Angela Meade - Bel raggio lusinghier - Semiramide - 2009

[Pathetikos]

She has wonderful intentions, the variations and cadenzas are very colorful, but she still is not completely convincing to me. The tone is not steady. From what I heard of her newest appearances she hasn't much improved. It's a pity, because she has both material and taste.

[LazarNewDeal]

"ERUPTING FROM PURE TEXT"

[LazarNewDeal]

I watched 3 of her videos here on youtube (Bolena, Amelia and Semiramide). Singing nowadays is not what it once was. A lot of "ressonance", "brainy things", fashions... Too little of pure voice, consonants and vowels to convey an emotional expression. Listen to Horne, for instance... You get each and every word... Tebaldi singing Leonora (any Leonora)... Callas in Armida... The richness of their voices erupting pure text... from "open voice" if you get my point. Here all is fake... A "simulacre"

[Ariadne7710]

This is just too ghastly!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaarhhhh. Stop stop stop it is too painful!!!!

[NEBESHIKU]

Snooki at the opera! Dreadful train wreck!

[512gontran]

Quand elle se sera débarrassée de cet envahissant vibrato on pourra juger de la pertinence de ces embellissements. Pour le moment elle ferait mieux d'en faire moins et de travailler sur le legato, il me semble.

[GoldenAgeSunshine]

Beautiful voice, but sorry, it won(t last. Not ready to tackle those dramatic roles (Anna Bolena, Norma!). Lack of focus: listen to the off-pitch trill 02:48, intonation problems in the higher notes, strained voice in the top notes, and coloratura is weak with poor dynamics. Easy to blame but she is the example of today's poor situation in the world of opera.

[granten0re]

@GoldenAgeSunshine

This sounds like a really bad joke. A good voice, here and there, but the embellisments are just plain stupid. She has no idea whatsoever as to the proper style of a dramatic coloratura. At least she had the common sense not to scream the top note as we expect to hear it. And sorry, she is so butt-ugly and fat -- really looks like Miss Piggy. But Miss Piggy was cute.

[GoldenAgeSunshine]

@granten0re Well, the middle range is fine, I think. But she isn't absolutely ready to tackle those roles. Pitch problems are really a big issue and I can't understand how on Earth she's planned to sing at the Met?! It won't last unless she goes back to serious studies and forget about dramatic-coloratura roles! And yes, her appearance is a bit of a problem, but it won't be human and fair to criticize. All best.

[granten0re]

@GoldenAgeSunshine

Hi GoldenAgeSunshine: I really have a lot to learn from you. You know what you are talking about, but you are also kind. Most of my posts, recent and far away, have been vicious and uncalled for. (Seeking therapy for that, really.) I am old and lived through the careers of Callas, Gencer, Sills and Sutherland, and therefor know whereof I speak regarding the bel canto repertoire. Just because someone has a few notes above high C dodesn't make them a coloratura. Peace.

[assindiastignani]

@GoldenAgeSunshine I agree.It's a very good voice,but owning a Guarnerius doesn't make you Heifetz.You still have to be able to play it.She's just all over the place: flat, sharp,sometimes wobbly,sometines straight, sometimes foggy and infocused, sometimes shrill.This could all be fixed,but unfortunately she has just enough in her bag of tricks to get by...for now.Why should she think that she needs help? She's a star,maybe even a superstar.It's hard to tell nowadays.

[Vsevolod14]

Undoubtedly a fabulous vpice... but it kind of seems she's trying almost too hard too impress with all the decorations. Aas Rossini famously said to Patti, who decorated one of his arias beyond recognition:

"Very pretty... who wrote it?" The same applies here. What Rossini actually wrote is far more beautiful that what Meade has added. Less is sometimes more.

[RossiniLvr]

@Vsevolod14 Two points to make: 1) The ornaments were likely given to her by Maestro Crutchfield, an expert in the performance practices of the time who has access to many of the cadenzas and ornaments used by the singers who worked with Rossini. 2) The anecdote that you cite, though famous, is not a true representation of how Rossini felt about the stylistic practices of the time, practices that are traceable to the earliest examples of opera....

[RossiniLvr]

@Vsevolod14 ...(to continue)...Examining some of the variations used by singers of the epoch, one would find almost no hint of the original vocal line, including music by Mozart, Gluck, Haydn, and Handel! When Rossini famously made this statement, he was already retired from the theater and tastes had greatly changed. Singers still ornamented and interpolated in operas, but not to the extent as they did in years before. We should also not take the comment so far out of the context of...

[Vsevolod14]

@RossiniLvr

This is fascinating to read. Thank you for the information; I'm very intrigued and will research the subject further. Previously I had read that Rossini wrote the decorations he preffered himself and that fidelity to this that he sought. It certainly puts this performance into a different context. Personally I still think it's too elaborate, but that is only a subjective reaction. I think Ms Meade is a fabulous singer though and long to hear her in london.

[RossiniLvr]

@Vsevolod14 ...(cont.)...Rossini, his personality and his wit. As none of us were present at his famous first meeting with the diva, we cannot assess whether this was said in jest or to berate her; it was likely his wit commenting on the attitude of the singer rather than a tradition as old as opera itself. Contrary to popular belief, Rossini did not try to stop singers from personalizing his music, like Gluck did, he sought to make the orchestra and the plot more essential to the art form.

[skitzo429]

kind an anticlimactic ending

[SFmusic100]

Incredible! I haven't heard high notes with this much power and security since Joan Sutherland was at her peak. Of course Joan's coloratura was more brilliant and fluid, but Angela is truly amazing.

[JordanSean]

She is amazing! I am unbelievably impressed.

[Prickler32]

Wow! I'd read that she was good but I wasn't expecting this. She is fantastic!

[vdarte]

At 2:45 is she trilling in thirds?

[KathrynARyder]

OMG! AMAZING!!! I cannot wait to hear her as Anna Bolena at the MET in a couple of years!!! Is this the true successor to Joan Sutherland?

[Wotan123456789]

@KathrynARyder I don't if she is the sucessor to Sutherland but it seems she has her own way of shining. This is very good. Is this from Caramoor? If so I assume its the Crutchfield variations she is using. Brava!

[petelovesbevsills]

OH WOW!!! WOW!! More please????!!!