Martti Talvela sings "Ha! Wie Will Ich Triumphieren!"

[Dogaradodia]

Certified Intergalactic! It's only with Martti Talvela that I enjoyed this aria.

[tahileki]

No way is that a fail, being able to sing a low D (or even D sharp;) over an orchestra in a big theatre and still be heard - it's pure awesome!

[freezetop]

low D fail ! 

[franpoule]

talvela is such a fantastic bass but in my opinion this performance is quite disappointing.

[55werther]

Magnifico Bajo, Eximio Artista; Uno de esos Cantantes/Actores que ralmente

valen la pena recordar y no olvidar.

[MrJoerg1979]

Endlich eine klassische Arie, die mir gefällt. Das meiste ist so unverständlich, aber das Lied und die Verständlichkeit sind klasse.

[juliog16]

the most beautiful bass voice of all time. such a clean, burnished sound!

[minnie888444]

Thanks for posting this important document. Weak low notes, but considering the difficulty of this aria, one should be tolerant. The conducting is a little brutal, sounds like Die Zauberflote with Fritz Wunderlich and Dietrich Fischer Dieskau.

1980 and they were already messing with the stage direction: empty stage, singers dressed poorly, "symbolic" hanging nooses, performers running on stage. The beginning of today's decadence.

[Classicfan67]

Martti is one of my favorite operatic basses, it's too bad the attempted low D is laughable. It just shows that he was human and everyone has their rough moments. His appearence was awesome! VIVA TALVELA!!!

[tahileki]

When a maestro makes occasional intonation errors, it only enhances the humanity and charm of their work (imo)! And cool-headedness doesn't always make for great performances.

[hugodraslik]

Well, Talvela had an ENORMOUS profondo voice, but he couldn´t control it enough. That is why he is sharp on this low D and why he is flat on his low F in Sparafucile duet. The best Hungarian bass, Mihály Székely, had very similar powerful voice with a similar timbre, but there is a big difference in the control and "cool-headedness".

[LifeJuice90]

Talvela looks very scary. I would not mess with him. He actually reminds me of Bluto from Popeye.

[Hjadlowker]

As a matter of fact, he had been a semi-professional boxer and was 6 ft 8! (The tallest singer i know of) I sure wouldn't have messed with him either!

[LifeJuice90]

I can only imagine his large frame climbing over the ropes and making a large man look like a child. I would be praying for the other guy's survival.

[tahileki]

Rofl, LifeJuice - Bluto??! No way!! Well, except that he is playing the stooge here! And Hjadlowker's right, he was heavyweight boxing champion of Finland before his singing career.

Btw: He does 'cute' just great, as well as 'scary' ... see the whole DVD, it's a gem!

[tahileki]

...but LJ, which other singers would you choose on your Dream Team for 'Popeye - The Opera' ?? Been smiling at the surreal idea you gave me! Now, if only I was a composer....

[tahileki]

@LifeJuice90 Apparently, once an opponent took one look at him and gave up before the match even started! MT boxed as a college student and was so good he could have taken it up professionally. But he gave it up in favour of singing (hooray!!) - and because he had such a dreadful headache after one training bout that he decided he never wanted to make anyone else suffer like that.

[liric01994]

Talvela a mio avviso é il miglir Osmino.

[tahileki]

Hey, fedeymini, that's my hero you're criticising there!!! He's doing a great job of characterising grumpy Osmin!

And hugodraslik - there's no way in the world, galaxy or universe that Martti's voice could be described as 'high'!! ;)

[fedeymini]

pay attention between 1:43- 1:48. it sounds like he gagged on his own spit.

[GSUPanther2001]

Masterful performance. As I would expect from one as legendary as Talvela. One thing though. Did he go a bit sharp on the low D, or are my ears playing tricks? Or maybe he purposely did so, for ornamentation's sake?

[madderbass]

I heard that too. I've heard a couple of basses in the past who have sang this aria go sharp on the low D, probably because it's really hard to hit and keep audible. Talvela does a great job with this, but I would have to say my favorite performance of this aria would have to be Kurt Moll doing it... so far. I have yet to discover more.

[Sieglinde84]

Talvela is great. Still if you want to hear that low D perfectly, check Mihály Székely (in realted videos). He had (fortunately) a whole recording of this with Klemperer, too.

[Chrvinsk]

'Oh,' not 'Ha,'

Great Aria and peformance anyway :-) !

[rainking61]

Jesus.

[Albericco]

In 1989 Kal Bohm was dead (Talvela died in june). Probably is a 1980 recording.

[baritonoguapo]

You're absolutely right. Thanks for the catch.

[mozart200657]

@Albericco Karl Böhm died at 87, in Salzburg, August 1981. The present recording is dated 1974

[tahileki]

@mozart200657 Really it's from 1980.

[latraviata69]

@Albericco Its from 1978 live broadcast. Gruberova substituted the ill Popp as Constanze

[latraviata69]

@Albericco Its from 1980 live broadcast. Gruberova substituted the ill Popp as Constanze

[titaruffo2]

Please : where? singers?orchestra?conductor?

Thanks

[baritonoguapo]

Bayerische Staatsoper, Karl Böhm conducting. 1989.