I can't believe an artist of his stature made such freshman italian mistakes rolling his "r" in piacere, barbiere, figaro, etc. Funny. That wouldn't happen today. But then again, no one sings like this. still my favorite. I'll take the italian mistakes with a voice like this, please.
I love Warren's voice. He has a richness that is wonderful. My only crit of this performance is his articulation. The aria is a challenge for sure, as you need to have range, power and the ability to spit out a machine gun of lyrics. His voice is just wonderful. For fans, listen to the recording of his Russian tour.
I remember the first time I heard this was in a Tex Avery's episode "Magical Maestro," and somehow I got lucky enough to find the full piece here! It's so BEAUTIFUL!
You said it blueswailer - better than I could. I kept reading comments about this bloke and decided to home in on him for a listen - not disappointed at all. Will chase up a few more of his. Graham Melb Aus
Damn, he's just smiling and looking around like he's not doing anything special. And that technique. Like many have already said, I'll have to repeat. Seamless, consistent, powerful. Those phrases where he goes from high notes to lows in a single breath. I could listen to 'em all day. Damn. One of my favourite operatic baritones and another untimely death.
My god. his technique is seamless. I don't even have to know what good technique is to tell that he's making little little effort and a massive sound. His tops sound unbelivably tenorish. It's mad. It seems like he should be a heldentenor.
I used to gather with baritones who were voice students from the 30s and 40s -- Being from a different generation I found it marvelous to hear what they had to say- Most felt this man was in a class unto himself -- They admired and respected tMr Warren's technique, sound and vocal production -- Just my 2 cents!!
I used to talk to singers and voice students from the 30s and 40s - They were not of my generation but how I enjoyed conversing and listening with them -- to a tee they thought this man was in a class by himself as far as vocal production/technique - Most of them are gone now - but I remember their respect and admiration for Mr Warren
Warren's voice was never very much (in front) he's going way behind in high notes but at the end Merrill was litterally swallowing them. But in his younger age he had the most beautiful voice
I know nothing about singing or the opera, but this guy is the best I have ever heard!
Compared to all the others he makes it look easy and he enjoys it....his expressions are perfect and not over exagerated (sp)..at 3:39 he is the best....no other singer hits a home run like Warren....great...
@Mooorhe Boring interpretation...? I have never left a rude comment on here. Until now. You are clearly an idiot. Go back to listening to country music. I'm sure your inane comments will be much better appreciated there.
This rendition is devoid of dynamics, vocal colouring and expression (save a bit of smiling). His Italian is far from perfect and he is sluggish towards the end of the piece.
@Mooorhe You are exactly right. This is simply a mediocre rendering; the characterization and spark this aria requires are just not here. Warren was neither a good actor nor a noted interpreter, he just had the 'voice' and a cult has grown up around it. His fans will forgive him anything, but this is as flat as day old soda.
@X56000 this is opera- singing first and foremost is the art form! Since when is subtly in acting poor?... all that over top nonsense is sad and disgraceful!
@gvocalist07 No offense intended, but I'm not quite sure what it is you're saying here relative to my comments. But if you are implying that those singers who are superb interpreters and first rate actors are 'over the top' then I would say that it is you, and not I, who have missed the point of opera. Warren's voice has reached cult status and his fans will brook no criticism of the great man, but there is more to superb singing than having a great voice. This pedestrian jog proves it.
agreed, having great interpretation is wonderul, but if you have a voice like Sutherland or Warren, who freakin cares. I just want to hear the beautiful voice =)
Oh, how lucky you are! I'm myself a professional baritone and I must say I would pay a lot to have Warren's voice. I tend to think that he did not "overcover" because on all videos his mouth and neck position seem fully flexible. He just had an amazing timbre! That said, I read somewhere that his voice was not that big as you say. Can you tell me more how it sound on stage? (I listen comments about this or this singer here but I heard that, despite his "light" voice, Hampson's is huge).
Primo--- I heard Bastianini on stage sing Rigoletto in the early 60's, Mac Neil and Warren as far as power had bigger voices and frankly Warren had the better voice, also Mac Neil in his prime when I heard him was first class.. I never was a Gobbi fan but he was a great actor and I saw and heard him in Chicago many years ago.
For pure beauty, Merrill was tops and for the greatest Verdi singer of all, emotion and power and all that goes with it, Warren. Jan Peerce told me he was the greatest Baritone he ever sang with and he sang with Tibbett and also was close to Merrill. If Warren was Italian then they would say he was the greatest of them all but he was Born an American.
ThePrimobaritono77:While Leonard Warren was the greatest baritone of the century IMO Merrill's voice was stunningly beautiful and he did have great high notes and a very secure bottom. He didn't have to wait for Warren to die and for Bastianini to die of cancer. That is a tasteless and totally untrue remark. Take a look at the Met archives. And I have live performances by Bastianini, say Ernani, well before his health problems that are way beneath the standard set by Merrill.
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An absurdly legato rendering of this otherwise firecracker aria. Just Awful. I said it in the 60's and I say it again now. I wouldn't teach any young singer to sing like this man. His awful Italian and and obsession with his own sound makes for VERY uninteresting singing!!
Merrill, Gobbi, Bastianini and Prey were all better interpreters. Somebody here said Warren was a technician. I agree. He certainly had a fabulous voice, but many people cant get past that to acknowledge the rather wooden quality to much of his singing. Here, for instance, there isnt an ounce of snap in this lively aria anywhere. He just gives us a big smooth well manicured sing (except for the wretched Italian). Watch these other fellas do it. Youll see—and hear--the difference.
I agree with you refering to Merrill and Bastianini. I like their perfomances more. I am not convinced about Gobbi and Prey, both good actors but not great voices, just my opinion. This is very hard to sing. Warren doesn't really convince me as figaro here, but he was one of the greatest baritones, one of the best Verdi interpreters, wonderful Rigoletto or Macbeth for example. We should not judge him because of this video.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. (one must tread with caution here as there are so many brow-beaters just waiting to pounce) I agree that Gobbi's voice was nothing special, but Prey had a beautiful lyric baritone. Just listen to his lieder. Both were, IMO, better artists/interpreters than Warren. Warren made it on the quality of his voice and his careful approach, but he has never excited me as a singer, even in Verdi. I just prefer a clearer more ringing sound.
Are you insane? When Wilfred Pelletier heard Warren singing this aria in his audition for the Met, the conductor thought his staff was playing a joke on him and substituting a world class baritone. Warren's sound is phenomenal and and glorious and one could only HOPE more baritones today had even one tenth of this man's gift!
@ThePrimobaritono77 This is as "creamy" a rendering of this aria as you'll ever hear and this ISN"T a creamy aria. This is like listening to someone read aloud in a velvety voice while they ignore all the punctuation. Warren would have done well to take a few notes on how Merrill or Bastianini did this. They, at least, met the composer's expectations--oh, I forgot, they don't have "that sound", do they? They were just better singers. How silly of me.
I might yield that Bastianini could approach Warren in his power and majesty of the voice, but Merrill (who was good) is light years from LW and was never a true Verdi baritone. Warren's effortless top and his sonorous middle were something to behold. And BTW, Merrill's renditions were boring. If this defines a "better singer" for you, so be it...
so you understand: This is like listening to someone read aloud in a velvety voice while they ignore all the punctuation. If Merrill's rendition was dull, that makes Warren's shameful.....
Sorry but the word shameful linked to Warren is unwarranted. There is a recording of Pagliacci with Bjoerling and De los Angeles where Warren sings Tonio and Merrill Silvio. And that's the way it was while Warren reigned. He cast a long shadow and Merrill knew it. He didn't have the top or bottom comparable to LW and lived on his middle register. And let's face it, RM's career took off when LW died on stage and Bastianini was cut short by cancer. But if he's YOUR singer, God bless...
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@cantante189 Because he is unprecise, he does not know the words well, he sounds unidiomatic, he puts too little expression into this, he takes himself very seriously, he has the typical American woofy sound. No good for Rossini. Have you heard Franco Corelli in English? That's how Warren sounds in Rossini.
Just listen to his Forza duets with Björling. No one sang Verdi like he did. And Callas, teacher of us all, thought this as well. She wanted to do Ballo with those two, but naturally Bing-Bong said no, that was reserved Stinka-Zinka Milanov.
great technique and a solid wonderful baritone, not the most exciting but very solid. the most amazing baritone display i ever heard was a recording of a young diskau singing amazing high note. it sounded like a baritone luciano pavarotti. one of the most exciting sounds i have ever hear especially from a baritone which is a rarity.
1) The 1950's microphones had very little dynamic flexibility. Loud/soft variences were kept to a minimum
2) Today's siningers are MORE covered than Warren. His voice was remarkably smoothe and consistant.
3) No baritone today could come close to this quality. None can do as easy a high "A" as does Warren.
4) Warren's production was very "frontal" and high in the "masque." What sone call "covered" is his easy use of the soft pallate. This approach to singing woudl help current singers.
Bad microphones? Give us all a break. You sound like one of the legion who worship this voice. That's fine, but Warren was a very careful, very technical singer and his sound was anything but frontal or high in the masque. He worked very hard at placing everything just so, i.e., well covered, seamless, "pretty." As x56000 put: all caramel, no fire. There is size and power in the voice and absolutely no character or passion. If you like technique, he's your man. I prefer passion, thanks.
you really have no idea what you're talking about. this guy can act circles around the most "passionate" of singers of ANY era. you just have a bug up your ass because someone is that damn good and people recognize it. total emo
Warren was a master technician. THAT was his strength. He was smooth, meticulous, careful, had a fine big instrument (if you like that particular rounded and uniform sound--I don't) and never strayed far from the secure environs of the Met. You may want to fall down and worship at his feet, but please let's just be plain speaking about what he ACTUALLY was. He excelled in a very particular kind of way: beautiful voice, excellent technique; that's the whole package. Passion isn't a part of it.
@unit10 Eh, while the rest of your comment is good, I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree that none can as easily get out that A. I'm a young, fairly undeveloped baritone, but an A will still float out for me (after warmup earlier in the day, of course). Some baritones have all the way up to a usable B and C.
You are right about the soft palate, very few singers use this technique... because they don't know about it, and also the bad breathing technique they are taught ( breath through the stomach )... I think all of the famous baritones in my country, like Nicolae Herlea, used this vocal technique, and all classical singers in Romania are taught this technique about raising the soft palate for high quality of sound.
@unit10 I wouldn't say "no" baritone today to could come "close" to this quality. There are some outstanding baritones out there, a lot of which have yet to or never unfortunately will be discovered. Leonard Warren is incredible though, he's got better high a's then I do and I'm a tenor!! Also, I HATE that there's narrating over the introduction ritornello, Rossini didn't write that ritornello for kicks-n-giggles. Thirdly, why is that conductor using a BASEBALL BAT for a baton!?! haha
kgarmaker--can you see his larynx--can you hear his larynx--?
maybe it is a 50 year old film that is grainy and not "throaty" singing that allowed to him to sing high C''s etc. he was not a LL fanatic, he had another tech.
His diction is RIDICULOUS (as in ridiculously good), I can make out almost every word he sings, which is pretty rare for this aria. Bravo, Maestro Warren.
Diction does not a singer make. Nor does it make for interesting singing as the previous commentator points out. Warren tends to sound the same on about anything he sings. Very old fashioned highly covered sound. Good for its day, but that swallowed way of singing is history. London did it too, but he was just a much better artist.
Thank God for diction being less important, because I'm trying this song as well, and some of my words are almost inaudible. Even though I'm getting the pitches and rhythms and I actually KNOW the text, I can't quite make it clear. Advice?
Diction IS important. But it doesn't make a singer good in and of itself. Warren's Italian is strictly Berlitz but it is clear. Advice? I don't know your circumstance. Are you coaching with someone?
Not very interesting singing, but "pretty." He seemed to work awful hard at being "flawless," but it renders all his stuff a sort of seamless legato quality-not exactly the right approach when fire is called for. I guess his legions just worship "the voice." And it is a nice, big, round, kind of throaty voice. But give me the steel of Bob Merrill any day!
I honestly cannot believe what I am reading - of course the larynx should be lower!! Try singing with a high larynx and see how long your career lasts...
Sir, I know that. I am a singer myself, however there is a difference between sounding like Kermit the frog.. and.. a normal lowered larynx.. If you lower it too much your swallowing muscles become engaged, and they push the hyoid bone smack dab into the larynx, and make it difficult to vibrate. In other words too much of a good thing, results in a throaty sound. I love Warren. I really do. but i am not fond of him in this.
I agree with you. Warren's sound was all caramel and no fire. I don't think there's a steely note in him. As you said, the legions love his voice, but it really is sort of a reverse Hoover, if you follow my meaning.
One of the greatest voices of the 20th century. One thing I particularly appreciate about this rendering of Largo al factotum is it's dignified and conservative presentation, which is purely vocal, musical and constrained within the traditional boundaries of public performance. I can get very tired of baritones hamming this piece up with cadenzas, falsetto, yelling, and just plain silliness. This is an excellent and dignified presentation. Bravo, Warren!
Huh? Would that be different than say, building an Italian baritone voice? Or any? Look at the exercises that the great Mexican baritone Pablo Elvira outlines in Hines' book "Great Singers on Great Singing". They're virtually the same that baritones all over the world use.
I do not doubt his ability to hit the note, his 'Gilda' cries in Rigoletto would often go to C5 and beyond that. But are there any recordings of him singing the note in a passage of music?
I don't know but there's an interesting story of a Pagliacci rehearsal where Tucker was absent and Warren sang Vesti la giubba. Supposedly he unleashed a storm of beautiful enormous sound in the room that flattened everybody!!!
"But are there any recordings of him singing the note in a passage of music?"
No. The highest note on record that he sings is the same as many other baritones, a high A. There are several examples of this note, the Otello duet, the Forza duet, the ending of Rigoletto, the Figaro aria, and a really great one on his recording of Sea Shanties where he holds a fabulous A in "Haul Away Joe"
Are you all listening to the same man, Warren, singing this? It's a fabulous recording. The technique is perfect, his top is astounding and the only thing I wonder is whether he had been a tenor that pushed the voice down. I wish I could have heard him live....really...listen again! The modern singers don't shine his shoes!
Hampson doesn't have Warren's instrument by any measure, but frankly, he demonstrates clearly that singing is about more than the voice. Warren sounds like a heavyweight trying to work the vaulting horse here. This is NOT his cup of tea. Oh, it's big and it's round and its full, and listening to him I feel like I ate too much. This is a lyrical role and if there's one thing Warren wasn't, it's lyrical. Give the great man his due, but believe it or not, his voice wasn't right for everything.
"This is a lyrical role and if there's one thing Warren wasn't, it's lyrical"
This might be the most ridiculous sentence I've seen on Youtube, which is saying a lot! Lyrical does not mean small, light, unsupported or any other description of Hampson's voice. It means beautiful and EASY sounding, from top to bottom. Listen to Warren in the tessitura of "Il balen" or the role of Rigoletto and then try and say he wasn't lyrical! So absurd!
You mistake singing lyrically for a lyric voice. Warren was a dramatic baritone in the most classic sense of the word. You are a typical Warren fan, i.e, he was the greatest singer who ever lived,bla, bla, bla. I don't agree and I sure as heck would never call him a lyric baritone. No your assertion is simply ignorance or blind infatuation with the 'great man'. Believe it or not, he was not made to sing EVERY role. And this role was not written with his type of voice in mind.
Well, that has nothing to do with his singing. That full feeling is because you are simply full of crap, as your post reveals. And I agree with BishopOnegin for not letting you get by with saying he didn't sing lyrically. Lyric singing has no connotation of size or darkness. It's how the voice hits the ear. Tebaldi described his voice as "huge and soft", and that's apt.
You may think anything you like, but Warren was NOT a lyric. That he could sing "huge and soft" means just that and makes my exact point about technique versus instrument; it does not mean he was a lyric Baritone! My goodness what you Warrenites will say about your hero. Why not have him sing ALL the roles in the opera--even the soprano parts. Afterall, he could do ANYTHING!
"Warren was NOT a lyric"... Never said he was, but he was not a dramatic either. The roles he was famous for were high lying in tessitura and the EASE and BEAUTY of his vocal line were undeniably lyric in nature. And Tebaldi did not say he could sing huge and soft. She said his voice was a soft voice, which means it did not have a layer of audible effort on it. And he's not my hero. That was my Dad. Keep shoveling.
And if you don't think Warren tosses of Largo with ease, aplomb and beauty, then your ears need to be educated. But then, you think Hampson sings it better! Hahaha! Enough said really. When Warren decrescendos on the first E natural above middle C on the "la", he's about at Hampson's "forte". But not the brittle color of Hampson. And if Hampson had a technique, he'd be a tenor instead of the fake baritone that he sings.
If I were to have a vocal hero, which is rather silly actually, it would be Franco Corelli. And of course, no singer could or can do anything. But that's not the point of these posts or for people calling you on your posts and giving you thumbs down.
You can demean Hampson--that just demonstrates your brand of ignorance--but the lightness and agility of his singing is what this part is about. "Ease" and agility are not the same thing. Warren's famed 'ease' sounds rounded and heavy and overdone here. Listen to Bastianini do this aria and you'll see a big voice reined in to perfection. Crisp! Clean! Light! Smart! None of those adjectives apply to Warren here. Big, round, dark and smooth do apply to him here. Not the stuff of Figaro.
Your ears are as full of it as your posts. Heavy and overdone? Sheesh!
But whatever, you're entitled to your opinion that Hampson sings this aria better than Warren. Others have expressed their opinion that Bocelli is better than Corelli. Still others are of the opinion that Dewar's tastes better than a fine single malt. And their opinions and yours are all equitable.
You're a good little condescender, aren't you? But you are right about one thing in spite of your intent otherwise: Other people's opinions do matter and have merit. You belong to the 'Warren Club.' That's fine, he was a great artist. But being extreme in your positions, you can't imagine that he had any faults. But he did. And you can't imagine that he wasn't stellar in everything he sang. But he wasn't. But, of course, that's a premise you wouldn't grant under any circumstances, isn't it?
Hypocrite. Only to bullshit artists. Go back and look who called whom ignorant first, jerk. And if you think a baritone who has never learned how to sing above his passagio correctly is techno speak, it just speaks to how vocally illiterate you are. Not that there was any doubt!
Bastianini's voice, which I LOVE, was not nearly as large as Warren's. This coming from two who heard them both many times live, Bergonzi and Hines.
"Big, round, dark and smooth do apply to him here. Not the stuff of Figaro"
Bullshit. Go listen to Bastianini again. Or Ruffo. Or Merrill. Then play Hampson sounding like a mosquito in comparison. And having no facility to cover or modify his vowels above his upper passagio, because his technique is lacking.
"...modify his vowels above his upper passagio, because his technique is lacking." Uh-oh, the techno babble starts! The "I am an expert because I fake sounding like one" begins. Ha! What total bullshit! You wouldn't know good singing if you fell over it....
Go listen to John Charles Thomas sing Largo. Or Nicolai Herlea. Or just put on Hampson! Hey, maybe Hampson and Bocelli will record The Pearl Fishers duet. Man, that would be light, clean and agile wouldn't it? Haha!
One suspects that you are 1) obssessed with the big sing ie, voice before music! 2. locked in a time warp where everybody since warren is a fake because he was catrgorically the best ever and 3) You don't know shit from shinola about singing.
Haha! This from some idiot who thinks Hampson sings Largo better than Warren!! What a clown!
"Other people's opinions do matter and have merit"
What a ridiculous and desperate ploy. What merit is there is someone's opinion who holds that John Tesh is a better composer than Mozart? And I've seen that in print. Does that have merit? About like yours, I guess.
Oh, Gawd. You just keep spouting your NewYork Times review talk and convincing yourself that you know something. I think you're living fifty years in the past , is what i think, and you're still angry that time has passed and things have changed....
"You just keep spouting your New York Times review talk..."
That's about what I thought. Utter waste of time aren't you. There's no one at the NY Times who even knows what the high note in Phillip's aria is, much less what cover means. As far as things have changed, well, not things that matter. What's changed is that clowns like you are the rule now instead of the exception. And that's sad.
I was right. You are living in the past. You sound like a very bitter old man who's watched time move on while he clutches a picture of Leonard Warren steadfastly to his breast and sobs for the 'great one'....Missing the fact that art is alive and doing very well. It may not be your art, but it never had any chance of being, did it? Your position stultified fifty years ago and that's sad. You even missed the irony of the NT Times comment because you're so literal minded. Ur just plain bitter
I can't believe an artist of his stature made such freshman italian mistakes rolling his "r" in piacere, barbiere, figaro, etc. Funny. That wouldn't happen today. But then again, no one sings like this. still my favorite. I'll take the italian mistakes with a voice like this, please.
TheseusTex 1 week ago
Wow. Old School. Amazing. THIS is Opera.
VictorianCouch 3 weeks ago
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Spectacular! Stunning! Magnificent! Beautiful!
materialgirl8707 1 month ago
Old opera singing was better
paintballKid545 3 months ago
must say this was not my favorite rendition of this song, while his voice is great i just did not like this rendition
geiser15610 5 months ago
un grande
luwaig1 5 months ago
Consumate Peformer, Mr. Warren. A Great Voice!
MrMaxwellnith 5 months ago
Best version I've come across.
SteelyPhil37 5 months ago
I love Warren's voice. He has a richness that is wonderful. My only crit of this performance is his articulation. The aria is a challenge for sure, as you need to have range, power and the ability to spit out a machine gun of lyrics. His voice is just wonderful. For fans, listen to the recording of his Russian tour.
janisfit 6 months ago
Bravo !
clown84700 6 months ago
Brillante.
alragarp 7 months ago
awkward
jcab2323 7 months ago
lets burn down all opera houses now, Warren is long dead, so is London, Kraus................ who else to come?????
jmkraus1756 7 months ago
Mind bending. Thanks for sharing.
egarrulo 8 months ago
The high Gs are INCREDIBLE.
Baritanist 9 months ago
i love his tuned laugh at about 2:45. hahahaha hahahaa :) best version ever.
qwertyoop 9 months ago
Thanks for sharing this gem! Warren was the greatest!
gallantentry 9 months ago
WOW... BEAUTIFUL!!!
ezayi 9 months ago
I remember the first time I heard this was in a Tex Avery's episode "Magical Maestro," and somehow I got lucky enough to find the full piece here! It's so BEAUTIFUL!
sirpintine 9 months ago
How in the world did he managed that smile? His mouth must have been killing him.
Lassannn 10 months ago
@Lassannn I think he was actually having fun
Chandeau89 9 months ago
The best
take6es 11 months ago 5
You said it blueswailer - better than I could. I kept reading comments about this bloke and decided to home in on him for a listen - not disappointed at all. Will chase up a few more of his. Graham Melb Aus
23zowie23 11 months ago
Damn, he's just smiling and looking around like he's not doing anything special. And that technique. Like many have already said, I'll have to repeat. Seamless, consistent, powerful. Those phrases where he goes from high notes to lows in a single breath. I could listen to 'em all day. Damn. One of my favourite operatic baritones and another untimely death.
Blueswailer 1 year ago
This guy is a cannon!
alhayse 1 year ago 3
Complete control over the complete instrument. Brilliant.
madmooster 1 year ago
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truly magnificent!
materialgirl8707 1 year ago
truly magnificent1!
materialgirl8707 1 year ago
AfroPoli from about a month ago, Wobble? HE has complete control over the vocal instrument. Truly masterful.
madmooster 1 year ago
The voice is fantastic. The artistry is pedestrian.
1Victorinus 1 year ago
BEST EVER!! :)
qwertyoop 1 year ago
Wow, what a huge voice!
cincorn 1 year ago
My god. his technique is seamless. I don't even have to know what good technique is to tell that he's making little little effort and a massive sound. His tops sound unbelivably tenorish. It's mad. It seems like he should be a heldentenor.
witness124 1 year ago
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Laeghaire 1 year ago
That's one big wobble.
AfroPoli 1 year ago
The easiest Big Voice ever! It's a walk in the park 4 him:) Even Tenors who sing this aria don't have his ease! BRAVO LENNY!!!
lastofdmelocchians 1 year ago
I used to gather with baritones who were voice students from the 30s and 40s -- Being from a different generation I found it marvelous to hear what they had to say- Most felt this man was in a class unto himself -- They admired and respected tMr Warren's technique, sound and vocal production -- Just my 2 cents!!
lpvcrcd 1 year ago
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I used to talk to singers and voice students from the 30s and 40s - They were not of my generation but how I enjoyed conversing and listening with them -- to a tee they thought this man was in a class by himself as far as vocal production/technique - Most of them are gone now - but I remember their respect and admiration for Mr Warren
lpvcrcd 1 year ago
Who was the conductor in this?
frankbaritone 1 year ago
I read years ago that he studied as a tenor first.
baretone1 1 year ago
one thing's for sure I gather from the comments here -- Even the people who don't like him like him
roselandalvin 1 year ago
Man he has a GREAT voice! Everything I inspire to be.
mbrsart 1 year ago
tenor,but goes very well as baritone! bravo!
Mr19841504 1 year ago
incredible voice
w1cked001 1 year ago
Such a strong voice!
Operasinger91 1 year ago
That was an impressive interpretation. His voice is so beautiful.
PMikeMMM 1 year ago
this is my favorite opera song
laxerboy513 1 year ago
au fantasiuria.....
datubani 1 year ago
au zalian magaria ......
datubani 1 year ago
Warren's voice was never very much (in front) he's going way behind in high notes but at the end Merrill was litterally swallowing them. But in his younger age he had the most beautiful voice
monpitt500 1 year ago
I know nothing about singing or the opera, but this guy is the best I have ever heard!
Compared to all the others he makes it look easy and he enjoys it....his expressions are perfect and not over exagerated (sp)..at 3:39 he is the best....no other singer hits a home run like Warren....great...
yere67 1 year ago 2
Boring interpretation, but absolutely STUNNING voice.
Mooorhe 1 year ago
@Mooorhe Boring interpretation...? I have never left a rude comment on here. Until now. You are clearly an idiot. Go back to listening to country music. I'm sure your inane comments will be much better appreciated there.
sbjames1000 1 year ago
Gosh, what a vicious comment.
This rendition is devoid of dynamics, vocal colouring and expression (save a bit of smiling). His Italian is far from perfect and he is sluggish towards the end of the piece.
Mooorhe 1 year ago
@Mooorhe Well, you're right, I was rude and boorish. My apologies.
Thank you for being so gracious. Best wishes.
sbjames1000 1 year ago
@Mooorhe You are exactly right. This is simply a mediocre rendering; the characterization and spark this aria requires are just not here. Warren was neither a good actor nor a noted interpreter, he just had the 'voice' and a cult has grown up around it. His fans will forgive him anything, but this is as flat as day old soda.
X56000 1 year ago
@X56000 this is opera- singing first and foremost is the art form! Since when is subtly in acting poor?... all that over top nonsense is sad and disgraceful!
gvocalist07 1 year ago
@gvocalist07 No offense intended, but I'm not quite sure what it is you're saying here relative to my comments. But if you are implying that those singers who are superb interpreters and first rate actors are 'over the top' then I would say that it is you, and not I, who have missed the point of opera. Warren's voice has reached cult status and his fans will brook no criticism of the great man, but there is more to superb singing than having a great voice. This pedestrian jog proves it.
X56000 1 year ago
@X56000 Pedestrian jog? lol, He sounds pretty damn excited to me.
master0rolando 1 year ago
@Mooorhe Exactly. A poor rendition.
Melomondo 1 year ago
@Mooorhe
agreed, having great interpretation is wonderul, but if you have a voice like Sutherland or Warren, who freakin cares. I just want to hear the beautiful voice =)
raigekimaru 1 year ago 2
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Oh, how lucky you are! I'm myself a professional baritone and I must say I would pay a lot to have Warren's voice. I tend to think that he did not "overcover" because on all videos his mouth and neck position seem fully flexible. He just had an amazing timbre! That said, I read somewhere that his voice was not that big as you say. Can you tell me more how it sound on stage? (I listen comments about this or this singer here but I heard that, despite his "light" voice, Hampson's is huge).
fzbr1 1 year ago
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fzbr1 1 year ago
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fzbr1 1 year ago
Primo--- I heard Bastianini on stage sing Rigoletto in the early 60's, Mac Neil and Warren as far as power had bigger voices and frankly Warren had the better voice, also Mac Neil in his prime when I heard him was first class.. I never was a Gobbi fan but he was a great actor and I saw and heard him in Chicago many years ago.
halavey 2 years ago
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fzbr1 1 year ago
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fzbr1 1 year ago
For pure beauty, Merrill was tops and for the greatest Verdi singer of all, emotion and power and all that goes with it, Warren. Jan Peerce told me he was the greatest Baritone he ever sang with and he sang with Tibbett and also was close to Merrill. If Warren was Italian then they would say he was the greatest of them all but he was Born an American.
halavey 2 years ago 2
ThePrimobaritono77:While Leonard Warren was the greatest baritone of the century IMO Merrill's voice was stunningly beautiful and he did have great high notes and a very secure bottom. He didn't have to wait for Warren to die and for Bastianini to die of cancer. That is a tasteless and totally untrue remark. Take a look at the Met archives. And I have live performances by Bastianini, say Ernani, well before his health problems that are way beneath the standard set by Merrill.
gaytenor 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
An absurdly legato rendering of this otherwise firecracker aria. Just Awful. I said it in the 60's and I say it again now. I wouldn't teach any young singer to sing like this man. His awful Italian and and obsession with his own sound makes for VERY uninteresting singing!!
Yubarco 2 years ago
@Yubarco
Whom do you prefer then as Figaro?
MariadellMonaco 2 years ago
Merrill, Gobbi, Bastianini and Prey were all better interpreters. Somebody here said Warren was a technician. I agree. He certainly had a fabulous voice, but many people cant get past that to acknowledge the rather wooden quality to much of his singing. Here, for instance, there isnt an ounce of snap in this lively aria anywhere. He just gives us a big smooth well manicured sing (except for the wretched Italian). Watch these other fellas do it. Youll see—and hear--the difference.
Yubarco 2 years ago
@Yubarco
I agree with you refering to Merrill and Bastianini. I like their perfomances more. I am not convinced about Gobbi and Prey, both good actors but not great voices, just my opinion. This is very hard to sing. Warren doesn't really convince me as figaro here, but he was one of the greatest baritones, one of the best Verdi interpreters, wonderful Rigoletto or Macbeth for example. We should not judge him because of this video.
MariadellMonaco 2 years ago
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. (one must tread with caution here as there are so many brow-beaters just waiting to pounce) I agree that Gobbi's voice was nothing special, but Prey had a beautiful lyric baritone. Just listen to his lieder. Both were, IMO, better artists/interpreters than Warren. Warren made it on the quality of his voice and his careful approach, but he has never excited me as a singer, even in Verdi. I just prefer a clearer more ringing sound.
Yubarco 2 years ago
Are you insane? When Wilfred Pelletier heard Warren singing this aria in his audition for the Met, the conductor thought his staff was playing a joke on him and substituting a world class baritone. Warren's sound is phenomenal and and glorious and one could only HOPE more baritones today had even one tenth of this man's gift!
ThePrimobaritono77 2 years ago
@ThePrimobaritono77 This is as "creamy" a rendering of this aria as you'll ever hear and this ISN"T a creamy aria. This is like listening to someone read aloud in a velvety voice while they ignore all the punctuation. Warren would have done well to take a few notes on how Merrill or Bastianini did this. They, at least, met the composer's expectations--oh, I forgot, they don't have "that sound", do they? They were just better singers. How silly of me.
Yubarco 2 years ago
I might yield that Bastianini could approach Warren in his power and majesty of the voice, but Merrill (who was good) is light years from LW and was never a true Verdi baritone. Warren's effortless top and his sonorous middle were something to behold. And BTW, Merrill's renditions were boring. If this defines a "better singer" for you, so be it...
ThePrimobaritono77 2 years ago
so you understand: This is like listening to someone read aloud in a velvety voice while they ignore all the punctuation. If Merrill's rendition was dull, that makes Warren's shameful.....
Yubarco 2 years ago
Sorry but the word shameful linked to Warren is unwarranted. There is a recording of Pagliacci with Bjoerling and De los Angeles where Warren sings Tonio and Merrill Silvio. And that's the way it was while Warren reigned. He cast a long shadow and Merrill knew it. He didn't have the top or bottom comparable to LW and lived on his middle register. And let's face it, RM's career took off when LW died on stage and Bastianini was cut short by cancer. But if he's YOUR singer, God bless...
ThePrimobaritono77 2 years ago
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Abysmal.
AfroPoli 2 years ago
huh?? why?
cantante189 2 years ago
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@cantante189 Because he is unprecise, he does not know the words well, he sounds unidiomatic, he puts too little expression into this, he takes himself very seriously, he has the typical American woofy sound. No good for Rossini. Have you heard Franco Corelli in English? That's how Warren sounds in Rossini.
AfroPoli 2 years ago
Just listen to his Forza duets with Björling. No one sang Verdi like he did. And Callas, teacher of us all, thought this as well. She wanted to do Ballo with those two, but naturally Bing-Bong said no, that was reserved Stinka-Zinka Milanov.
sillyboydeux 2 years ago
Leonard Warren is great and so is his diction - but this recording is muddy.
DogKata 2 years ago 2
Beaultifull voice and awfull accent! I assume his italian coach must have taken the day off...
morehlepituachkol 2 years ago
great technique and a solid wonderful baritone, not the most exciting but very solid. the most amazing baritone display i ever heard was a recording of a young diskau singing amazing high note. it sounded like a baritone luciano pavarotti. one of the most exciting sounds i have ever hear especially from a baritone which is a rarity.
bigus 2 years ago
I love his smile ;D
cryozo 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Im baritone and i got that quality
yoheliomcr 2 years ago
1) The 1950's microphones had very little dynamic flexibility. Loud/soft variences were kept to a minimum
2) Today's siningers are MORE covered than Warren. His voice was remarkably smoothe and consistant.
3) No baritone today could come close to this quality. None can do as easy a high "A" as does Warren.
4) Warren's production was very "frontal" and high in the "masque." What sone call "covered" is his easy use of the soft pallate. This approach to singing woudl help current singers.
unit10 2 years ago 30
I would only argue as to point 3 - Milnes comes very close to matching the A.
Vivaldicellist 2 years ago
Bad microphones? Give us all a break. You sound like one of the legion who worship this voice. That's fine, but Warren was a very careful, very technical singer and his sound was anything but frontal or high in the masque. He worked very hard at placing everything just so, i.e., well covered, seamless, "pretty." As x56000 put: all caramel, no fire. There is size and power in the voice and absolutely no character or passion. If you like technique, he's your man. I prefer passion, thanks.
ClovisRiley 2 years ago
you really have no idea what you're talking about. this guy can act circles around the most "passionate" of singers of ANY era. you just have a bug up your ass because someone is that damn good and people recognize it. total emo
devastaticon 2 years ago
Warren was a master technician. THAT was his strength. He was smooth, meticulous, careful, had a fine big instrument (if you like that particular rounded and uniform sound--I don't) and never strayed far from the secure environs of the Met. You may want to fall down and worship at his feet, but please let's just be plain speaking about what he ACTUALLY was. He excelled in a very particular kind of way: beautiful voice, excellent technique; that's the whole package. Passion isn't a part of it.
ClovisRiley 2 years ago
passion is subjective
cantante189 2 years ago
@unit10 Eh, while the rest of your comment is good, I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree that none can as easily get out that A. I'm a young, fairly undeveloped baritone, but an A will still float out for me (after warmup earlier in the day, of course). Some baritones have all the way up to a usable B and C.
kaethre 2 years ago
@unit10 I will keep this in mind in the future =)
seektheforce 1 year ago
@unit10
You are right about the soft palate, very few singers use this technique... because they don't know about it, and also the bad breathing technique they are taught ( breath through the stomach )... I think all of the famous baritones in my country, like Nicolae Herlea, used this vocal technique, and all classical singers in Romania are taught this technique about raising the soft palate for high quality of sound.
Thorgr1m 1 year ago
@unit10 "No baritone today could come close to this quality. None can do as easy a high "A" as does Warren."
Sir Thomas Allen
Wally773MTG 1 year ago
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omarihardy 1 year ago
@unit10 I wouldn't say "no" baritone today to could come "close" to this quality. There are some outstanding baritones out there, a lot of which have yet to or never unfortunately will be discovered. Leonard Warren is incredible though, he's got better high a's then I do and I'm a tenor!! Also, I HATE that there's narrating over the introduction ritornello, Rossini didn't write that ritornello for kicks-n-giggles. Thirdly, why is that conductor using a BASEBALL BAT for a baton!?! haha
jrjorgensen2519 10 months ago
kgarmaker--can you see his larynx--can you hear his larynx--?
maybe it is a 50 year old film that is grainy and not "throaty" singing that allowed to him to sing high C''s etc. he was not a LL fanatic, he had another tech.
btsg 2 years ago
His diction is RIDICULOUS (as in ridiculously good), I can make out almost every word he sings, which is pretty rare for this aria. Bravo, Maestro Warren.
TenoreRobusto1347 2 years ago 8
Diction does not a singer make. Nor does it make for interesting singing as the previous commentator points out. Warren tends to sound the same on about anything he sings. Very old fashioned highly covered sound. Good for its day, but that swallowed way of singing is history. London did it too, but he was just a much better artist.
X56000 2 years ago
Thank God for diction being less important, because I'm trying this song as well, and some of my words are almost inaudible. Even though I'm getting the pitches and rhythms and I actually KNOW the text, I can't quite make it clear. Advice?
xamelich 2 years ago
Diction IS important. But it doesn't make a singer good in and of itself. Warren's Italian is strictly Berlitz but it is clear. Advice? I don't know your circumstance. Are you coaching with someone?
X56000 2 years ago
Not very interesting singing, but "pretty." He seemed to work awful hard at being "flawless," but it renders all his stuff a sort of seamless legato quality-not exactly the right approach when fire is called for. I guess his legions just worship "the voice." And it is a nice, big, round, kind of throaty voice. But give me the steel of Bob Merrill any day!
ClovisRiley 2 years ago
He sings with a very lowered larynx, and as such, it sounds throaty.
kgarmaker123 2 years ago
I honestly cannot believe what I am reading - of course the larynx should be lower!! Try singing with a high larynx and see how long your career lasts...
cantante189 2 years ago
Sir, I know that. I am a singer myself, however there is a difference between sounding like Kermit the frog.. and.. a normal lowered larynx.. If you lower it too much your swallowing muscles become engaged, and they push the hyoid bone smack dab into the larynx, and make it difficult to vibrate. In other words too much of a good thing, results in a throaty sound. I love Warren. I really do. but i am not fond of him in this.
kgarmaker123 2 years ago
I agree with you. Warren's sound was all caramel and no fire. I don't think there's a steely note in him. As you said, the legions love his voice, but it really is sort of a reverse Hoover, if you follow my meaning.
X56000 2 years ago
Titano.Grande Warren!
textus88 2 years ago
Please, lets not forget Lawrence Tibbet. If we are going to talk about great american baritones he is top of the list. Warren is fantastic also.
Voic3Critic 2 years ago 2
My favorite Rigoletto.
I had no idea he could do this...
I think America has the corner on great Baritones.
Warren, Merrill, MacNeil and Milnes
gdabreo 2 years ago
yeah, we have all the good ones except Bruson (and a couple asian dudes who are amazing. don't know their names though)
raigekimaru 2 years ago
raigekimaru: and except Bastianini as well.
tehen162 2 years ago
you're right, he's pretty good too.
raigekimaru 2 years ago
Now this is a BARITONE!!!!!!!
mrantiquedealer 2 years ago 2
Gracias a Gastòn un amigo y colega que me ha recomendado èste gran cantante!!
Es estupendo!!
Gracias por subirlo!!
danielore62 2 years ago
Een bariton zoals een echt bariton moet zijn. Kan de jonge garde een voorbeeld aan nemen.
trenori 2 years ago
darkness of a bass, high notes of a tenor
raigekimaru 2 years ago 15
@raigekimaru Just like a good baritone should be.
witness124 1 year ago
joyfully sung. i love it
youcandance12345 2 years ago
I love his facial expressions.
areneth 2 years ago 2
..Warren remains a colossus...matchless perfection, esp. in the 1943 recording with Toscanini...Rigoletto, Act 3.
j72050 2 years ago
such a rich deep sound for one with such ringing high notes. he could practically pass for a basso cantante when singing in his low register.
raigekimaru 2 years ago
One of the greatest voices of the 20th century. One thing I particularly appreciate about this rendering of Largo al factotum is it's dignified and conservative presentation, which is purely vocal, musical and constrained within the traditional boundaries of public performance. I can get very tired of baritones hamming this piece up with cadenzas, falsetto, yelling, and just plain silliness. This is an excellent and dignified presentation. Bravo, Warren!
EdmundStAustell 2 years ago 2
What a soul - a being overflowing with energy, expression, talent. A marvel. Thank you.
vstasov 2 years ago
A titan.
tat1685 2 years ago 2
great baritone
girardje70 2 years ago
one of the best renditions ever
ShawDAMAN 2 years ago
The very voice of this man smiles and despite this he manages to maintain a totally vertical position.
Truly one of the best singers i have ever heard and seen.
PickBit 2 years ago
Beautiful articulation... you can dictate the text from this video without having to guess about anything!
metBANS 2 years ago
great singing.......
i have a friend video......go to...."building a mexican baritone voice".......and let him know your opinion.....he is doing his vocal workout
ahtenor 3 years ago
"building a mexican baritone voice"
Huh? Would that be different than say, building an Italian baritone voice? Or any? Look at the exercises that the great Mexican baritone Pablo Elvira outlines in Hines' book "Great Singers on Great Singing". They're virtually the same that baritones all over the world use.
countceprano 3 years ago
Just to get facts right, Pablo Elvira was not Mexican, but Puerto Rican. He born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico!
EitanRosa 2 years ago
Sin duda es uno de los grandes barítonos de todos los tiempos. Saludos.
eduardoromera 3 years ago
impressive voice. and respect for such wonderful artits who have preceded us.
logica10 3 years ago
This is a voice in a million. Truly, truly fantastic.
Matt54e 3 years ago
it would have been SICK if he took that last line up to a high C! Leo had an impressive C5.
raigekimaru 3 years ago
He certainly could have done so.
JackOperaMan 3 years ago
I do not doubt his ability to hit the note, his 'Gilda' cries in Rigoletto would often go to C5 and beyond that. But are there any recordings of him singing the note in a passage of music?
GermanOperaSinger 3 years ago
I'm not sure
raigekimaru 3 years ago
I don't know but there's an interesting story of a Pagliacci rehearsal where Tucker was absent and Warren sang Vesti la giubba. Supposedly he unleashed a storm of beautiful enormous sound in the room that flattened everybody!!!
uniqueattack 3 years ago
"But are there any recordings of him singing the note in a passage of music?"
No. The highest note on record that he sings is the same as many other baritones, a high A. There are several examples of this note, the Otello duet, the Forza duet, the ending of Rigoletto, the Figaro aria, and a really great one on his recording of Sea Shanties where he holds a fabulous A in "Haul Away Joe"
countceprano 3 years ago
Better at anything then anyone today.
pearlmuth3 3 years ago
Are you all listening to the same man, Warren, singing this? It's a fabulous recording. The technique is perfect, his top is astounding and the only thing I wonder is whether he had been a tenor that pushed the voice down. I wish I could have heard him live....really...listen again! The modern singers don't shine his shoes!
HazAlberto 3 years ago
the great one. big voice and all that goes for a great singer.
pearlmuth3 3 years ago
Robin Williams Sang this.
GarfieldVsSnoopy 3 years ago
Amazing.
VinylToVideo 3 years ago 2
Hampson doesn't have Warren's instrument by any measure, but frankly, he demonstrates clearly that singing is about more than the voice. Warren sounds like a heavyweight trying to work the vaulting horse here. This is NOT his cup of tea. Oh, it's big and it's round and its full, and listening to him I feel like I ate too much. This is a lyrical role and if there's one thing Warren wasn't, it's lyrical. Give the great man his due, but believe it or not, his voice wasn't right for everything.
JBL3031 3 years ago
"This is a lyrical role and if there's one thing Warren wasn't, it's lyrical"
This might be the most ridiculous sentence I've seen on Youtube, which is saying a lot! Lyrical does not mean small, light, unsupported or any other description of Hampson's voice. It means beautiful and EASY sounding, from top to bottom. Listen to Warren in the tessitura of "Il balen" or the role of Rigoletto and then try and say he wasn't lyrical! So absurd!
bishoponegin 3 years ago
You mistake singing lyrically for a lyric voice. Warren was a dramatic baritone in the most classic sense of the word. You are a typical Warren fan, i.e, he was the greatest singer who ever lived,bla, bla, bla. I don't agree and I sure as heck would never call him a lyric baritone. No your assertion is simply ignorance or blind infatuation with the 'great man'. Believe it or not, he was not made to sing EVERY role. And this role was not written with his type of voice in mind.
JBL3031 3 years ago
"and listening to him I feel like I ate too much"
Well, that has nothing to do with his singing. That full feeling is because you are simply full of crap, as your post reveals. And I agree with BishopOnegin for not letting you get by with saying he didn't sing lyrically. Lyric singing has no connotation of size or darkness. It's how the voice hits the ear. Tebaldi described his voice as "huge and soft", and that's apt.
countceprano 3 years ago
You may think anything you like, but Warren was NOT a lyric. That he could sing "huge and soft" means just that and makes my exact point about technique versus instrument; it does not mean he was a lyric Baritone! My goodness what you Warrenites will say about your hero. Why not have him sing ALL the roles in the opera--even the soprano parts. Afterall, he could do ANYTHING!
JBL3031 3 years ago
"You may think anything you like..."
Why thank you. Same to you.
"Warren was NOT a lyric"... Never said he was, but he was not a dramatic either. The roles he was famous for were high lying in tessitura and the EASE and BEAUTY of his vocal line were undeniably lyric in nature. And Tebaldi did not say he could sing huge and soft. She said his voice was a soft voice, which means it did not have a layer of audible effort on it. And he's not my hero. That was my Dad. Keep shoveling.
countceprano 3 years ago
And if you don't think Warren tosses of Largo with ease, aplomb and beauty, then your ears need to be educated. But then, you think Hampson sings it better! Hahaha! Enough said really. When Warren decrescendos on the first E natural above middle C on the "la", he's about at Hampson's "forte". But not the brittle color of Hampson. And if Hampson had a technique, he'd be a tenor instead of the fake baritone that he sings.
countceprano 3 years ago
If I were to have a vocal hero, which is rather silly actually, it would be Franco Corelli. And of course, no singer could or can do anything. But that's not the point of these posts or for people calling you on your posts and giving you thumbs down.
countceprano 3 years ago
You can demean Hampson--that just demonstrates your brand of ignorance--but the lightness and agility of his singing is what this part is about. "Ease" and agility are not the same thing. Warren's famed 'ease' sounds rounded and heavy and overdone here. Listen to Bastianini do this aria and you'll see a big voice reined in to perfection. Crisp! Clean! Light! Smart! None of those adjectives apply to Warren here. Big, round, dark and smooth do apply to him here. Not the stuff of Figaro.
JBL3031 3 years ago
"that just demonstrates your brand of ignorance"
Hahahaha!
"none of the adjectives apply to Warren here"
Your ears are as full of it as your posts. Heavy and overdone? Sheesh!
But whatever, you're entitled to your opinion that Hampson sings this aria better than Warren. Others have expressed their opinion that Bocelli is better than Corelli. Still others are of the opinion that Dewar's tastes better than a fine single malt. And their opinions and yours are all equitable.
countceprano 3 years ago
You're a good little condescender, aren't you? But you are right about one thing in spite of your intent otherwise: Other people's opinions do matter and have merit. You belong to the 'Warren Club.' That's fine, he was a great artist. But being extreme in your positions, you can't imagine that he had any faults. But he did. And you can't imagine that he wasn't stellar in everything he sang. But he wasn't. But, of course, that's a premise you wouldn't grant under any circumstances, isn't it?
JBL3031 3 years ago
"You're a good little condescender, aren't you?"
Hypocrite. Only to bullshit artists. Go back and look who called whom ignorant first, jerk. And if you think a baritone who has never learned how to sing above his passagio correctly is techno speak, it just speaks to how vocally illiterate you are. Not that there was any doubt!
countceprano 3 years ago
Bastianini's voice, which I LOVE, was not nearly as large as Warren's. This coming from two who heard them both many times live, Bergonzi and Hines.
"Big, round, dark and smooth do apply to him here. Not the stuff of Figaro"
Bullshit. Go listen to Bastianini again. Or Ruffo. Or Merrill. Then play Hampson sounding like a mosquito in comparison. And having no facility to cover or modify his vowels above his upper passagio, because his technique is lacking.
countceprano 3 years ago
"...modify his vowels above his upper passagio, because his technique is lacking." Uh-oh, the techno babble starts! The "I am an expert because I fake sounding like one" begins. Ha! What total bullshit! You wouldn't know good singing if you fell over it....
JBL3031 3 years ago
"Not the stuff of Figaro."
Go listen to John Charles Thomas sing Largo. Or Nicolai Herlea. Or just put on Hampson! Hey, maybe Hampson and Bocelli will record The Pearl Fishers duet. Man, that would be light, clean and agile wouldn't it? Haha!
countceprano 3 years ago
One suspects that you are 1) obssessed with the big sing ie, voice before music! 2. locked in a time warp where everybody since warren is a fake because he was catrgorically the best ever and 3) You don't know shit from shinola about singing.
JBL3031 3 years ago
"You don't know shit from shinola about singing."
Haha! This from some idiot who thinks Hampson sings Largo better than Warren!! What a clown!
"Other people's opinions do matter and have merit"
What a ridiculous and desperate ploy. What merit is there is someone's opinion who holds that John Tesh is a better composer than Mozart? And I've seen that in print. Does that have merit? About like yours, I guess.
countceprano 3 years ago
Oh, Gawd. You just keep spouting your NewYork Times review talk and convincing yourself that you know something. I think you're living fifty years in the past , is what i think, and you're still angry that time has passed and things have changed....
JBL3031 3 years ago
"You just keep spouting your New York Times review talk..."
That's about what I thought. Utter waste of time aren't you. There's no one at the NY Times who even knows what the high note in Phillip's aria is, much less what cover means. As far as things have changed, well, not things that matter. What's changed is that clowns like you are the rule now instead of the exception. And that's sad.
countceprano 3 years ago
I was right. You are living in the past. You sound like a very bitter old man who's watched time move on while he clutches a picture of Leonard Warren steadfastly to his breast and sobs for the 'great one'....Missing the fact that art is alive and doing very well. It may not be your art, but it never had any chance of being, did it? Your position stultified fifty years ago and that's sad. You even missed the irony of the NT Times comment because you're so literal minded. Ur just plain bitter
JBL3031 3 years ago
"I was right"