Dmitri Hvorostovsky - War and Peace - Andrei's Act I aria

[eurydike]

is it possible to buy this performance somewhere on dvd ?

[gloria25031]

Hvorostovsky's techinque differs from Nathan Gunn in the aspect of a more remarkably reserved characterization and a booming Verdian baritone I agree with babbajaga39 that Russian operatic heroes are for baritones and basses.I think it's because the language is gutteral and placed in the deeper larynx. Bravo Dima!!

[Ivorybird09]

Russian is not a guttural language. I know it because I am Russian and have trouble pronunciating "guttural" sounds. Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, Welsh, Dutch, Spanish, German and Afrkikaans have more guttural sounds than Russian

[nokturnpianist]

Russian comes from the front of the mouth. Well, the l sound comes from further back, but otherwise it's not guttural at all in my opinion.

[OperaBaritoneJoe]

Zeljko Lucic is better then Dmitri.

yes or no experts.

[rexeterna]

zeljko lucic makes hvorostovsky look like an amateur

[1019q]

There is no comparison, Dmitri was born to perform Bolkonsky.

I'm glad it was written for bariton like it or not.

I feel very lucky to see this War and Piece in Tokyo and NY.

[balletnut]

I think I tend to agree with 'Milord' but I still think Dmitri is the greatest baritone alive.

[OperaBaritoneJoe]

Is Zeljko Lucic better then Demitri? A real Verdi baritone?

[Milordvega]

I won't argue with Prokofiev of course, but I think André Bolkonsky should have been a tenor and Pierre Bezukhov the baritone role. Bolkonsky's character and his ill-fated romance with Natasha were more typical of tenor roles and presentations in traditional operas.

Dmitri though is very well-cast. :)

[bmatt05]

it was a trend of the time in changing the typical stereotypes and i think rightfully so because regardless of fach, the mood and tone can be accomplished

[babajaga39]

in fact in russian operas the stereotype of the hero is always written as a baritone role, and tenor is always a secondt type role. the real russian opera hero is always a baritone, and a tenor role is always secondrate: evil, or intersting but not the most important role. and in fact greatest russian singers were always baritones (not only but mostly), as russian guy mostly have a lower voice, unlike Italy where guys have many times natural tenor voice.

[maritess5]

Yes, as in Yevgeny Onegin where the head role is that of baritone while Lensky is sung by tenor. Best Russian voices are indeed the very low ones.

[spqrmor]

babajaga, it' total bullshit! I see you know nothing about russian opera art . Revew rusian tenors:Leonid Sobinov, Ivan Kozlovsky,Sergey Lemeshev -the greatest one in Eugen Onegin, Nikolay Baskov..

[babajaga39]

In fact I adore Lemeshev and Kozlovsky also. Baskov is not so great, although I like him too...

[4realrussiansonly]

Tenorismo: I think Dmitri can aford to change his underware several times before it becomes soiled.

[lamezzoenfrancais]

I think there can be more than one amazing baritone. In my opinion, no other baritone comes close to Dmitri, but that's just my opinion. He kills at whatever repitiore he takes on, whether it be Don Giovanni or Yevgeny Onegin he is amazing.

(And he's coming to Berkley in November!!! AAAA! I'm going to go see him LIVE!)

[tenorismo]

@lamezzoenfrancais  Yuri Mazurock

[eurydike]

@lamezzoenfrancais

I like Simon Keenlyside more:-))) (no offence), but I like Hvorostovsky too:-)

[al10506025]

@eurydike

How about Mariusz Kwiecien?

[eurydike]

@al10506025 not bad, but i like Hvorostovsky and Keenlyside much more. I think Alexey Markov is good. and Andrey Bondarenko.

[Toreadorssong]

Why can't there be more than one? Each does certain things wonderfully. Hampson's Mahler songs with Bernstein surpass anyone who ever did them (Dieskau included). Hvorostovsky would die in those songs. Just like Hampson does not come close to him in the Russian rep. Both fail when they try to do heavy Verdian roles. Merrill had a monstrous voice. Neither of those guys do. Both lyrics.

[Shipskeel]

You are right: Merrill had a big voice. Merrill was a heavyweight lyric. (if that makes sense to people). Dmitri is a lightweight, but rather dark, lyric. People tend to confuse darkness with heaviness, which are not the same. Hampson is a lightweight lyric, but not dark. He gets into trouble when he tries to darken his voice.

[tenorismo]

People can say whatever they want about Dimitri . but since the death of Robert Merril who eventhough he retired from singing was still the greatists liveing baritone. I'd say Dimitri now holds the title. For all of the hype around Hampson , he cant't carry Dimitris dirty  underware.

[OperaBaritoneJoe]

would you not say that Zeljko Lucic is better

[babajaga39]

I can't find anything interesting in Lucic: he has a good voice, good theatrcla talnts, so what? Boring as hell. Gyimka is a shaman, a magician, whatever he does, he does it by all heart.