Gigli - Una Furtiva Lagrima

[tukilala]

Bravo por el Video !!!!! Gracias Merrihew por subirlo !!!! *****

[mauroangelucci]

Buon Dio fallo rinascere! Tu che tutto puoi!

[wiseroldfart]

Had I never heard Caruso sing it, I'd have probably picked this as the best version of this aria. However, I consider Caruso's 1904 version of this aria the single best performance ever recorded by a tenor. It remains unmatched in its complexity. Caruso's amazing vocal resonance is the topper. That 1904 gem deserves an intense scrutiny by all aspiring tenors and opera fans. I've never heard a better example of what I consider to be true 'bel canto' singing, which appears to be a lost art.

[0samples0]

Cool vocal technic. very very very cool!

[ironyfree]

Sublime. 

[sm0831tt]

Wonderful rendition. Still prefer the Great One's performance.

[asiul65]

Spendid!

[MrJackerville]

Sloppy????? WTF''' He is begging to die, because he doesn't want to live without her. He is really convinced he can die because of love, and he is expecting God's or Heaven's help . It's a wonderful Aria, and it is really a hard work to interpret it. Not for the notes, technique, or etc. It's difficult to assume the character and turn into him. It's a great interpretation, but I recomend the one from Enrico Carusso and the one from Tito Schipa.

[MrJackerville]

Sloppy????? WTF??? He is begging to die, because he doesn't want to live without her. He is really convinced he can die because of love, and he is expecting God's or Heaven's help. It's a wonderful Aria, and it is really a hard work to interpret it. Not for the notes, technique, or etc. It's difficult to assume the character and turn into him. It's a great interpretation, but I recomend the one from Enrico Caruso and the one from Tito Schipa.

[bulldog01209]

Gigli always puts a smile on my face.

[minnie888444]

This is sung with wonderful technique!!! What "sloppy"? There is nothing sloppy her! Everything is carefully studied and rendered, the result being a superb interpretation!

[bodiloto]

sublime Gigli grazie .

[CBsvufan]

Nice video, I love the idea of showing the record being played!

[miriamdberg]

emotion!!! emotion!!!! ``una furtiva lagrima``fell down from my eyes....thanks a lot...

[tenorspinto]

Era Gigli, hay que recordar eso, maravilloso, en todo su esplendor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!, aprendemos de el los cantantes de nuestra generación...

[tomfroekjaer]

Great singing and better than many later tenors. Non the less, I cannot help comparing it with the 1904 Caruso performance which IMO is the ultimate version of this aria.

[eegreen]

que dices? what you say? hahaha canta hermoso !

[meloniesoulsby]

GIGLI!!!! wow, original.  Many many thanks for this

[seretere]

que hermosa experiencia es escuchar musica desde un vinilo...

[xleno]

Gracias, Muchas Gracias .... Bellisimo.

[xleno]

Gracias, Muchas Gracias ... Bellisimo!!

[lenny7494]

Suo victrola e'Belisima e'sona eccelente, grazie mile per il video.

[crazygeo81]

Nice - I love Gigli , But I have to say Caruso owns this song . By the way - Nice victrola record player .. I see you have the gold edition !! most be worth some bucks. Plus it sounds amazing

[fraluy]

Gran voz, lastima que cantase tan mal,

sobre todo si lo comparamos con Tito Schipa.

[TheeREALNeuralTech]

That final note is easily on par with other greats like Caruso.

Fantastic job on this piece!

thks for posting

[patrick96321]

Hmmm. Contrary to what merrihew wrote in the description, I thought the run at the end was fine. Follows Donizetti's written score quite well. I'm very happy to get to hear this recording.

[kmorsan64]

Se escucha excelente. Gracias.

[78Maniac]

Comme dans "Nessun dorme" extrait de Turandot, on est surpris par la qualité du son, même lu comme ici avec un diaphragme et une rotation assurée par un moteur à ressort. La fin "sloppy" dont se plaint Merrihew est peut-être dûe au pas plus court du sillon en fin de disque, ou à un léger ralentissement de la rotation. Il n'en reste pas moins que c'est une grande voix et du très beau chant, riche en expressivité et en couleurs. Un document rare que collectionneur, je recherche.

[merrihew]

Listen to his Il Mio Tesoro which has been posted on Youtube as an example of sloppy runs. Still, all singers have faults and Gigli was incomparable with the right material.

[merrihew]

Sometimes this does happen in the recording process (the velocity under the cutting head certainly decreases as the diameter of the disc decreases). However, if you listen to others of his records (like the Il Mio Tesoro posted on YT) you see that it is a frequent problem. That does not diminish the greatness of almost all of his records.

[crapfacejoe]

@merrihew The run at the end was the best. What planet are you living on. Your criticism is without merit.

[merrihew]

@crapfacejoe Its a criticism shared by a number of well known critics, but we each have to establish our own criteria for what we like. Its still one of the 4 or 5 best performances ever recorded.

[crapfacejoe]

@merrihew Critics never like unorthodox tenors who take risks. They prefer the Bjorlings of the world who sing it from the book.

[merrihew]

@crapfacejoe I agree with you completely, especially about Bjoerling. My only very minor criticism is that the notes are blurred by Gigli in that final run (more like a slur) as compared to other singers, like Schipa, who delineate the notes in that run more distinctly. Its a tendency that became more pronounced as Gigli aged. This record was hailed as a masterpiece when it was originally issued.

[crapfacejoe]

@merrihew I love Shipa's una furtiva, he sang it with both perfection and passion. I think I just prefer Gigli's animated style, he's a risk taker and with a voice like his he can afford to take liberties.

[crapfacejoe]

@merrihew It's more of a masterpiece today. Lanza best emulated Gigli on this in one of his live recordings and it was much better than his more known studio recording which was sung in the typical manner.

[Edhyde24601]

Now that is what I call a voice. Probably the best tenor voice I've ever heard!

[danielore62]

Melodìa pura, armonìa suprema, el alma queda agradecida al maestro Gigli

[guitoulamalice]

Hi Merrihew,

Just give me your address and precise me how many disk you are and...if you are an alarm! Thanks.

Wonderful.

[maxmarce]

GRACIAS

[paulostroff99]

Another Gigli milestone.One more of so many!

[gagga96]

Marvelous despite technical handicap.Gigli for ethernity!

[VinylToVideo]

Opps - I think I just posted this same recording.

[meltzerboy]

In my estimation, there are four supreme performances of this aria on record: De Lucia's, Caruso's, Schipa's, and Gigli's. Each has its own virtues, but what they all have in common is that they embody the finest bel canto singing.

[cccso]

Where can you get De Lucia's?

[mrrk]

My what a wonderfull voice Gigli had.

[cellohood]

You said it! I'm amazed people can post such elaborate critiques. I can hardly see the keyboard through the tears. I could listen to Gigli forever...

[kspm01]

I agree, towards the end he saw the capacity limit of the record approach and started to speed... otherwise this is a superb record (once more!).

[transformingArt]

It reminds me a Korean Idiom, "Dragon Heads ended with Snake Tails" - which means that The Well-begun one goes wrong more and more as reaching the end.

Maybe this idiom can be applicable for this. It's rush, rush, rush all the way since the 3 minutes have passed...