Nicolai Gedda/Shirley Verrett- Duet, (Berlioz, Les Troyens) Live 1969

[joaopedro12]

omg wasnt expecting to like so much, the tempi actually makes sense, they were superb wow very happy

[dapheneo]

Magnifiques ! Voix merveilleuses et tres credibles.

Verrett moins voluptueuse et erotique que Crespin. Gedda Parfait ; bien sur !

L'ideal ? : CRESPIN / GEDDA. Il y a eu Vickers / Crespin a San Francisco en 66 : y a t 'il un live ?

[franceseattle]

Personally, I think the slower one is dreadful, as one loses the flow of those beautiful long melodious Berlioz lines, as well as the interweaving of tenor and soprano lines. All of the Troyens recordings and performances I have heard with the exception of Alagna/Gheorghiu take a tempo more like this one. From my long acquaintanceship with Berlioz scores, I think it unlikely that he intended this duet to drag as slowly as that.

[ShawDAMAN]

@franceseattle I agree. Just listening to this again now... it's been a long time. it's beautiful ;)

[AulicExclusiva]

@franceseattle I don't think this speed is impossible, but Georges Prêtre himself takes a slightly slower tempo in his 1965 studio recording with Régine Crespin and Guy Chauvet, which is just perfect. It is, after all, a dream-like, nocturnal duet.

[1Infini]

In fact, when this recording took place, there was a mistake in the tempi of this duet, and of the preceding septuor; they were way too fast. As the mistake was in the officially published partition, everyone thought these were the right tempi. The real, much slower ones were only discovered later. So, it was not a choice from the interprets to speed things up.

[ShawDAMAN]

@1Infini interesting. I happen to love the result

[canzonettasullaria]

Wonderful! Just a little bit to fast.

[barneswriter]

Thank you for posting this. Shirley Verrett is my favourite singer from the world of opera. Wonderful voice and dramatic commitment and a very nice woman as well.

[jackylen57]

Magnifique duo ! Voix superbes !

Thanks

[ShawDAMAN]

Oui, en effet! Meilleure version de ce que j'ai entendu.

[poolification]

I think it is fantastic that artists actually tries to give an interpretation of the music rather than just play it. In this case it's an increase in tempo. The result - the best version of this duet I've ever heard. According to others, it stinks. So we have different tastes and, luckily, also different versions available.

[fgraue]

esta pesimamente dirigido, este duo se canta a una velocidad muy diferente, mal, muy mal...

[ShawDAMAN]

El ritmo es rápido, estoy de acuerdo. Por lo general se canta más lento. Sin embargo, yo no considero que sea "superficial", creo que el canto de aquí es excelente, independientemente de tempo.

[fgraue]

esta mal dirigido, muy rapido y sin profundidad, destrozo a berlioz!!!!

[Anavyia]

WOW to me and deeply touched my heart and soul, what a beautiful piece and straightto my favs,

thanks

[Glenmed]

Interesting and erudite discussions here that compare this more pacy rendition with the slower Alagna/Gheorghiu one. All I can say is that Gedda and Verrett are performers of the highest class and no one is better qualified to understand Berlioz than Prêtre.

[ShawDAMAN]

Agreed, thanks for commenting.

[foropera]

Prêtre conducts too fast...

[ShawDAMAN]

I agree, actually but the singers handle it beautifully

[poolification]

I don't agree... If you listen to for instance the version with Alagna/Gheorghiu it is slower and at first it sounds more beautiful but after a while i think it gets a little boring and monotous. I think Pretre gives the piece a little bit of "extra work" to prevent that from happening.

[ShawDAMAN]

Good comment. Overall I do prefer this rendition. And the Alagna/Gheorghiu is a bit draggy.

[whatever456]

How nice. A discussion of singers with varying opinions that hasn't devolved into a nasty cat fight. I wonder if Gedda had one of those voices whose qualities couldn't be fully appreciated if you weren't in the house and for whatever reason didn't sound quite as fulsome on recording. But apparently a tremendous sensitive musical musician as well as a singer.

Someone please comment on the technique that allowed him to sing so long into later life and how it contrasts with other tenors.

[ShawDAMAN]

I agree 100%. So far so good :)

I don't know enough of vocal technique to comment on Gedda in that light except to say that his technique was (self-evidently) excellent. One of the best. I'm sure others may know more as to his training etc.

[halavey]

Yes I heard both HEPPNER AND DEL MONACO SING OTELLO ON STAGE AND I WAS ONLY 19 WHEN I HEARD MDM DO IT BUT HEARD HEPPNER MUCH LATER AND IT WAS ALSO EXCELLENT EVEN THOUGH HIS WAS NOT AS MUCH REALLY AN OTELLO VOICE LIKE MDM BUT HE SANG THE LYRIC PARTS SO VERY WELL AND HE HAD THE POWER ON THE TOP EVEN WITH HIS LYRIC SPINTO VOICE TO DO IT . GEDDA I HEARD IN OPERA AND IN CONCERT IN THE EARLY 70'S HIS VOICE DID NOT HAVE THAT SQUILLO BUT THE TOP PROJECTED VERY WELL. THE VOICE WAS USED BEAUTIFULLY.

[gaytenor]

Heppner's blood pressure/dry throat problem was what caused him to lose weight several years ago to control his blood pressure gained the weight back. The flesh is weak. He is variable these days but the voice has slipped some in the upper register. Of the current crop of tenors only Heppner and Florez are/or had legendary careers. The Heppner Otello is priceless because he sang versus ranted the role. Andrea Chenier a couple of years ago was great also.

[gaytenor]

ShawDAMAN: Why does everyone assume that Heppner isn't a heldentenor? A heldentenor doesn't have to sound like a baritone. Heppner has sung the ring roles in concert to acclaim and his Tristan is excellent. He recorded solos from Siegfried and Die Walkure that are among the best I've ever heard. As mentoned in the comment above Heppner's problems relate to blood pressure medication. I take the same stuff it causes dry throat problems.

[ShawDAMAN]

I don't assume that. I have never heard him live myself so I go by what people tell me and I have heard him described as everything from a heldentenor to a lyric with big high notes. So, I was open to the possibility that he wore his voice out. I was not aware of the problem with his medications, thanks for that. I am a Heppner fan.

[FoggyRoad81]

This is all about Verrett if you ask me, Gedda is nice, but I'm drawn to Shirley for nearly every note.

[ShawDAMAN]

I like Verrett's voice too.

[BeauTenor]

Gedda was really under appreciated I think. He very rarely had a bad night, and what a voice! This voice was amazing, particularly the top. It doesn't have the burnished golden quality of Pavarotti (who does?), but it had more squillo and presence, allowing him to sing heavier roles than you'd normally associate with a lyric tenor (like Enee).

[ShawDAMAN]

I agree, very good assessment. He could nearly always be counted on for quality singing. Slightly less beautiful voice than young Pavarotti but more robust and versatile.

[Mooorhe]

Not having heard Gedda in the house, I can't judge, but people who did actually say he lacked squillo but had incredible projection on his high notes.

[ShawDAMAN]

Yeah. I've been listening to him more lately. I like him. Still not my favorite timbre but he's just all around good, hard to find fault with him. I still find him a bit un-moving for some reason but technically he has amazed me on some of the recordings I've gotten.

[Herur22]

This was absolutely beautiful.

[ShawDAMAN]

glad you enjoyed

[halavey]

Heard Gedda in opera and recital and his voice grew form a small lyric into a nice sized voice for lyric roles and he sang very well in so many roles with that great top, as neil shicoff said "that voice could go t the moon!

[pianist527]

Exactly, me too. Thanks.

[pianist527]

Great voices no doubt.For whatever reason I prefer tenors to sopranos with some good exceptions, while my brothers here prefer the other way around as I think most men do, but I have to admit that she does have a very beautiful voice, a pleasure to listen to. As to Gedda, there's not much to say really. I love his beautiful timbre and amplitude of voice. Gedda is Gedda that is all. Thanks very much for the video.

[ShawDAMAN]

I prefer tenors to sopranos too generally, not sure exactly why.

Gedda is very overlooked in my opinion, I've been listening to him a lot more lately, his timbre really doesn't appeal to me a lot at first blush but I've been impressed, he's grown on me.

[steakopera]

Although Gedda never really break through main stream of italian opera, he'd served vital role by making French and German opera blossom. Thank you for sharing inspirational music.

[sospello]

All the more appropriate as tomorrow is Shirley Verrett's birthday (May 31st).  Thank you for posting this splendid moment for both Verrett and Gedda.

[ShawDAMAN]

Oh really? Didn't know that. I hope both her and Gedda are enjoying reasonably good health. =) Thanks for listening

[sospello]

Yes, as far as I know; she still does some teaching at U. of Michigan I think and he was performing a few roles as late as 2003.

[gaytenor]

The performance here is the best argument for a reevaluation of the type of tenor needed for Aneas in Berlioz's titanic bore of an opera. While Heppner has no trouble with this sublime music Vickers, especially at the Met had a lot of trouble with that top b as did Domingo. The idea that a heroic tenor is needed here overlooks the fact that the heroic tenor of Berlioz's time is now at most, a lyrico spinto because of the changes due to Verdi and Wagner. Thanks for posting this.

[ShawDAMAN]

thanks for your informed comments

[BeauTenor]

I agree, although I will say that Heppner's weird technique is now getting him into a lot of vocal trouble as he ages. I think it's important to remember with these kinds of roles is that it's not always the type of voice, but more the size and density of the voice that matters. They HAVE to be able to either ride on top of or cut through the orchestra, and with Berlioz, the orchestration is DENSE.

[ShawDAMAN]

Yeah Heppner's good days I think are pretty much over but he was one of the better tenors of our era. You say he has weird technique- could you elaborate? I had thought his technique was pretty sound; and that perhaps he simply pushed his voice too hard over the years...singing dramatic/helden roles when he really wasn't a dramatic tenor. I don't know though. :)

[BeauTenor]

After reading my post again, "weird" was a poor choice of words. However, I've always thought that Heppner sounded like he used a lot of subglottic pressure to make his voice soud bigger than it really was, and allowing him to sing the big German roles that require such a large middle voice. The pushing in the middle would explain his tendency to crack at the top. He also tends to crack on long phrases, which leads me to suspect that he has problems with support.

[ShawDAMAN]

Thanks for the clarification. I am ill-qualified to judge such matters so I won't try. ;-) I will say however that he did sing well for quite a number of years, the real decline seems to have been relatively recently. Even if he retired now it would have been a very respectable career (and he still has a pretty active schedule.) Anyways good spinto/dramatic tenors are rare these days, it seems, so I'm glad we have him, seems like a nice guy too.

[gaytenor]

What weird technique did Heppner have? Heppner could and did sing anything that struck his interest including Mozart complete with perfect trills, runs, etc. As to voice size the evidence is that voices like De Monaco's etc., did not exist. Listen to Escalais, etc., Gedda carries the orchestration with a much smaller voice than Heppner or Vickers and he was great as Bevenuto Cellini also. Heppner's problems relate to the medication he has to take for his blood pressure.