@suffes Lanza was not the typical polished opera singer but if you listen to his voice itself and forget the hammy recordings, some arias where well sung, early especially. He had a very warm voice, amazing voice, warmth that few had on the met stage have, sure he sang Hollywood style later. His Favorite tenor by the way in his own time was Jussi but I can understand why, Jussi had the same gifts, lyric beauty and an even top to bottom tone. Lanza's mother told me in the 60's-- JB was his fav.
We all hear things differently.JB had a great voice, great low notes and high notes and an even greater concert singer then an opera singer. He was not a great actor but back then who cared. I heard him in house, it was never a big voice but carried easily in his roles. He was smart avoided roles like Calaf, Forza , Samson or Chenier but early sang many lyric and lyric spinto roles then later and when he didn't push for volume the voice was solid with out excessive vibrato. My opinion only
@suffes In Lescaut live at the met in 1949 with Kirsten his voice is warm and has feeling but compared to Gigli, Wunderlich and Tucker the voice alone is Cooler. Gigli in Pazzo Son 1940 (and in 1951 live) seems to have a much warmer more Italian sound as Bergonzi in the 1960 met. live Lescaut that was over the top, in Pazzo Son . Many Swedish fans say tears are in JBs voice, yes I hear that also but the voice for me never had the Italian sound a few other non Italians had. IMO only.
@SUFFES I just don't agree about the feeling part he does not have as much as all others, some but not all. Gigli did over do the sob at times sobbing when no need to sob was necessary but he had more feeling then most tenors. JB does have more feeling live as Canio but that was in Swedish and he always had more passion in his own language, later in Italian it was better without errors in pronunciation but his Canio on the recording was cold for many people. In Lecsut live very fine- cont.
An Irish song written in a German opera and often sung in Italian. You know the story of Tucker doing it live at the Met. in 1961 in English , he didn't really like that so after he had sung the opera a couple of times, not for the Brdcst suddenly (when it came time for this aria in English) he sang the aria in Italian shocking the people in the opera house who loved it and went wild, angering stiff Mr. Bing who later forgave him. No tape of that exists just the Brdcst, ALL in English.
@suffes Bergonzi was best in lyric roles, his top lacked spinto heft. I have heard him in house in his prime and in concert. JB had a better top and low notes that for a lyric tenor where very fine but nobody mentions the low notes that are so important in opera's like Ballo. Bergonzi had a very warm Italian sound but Gigli sounded for me more passionate. I don't mind some sobbing. Tucker had passion and power both for roles that I like, especially Chenier and Forza. Not Bergonzi's best roles.
EVEN JB GIVES A HINT OF SOB AT #219 AND AT #311 HE GIVES HIS SLIGHT SOB OR GASP AS HE INHALES. OK, FINE AND LATER HE DID SOB WHEN SOME CRITICS SAID HE SANG "COLD" IN OPERA'S SOMETIMES AND IN THE THE LAST CAV AT THE MET IN 1959 HE DID SOB IN THE FINAL ARIA . A GOODBYE TO HIS MOTHER AND IT WAS A BIG SUCCESS FOR HIM. THIS WAS FROM AN LP IN 1956 CALLED "JUSSI BJORLING IN OPERA" ON RCA REC. OF ARIAS. HE IS MORE EMOTIONAL HERE THEN THE EARLY ONE BUT EARLIER WAS HIS BEST SINGING IN OPERA. IMO.
@SHICOFF1 Think you missed my point. I said exaggerated- sobbing. Feeling-emphaty shall ALWAYS come from your hart!!! A tenor that consider "here i have to do some sobbing so it sounds as sweet as possible" like baking a cake is NOT credible. Than it´s ALWAYS better with a singing that comes from your hart! JB has most often a deep genuine feeling inbuilt in his tone. Sometimes in studio and TV rec. he is a little stiff but at opera stage and recitals he has as much feeling as anyone else!
@gaytenor Oh yes gay tenor, sure I agree with you here. I love the Caruso recording as #1. Gigli sobbed more then Tucker as gay tenor said but was excellent in it. I see no problem with the Sob. Better a Sob then going off pitch and a wobble or singing cold in an Italian aria and I don't mean any one tenor. Actually the aria was an Irish song by an unknown composer but Von Flotow used it in the opera. Today we have Flowmax, a pill for prostate trouble! Times change. Here Caruso wins IMO.
Björlings M´aapari was IMO and others around the globe, one of the very best. Maybee THE very best along vith Carusos. But this version here is not one of his better. Trye f.ex. the post by IIgruppoDiDocci a 1949 studio recording. His live version on his new celebration album is maybe the top gem? The audience go crazy on it!
@gaytenor Wundelich recorded the opera in German and it's excellent, yes I agree with your comment. Tragic Fritz died so young and all because he fell down the stairs. T
@Siriusfanatiker No it is an opinion by a listener. What's a joke is how rude you are. The best versions of this aria are by Josef Schmidt, Helge Rosvaenge and Fritz Wunderlich in the original German and Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, and Richard Tucker in Italian. You should tune your ears to the excessive breath pressure that was employed by Bjorling here. He had a career long habit of pushing notes above the stave to get more volume.
@gaytenor "The best versions of this aria are"..............Where do we find PROOF of this???
Suppose you forgotten to add: IMO? But oterwise i agree "Bergonzi?? Is that a joke?" is NOT howe we should express our selfs here! Than, yes i can here a slight push, but don´t find it very disturbing! At least not compared to some other singers habits of ex-sobbing, reloading, shifting gear etc. etc. If you listen carefully to other singers you´l find that NOONE is absolutely perfect!!!
@suffes I'm sorry but the 'god of the north' gives a minor league performance compared with the remarkable recording by Caruso. Some of my favorite tenors do very poorly with this classic aria since no aria, even one in the singer's fach, is equally well sung. As to proof just listen to the 1917 recording by Caruso there is more c ontrol a more idiomatic approach and a stunning top b flat that is both easy and stentorian.
@gaytenor Carusos is PERHAPS the very best. But still JB:s lyric unbroken flow is..unresistable so for me it´s a draw.
There is nothing more to say when it ´s down to taste. Have noticed that people most often listening to/here different things in the same aria and than starts to argue - without knowing it - about polar opposite things. That´s life, and i think even you have to accept! Listened to Wunderlich - normally exceptional -but not here. Great ofcourse but to weak and no flow - IMO.
This Guy is GOOD
bkeay100 1 week ago
@suffes Lanza was not the typical polished opera singer but if you listen to his voice itself and forget the hammy recordings, some arias where well sung, early especially. He had a very warm voice, amazing voice, warmth that few had on the met stage have, sure he sang Hollywood style later. His Favorite tenor by the way in his own time was Jussi but I can understand why, Jussi had the same gifts, lyric beauty and an even top to bottom tone. Lanza's mother told me in the 60's-- JB was his fav.
SHICOFF1 5 months ago
We all hear things differently.JB had a great voice, great low notes and high notes and an even greater concert singer then an opera singer. He was not a great actor but back then who cared. I heard him in house, it was never a big voice but carried easily in his roles. He was smart avoided roles like Calaf, Forza , Samson or Chenier but early sang many lyric and lyric spinto roles then later and when he didn't push for volume the voice was solid with out excessive vibrato. My opinion only
SHICOFF1 5 months ago
@suffes In Lescaut live at the met in 1949 with Kirsten his voice is warm and has feeling but compared to Gigli, Wunderlich and Tucker the voice alone is Cooler. Gigli in Pazzo Son 1940 (and in 1951 live) seems to have a much warmer more Italian sound as Bergonzi in the 1960 met. live Lescaut that was over the top, in Pazzo Son . Many Swedish fans say tears are in JBs voice, yes I hear that also but the voice for me never had the Italian sound a few other non Italians had. IMO only.
SHICOFF1 5 months ago
@SUFFES I just don't agree about the feeling part he does not have as much as all others, some but not all. Gigli did over do the sob at times sobbing when no need to sob was necessary but he had more feeling then most tenors. JB does have more feeling live as Canio but that was in Swedish and he always had more passion in his own language, later in Italian it was better without errors in pronunciation but his Canio on the recording was cold for many people. In Lecsut live very fine- cont.
SHICOFF1 5 months ago
An Irish song written in a German opera and often sung in Italian. You know the story of Tucker doing it live at the Met. in 1961 in English , he didn't really like that so after he had sung the opera a couple of times, not for the Brdcst suddenly (when it came time for this aria in English) he sang the aria in Italian shocking the people in the opera house who loved it and went wild, angering stiff Mr. Bing who later forgave him. No tape of that exists just the Brdcst, ALL in English.
SHICOFF1 5 months ago
@suffes Bergonzi was best in lyric roles, his top lacked spinto heft. I have heard him in house in his prime and in concert. JB had a better top and low notes that for a lyric tenor where very fine but nobody mentions the low notes that are so important in opera's like Ballo. Bergonzi had a very warm Italian sound but Gigli sounded for me more passionate. I don't mind some sobbing. Tucker had passion and power both for roles that I like, especially Chenier and Forza. Not Bergonzi's best roles.
SHICOFF1 5 months ago
EVEN JB GIVES A HINT OF SOB AT #219 AND AT #311 HE GIVES HIS SLIGHT SOB OR GASP AS HE INHALES. OK, FINE AND LATER HE DID SOB WHEN SOME CRITICS SAID HE SANG "COLD" IN OPERA'S SOMETIMES AND IN THE THE LAST CAV AT THE MET IN 1959 HE DID SOB IN THE FINAL ARIA . A GOODBYE TO HIS MOTHER AND IT WAS A BIG SUCCESS FOR HIM. THIS WAS FROM AN LP IN 1956 CALLED "JUSSI BJORLING IN OPERA" ON RCA REC. OF ARIAS. HE IS MORE EMOTIONAL HERE THEN THE EARLY ONE BUT EARLIER WAS HIS BEST SINGING IN OPERA. IMO.
SHICOFF1 5 months ago
@SHICOFF1 Think you missed my point. I said exaggerated- sobbing. Feeling-emphaty shall ALWAYS come from your hart!!! A tenor that consider "here i have to do some sobbing so it sounds as sweet as possible" like baking a cake is NOT credible. Than it´s ALWAYS better with a singing that comes from your hart! JB has most often a deep genuine feeling inbuilt in his tone. Sometimes in studio and TV rec. he is a little stiff but at opera stage and recitals he has as much feeling as anyone else!
suffes 5 months ago
@gaytenor Oh yes gay tenor, sure I agree with you here. I love the Caruso recording as #1. Gigli sobbed more then Tucker as gay tenor said but was excellent in it. I see no problem with the Sob. Better a Sob then going off pitch and a wobble or singing cold in an Italian aria and I don't mean any one tenor. Actually the aria was an Irish song by an unknown composer but Von Flotow used it in the opera. Today we have Flowmax, a pill for prostate trouble! Times change. Here Caruso wins IMO.
SHICOFF1 5 months ago
Björlings M´aapari was IMO and others around the globe, one of the very best. Maybee THE very best along vith Carusos. But this version here is not one of his better. Trye f.ex. the post by IIgruppoDiDocci a 1949 studio recording. His live version on his new celebration album is maybe the top gem? The audience go crazy on it!
suffes 5 months ago
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No doubt whatsoever!!
Bjorlingmiracle 5 months ago
The best tenor who ever lived. No one can sound as romantic, epic and subtle at the same time.
sabbersolo 8 months ago 5
@gaytenor Wundelich recorded the opera in German and it's excellent, yes I agree with your comment. Tragic Fritz died so young and all because he fell down the stairs. T
SHICOFF1 10 months ago
Bergonzi?? Is that a joke?
Siriusfanatiker 11 months ago
@Siriusfanatiker No it is an opinion by a listener. What's a joke is how rude you are. The best versions of this aria are by Josef Schmidt, Helge Rosvaenge and Fritz Wunderlich in the original German and Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, and Richard Tucker in Italian. You should tune your ears to the excessive breath pressure that was employed by Bjorling here. He had a career long habit of pushing notes above the stave to get more volume.
gaytenor 10 months ago
@gaytenor "The best versions of this aria are"..............Where do we find PROOF of this???
Suppose you forgotten to add: IMO? But oterwise i agree "Bergonzi?? Is that a joke?" is NOT howe we should express our selfs here! Than, yes i can here a slight push, but don´t find it very disturbing! At least not compared to some other singers habits of ex-sobbing, reloading, shifting gear etc. etc. If you listen carefully to other singers you´l find that NOONE is absolutely perfect!!!
suffes 5 months ago
@suffes I'm sorry but the 'god of the north' gives a minor league performance compared with the remarkable recording by Caruso. Some of my favorite tenors do very poorly with this classic aria since no aria, even one in the singer's fach, is equally well sung. As to proof just listen to the 1917 recording by Caruso there is more c ontrol a more idiomatic approach and a stunning top b flat that is both easy and stentorian.
gaytenor 5 months ago
@gaytenor Carusos is PERHAPS the very best. But still JB:s lyric unbroken flow is..unresistable so for me it´s a draw.
There is nothing more to say when it ´s down to taste. Have noticed that people most often listening to/here different things in the same aria and than starts to argue - without knowing it - about polar opposite things. That´s life, and i think even you have to accept! Listened to Wunderlich - normally exceptional -but not here. Great ofcourse but to weak and no flow - IMO.
suffes 5 months ago
beautiful voice indeed
indgiu 1 year ago
Heartfelt. My favourite remains Bergonzi's version though.
Orfeus80 5 years ago
Yes I totally agree, the "perfect voice", amazing!
LucianoKraCore 5 years ago
Let there be no doubt that we're hearing the tenor voice in its ultimate and most beautiful form. Bjorling is without equal.
blakemooney 5 years ago
Thanks for sharing this wonderful song, I love Bjoring's voice.
lanhcana 5 years ago
This is amazing! This is the best version of this aria. What a voice, what a technique, what a style... Beautiful
NEMORINO1976 5 years ago 2