Montserrat Caballe live "Merce, dilette amiche" from I Vespri Siciliani

[NEBESHIKU]

zero coloratura and trills and nothing past high c, boring. The voice is beautiful but since it can do fast runs the tempo is slowed beyond what Verdi asked.

[NEBESHIKU]

@NEBESHIKU ...cann't

[OLIVCHEN77]

Is this the recording which she held to tone in the finale?

Brava- its a long Opera, she sounds fresh. Brava

[asdfopera]

no trill and no E.

[Leonora1510]

BRAVA!!

[Godzilla1664]

The acoustic is to blame,I agree too.Caballe is a legendary Elena in the opera history.

[tomasburi]

I prefer this rendition over any rendition by Callas I have ever heard, sorry :-( Callas "Merce, dilette amiche" was slower, than interpretation of many other sopranos, but Caballe makes the slower parts more interesting and pleasing to my ears. I think Deutekom, Ponselle and Cerquetti performed really well in faster tempo.

[eugenelohks]

@tomasburi but Callas' is exactly at the tempo Verdi asks for, I'm sure she could have done it much faster!

[kgarmaker123]

@tomasburi to even mention Caballe in this aria, with the name Callas, is very wrong. Callas, was so much better, to start with .. she had REAL trills.

[tena2]

the tempo is too slow, to give it how it should really sound listen to callas, nevertheless she is great as usual.

[kineakasi]

Its only the acoustic of this video that is bad. On the "eternal Caballe" cd, you hear her clear and she's simply perfect! Comparing with many other sopranos who performed this, she's absolutely the best!

[gattoamoremio]

cantata benissimo ma diretta in modo orribile

[kgarmaker123]

Once again Levine strikes.. the tempo is so slow in certain sections you want to hit him, maybe it is to acccomodate Caballe, who was not good at fast runs.

[assindiastignani]

@kgarmaker123 Levine is a great conductor, which is the only reason she gets through this aria as well as she does. With Caballe, you had two choices: either you accompanied her every whim, or you weren't together. The accoustic of the video is not to blame; in the house you couldn't hear her either.Vocally the best Elena of that time was Deutekom, musically it was Scotto. Who also sang this very well was Maralin Niska. Remember her? Great singer. God awful, ugly production by John Dexter.

[kgarmaker123]

@assindiastignani Thank you for confirming, what I already suspected about Caballe.. When the tempos were bad, they were to accomodate her vocally. Interesting that you had trouble hearing her in the house as well. I have never been much of a caballe fan.

[mongemark]

semplicemente perfetta....provate ad ascoltare la Arroyo la Studer o la Gruberova belle voci ma sotto il profilo dell'espressione o del virtuosismo stanno sotto di una spanna...grande Montsy (voce, tecnica, espressione : tutto)

[agnellodei]

Her voice is always great, she is behind the music though.

[branko1b]

it is a live (on stage) recording - you probably would probably get much, much, less voice (in 10th or something row) from some other singers whose recordings are mentioned here

[saverioorlando]

Charming voice,prudent singing.

[Destatur]

too prudent i would say

[forallyouknow]

Caballe had such a lovely, LOVELY voice--it embodied the so called Italianate warmth that was so looked for. But her coloratura in this aria is a little... off-putting.

[Shahrdad]

I agree. She's an amazing singer, but I don't think she's at her best here, and she could never sing a trill, and this piece asks for three clean sustained trills.

[GeorgiNM]

Not never.

[Pianoloverok]

You are great!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Klassizismus]

THANK you so much for this video!! I simply love Montserrat Caballé - one of the most glorious voices I've ever heard!