely, comes from the comparing of different singers: how does one singer's attribute contribute to a given piece, whom do I prefer, what might one singer benefit from listening to the other? Of course, blind comparison is a waste, but contemplative comparison is completely positive.

[atomkraftteddy]

Take lighter singers and use microphones.

[Hypermnestre]

Not in the same league as Nilsson or Jones of course but not bad at all...there's hope for a Wagner-crazy, tweetybird lyric coloratura after all:)

[band3kafsh]

Could you repost this with synchronisation between picture and sound corrected?

[robertdonkers]

Too young for such heavy role. Her voice soon gave up at this level and she re-invented herself and did some wonderful work, Janacek etc

[mariahelleberg]

that's not the way her career worked. she did a lot of isoldes, but few brunnhildes. when wieland wagner died, she all but gave up her wagner parts - but she did keep senta in her repertoire. it was only in the 80s she "reinvevnted" herself as Kostelnicka etc etc etc - Emilia Marty perhaps the greatest of them all. this Brünnhilde is from 67 in Osaka, the production was created for Nilsson in Bayreuth

[robertdonkers]

Thank you for your response. But there you are, the production was created for Nilsson and there were simply very few voices, if at all, like hers. If compared to the great Nilsson in this repertoire others cut short. I love Silja hough but much more so in her later days.

[chloric1]

AMAZING!! Makes me wonder why more lyrics don't do wagner.

[Counterten0r]

Because it's risking vocal health; as this soprano found out.

[Steinweg9]

Her Kostelnicka last year at the Met was a model of vocal manners and technique. She started this Wagner stuff in 1961 after earlier successes in light roles. At 66, she gave a vocally perfect performance. Spot-on top Bb. It had to be heard to be believed. She was criticized only by those who did not know who she is, and they should have pretty much shut up. Like most people most of the time who are sharing their opinions about music...they don't know.

[Counterten0r]

Yes, her voice had matured from a lighter lyric voice into a more dramatic voice; she didn't sing the role when had a lighter lyric voice. If she had of sung that role earlier on in her career; she'd have damaged her voice. Like I said, this soprano did find it out; she damaged her voice, this doesn't outlaw lyric voiced singers maturing into dramatic voice singers (or vice versa) at all.

[mariahelleberg]

ha ha shes still singing, so shut up!

[TrovadorManrique]

MOOOLA!!

[Gigglingatagas]

I was very pleasantly surprised by the outcome of this video, haha. I'm typically not Silja's biggest cheerleader, but I find this a very credible performance of this infamously difficult gut-buster.

When it comes to vocal prejudices, I love being wrong.

[Anibaal]

Impresionante Brunilda!!!!!!!! Ella empezó como soprano de coloratura y después esto... Es una extraordinaria cantante

[tenore23]

hey, she made it to the B's and C's, which is a lot more than can be said for the current crop of Brunhildes. I was surprised that having begun as a coloratura she didn't attempt the trills.

[VivaMariaCallas]

Many singers lose vocal flexibility when they enter more dramatic repertoire and when they pump up vocal size.

[emmagoodwill]

Da hat eine Frau mal Figur UND Stimme und wird trotzdem in ein Zelt gepackt! Dabei ist sexapeal doch der Frauen grösste Waffe!

[EinFremderAusElea]

Dat hat Wieland sicher auch gedacht...

[altodivo]

And she sang LULU after this! WOW!!

[godivapaw]

Voices that could drive through there like trucks, wreaking havoc in their wakes!

[Matt75003]

But the Valkyries ARE children... big, cruel, heartless, irresponsible, sadistic children who are afraid of their daddy and treat everyone else with contempt. What makes Brünnhilde great is that she is the only one who grows up and becomes a woman instead. But this only happens much later in the opera. Silja's performance is simply brilliant.

[venusianbanshee]

Ahh.. I was hoping to see the infamous viking attire.

[jlee800]

Not bad... a little rushed but she hits the high notes which some of the current "dramatic sopranos" today can't do. I also buy her in the role.

[bellatrix013]

not a very good battle cry...

[urgrad03]

Are you both kidding? This sounds like a child screaming or imitating opera. Bash away... it's only my opinion.

[gmr2broadway]

and you're entitled to it. we think she's great, which we are entitled to.

[urgrad03]

thank goodness for respect;o)

[Mahler1912]

But by the way, you are not totally wrong, she was also nicknamed "Kindertrompete"(=children's trumpet)

[Ahdren]

A long way from great. One of the best (and slowest) I have ever heard was Rita Hunter. She sang all those portamentis and had absolute security across her entire register. Shame there is nothing of her on Youtube.

[dhng1982]

I SO agree with you :-)

[weepingforbrunnhilde]

She's supposed to sound like a child screaming!

Brunnhilde, I mean! A spoiled, fussy little child with boundless energy, which is what she is!

I think the performance is great. I've always enjoyed Silja's work.

They can't all be Kirsten, you know?

[gmr2broadway]

fabulous!

[Dramaticmaleprano]

I love Anja Silja!