Birgit Nilsson & Richard Tucker- Teco io sto (live MET, 1963)

[Dymension]

Bravi!

[poolification]

Why would anyone design an opera house where you can't have a full repertoire of singers? Didn't anyone ask themselves why opera houses in Europe were built up to a certain size?

[sprinter848]

spectacular !

[SHICOFF1]

Many singers starting several years ago where amplified at many big houses to make up for lack of voice power. This is an outrage! If they cannot fill a big house and are eclipsed by the orchestra and other singers even when they tone it down then they don't belong in opera period. Singers who where small voiced like Bocelli should have been amplified in Detroit but he wasn't so he was barely heard in the back of the house. JB Sang Radames in The big ChgoHouse but was not stentorian enough

[SHICOFF1]

Corelli never ever attempted to sing the role but we have the duet. So many lyric's did like Bjorling, Bergonzi, Gigli and in 1946 when his voice was lighter Del Monaco did it and very well. Tagliavini recorded it complete. Great role for tenor's and in 1973 Tucker did it again, a brdcst with Cruiz Romo and a very good high C . Back in 1955 he sang it with Zinka. In 1970 he sang the duet with Arroyo in concert and many others, SF and it was taped in house on cassette and is on you tube.

[SHICOFF1]

That Nilsson. Jose C. Tosca in 1974 included a very young Sam Ramey!!! Sills was supposed to sing (not tosca) but had to have an operation so they came up with this Tosca with Jose and Nilsson !! Wow it was great and she lay on her back and sang Vissi! He sounded somewhat like a young Di Stefano and was a great favorite of us all at that time.

[SHICOFF1]

In 1974 I heard Tosca with Nilsson and Jose C. in Los Angeles and Jose was able to be heard with her and she did not up stage him or try to drown him out. This was a great performance for both of them and an unusual pairing of a young lyric and an older dramatic soprano. If the tenor had point he could be heard but today they would just amplify the singer not like back then.

[SHICOFF1]

@CotaDangelo yes I agree with you completely. I heard Tucker from 1961 till actually 3 mos before he died on Jan. 8th 1975 and it was a big rich Spinto tenor. I cannot compare him to Pav. or Bjorling as they had basic lyric or lyric spinto voices like Bergonzi and Gigli. I compare him to Corelli or Domingo. Personal insults that some people throw on line at each other are a waste of time. When they insult they lose the argument quickly. I also heard Bjorling Bergonzi, Del Monaco and Corelli

[dapheneo]

Il existe un live Tucker/Crespin sublime du Met 65.

Un Crespin/Bergonzi Met 62 existe aussi

Il y a aussi Corelli/Crespin Met 66 incroyable sur you tube

Je n'aime pas trop Nilsson dans les roles italiens : trop froide.

[SHICOFF1]

I have the house tape of this I taped in 1963 and the applause went on for several minutes that you don't here here as it would run out of time! The screaming and yelling and Bravo shouts went on for a long time after this duet ended. In house they must have shook the building!

[SHICOFF1]

@ali1082 Yes I heard him many times in the opera house and it was even bigger with more ring than you hear in his recordings. It was very exciting. His top was so powerful that no soprano could ever drown him out . I knew him besides and he was a gentleman and kind to his fans. RIP Tucker

[ali1082]

King TUCKER! I love his big high notes! Thumbs up if

you like Tucker's voice and especially his high notes, so

much beauty

[CotaDangelo]

@ali1082 Who can dislike such a singer, and such a voice. Everybody who heard Tucker alive at Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires, a huge theater, say the same: they were very impressed with his voice, and with his artistry, specially when he sang the Duca di Mantua of Rigoletto. He played that role in an excellent way. I asked why they were impressed with his voice, and everybody agree that he has an extremely ringing voice, accompanied with a gentle emission. He is one of the best, for sure!

[ThePavafan]

BIGNESS OF THE VOICE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH LOUDNESS.Pavarotti had a medium voice which althow smaller was louder than Nilsson's and Corelli's voice,and i have heard them all at the MET. Pavarotti was as loud as Tucker.

[gaytenor]

@ThePavafan: Who are you kidding! Its fine to like Pavarotti he had a great lyric tenor voice but big it never was! You should read the review of La Gioconda on Decca written by Conrad L. Osborne back in the day. The Pavarotti voice was not big really and his Radames at the Met was a fiasco!

[Dymension]

@gaytenor I heard Pavarotti at the Met in 1997 with Deborah Voigt. I thought it was quite fine, though I don't know if it was miked. He did lose some steam by the end of the opera, but then he was over 60 at the time....

[ThePavafan]

He manages to be heard? Tucker's voice was FAR bigger than Nilsson's.In fact when i heard them both at the met tucker drowned her.But BIGNESS has nothing to do with LOUDNESS.Nilsson was loud as much as Corelli but Tucker was louder than them.One interesting thing is that Pavarotti's technique made him as loud as Tucker.pavarotti has a medium voice but because of his technique he drowned Ghena Dimitrova on every note in Vienna 1985.I was there.And Ghena Dimitrova is a bit louder than Nilsson.

[SHICOFF1]

How many tenors could hold their own with her on high C? I heard her with Jose C. in 74 Tosca in Los Angeles and she was very kind to him with his medium size voice and did not up stage him with power in the duets but here she opens up with powerful Tucker, who was 49 then and on the high C and he manages to be heard very well. She may not have been the warmest but she was terrific and in Aida in 1965 also with tucker on the met Brdcst. and live with Corelli also as Calaf . Never live with JB

[SHICOFF1]

@ShawDamon Odd but the high C he sang 10 years later with Cruiz Romo was better than this one and he was 59 but they are all human, different day, also he sang the C in his Boheme with Moffo recording in Che Gelida, 1961 and a good one and the Farrell duets in te duet rec. in the 50's. His last park concert Calaf just 6 mos before he died a very good high C and all his Calaf's at the met in 1961, always sang the C's and interpolated C 66' Aida Brdcst was terrific and brought the house down.

[moghedien13]

I forgot to add that she puts in some lovely piano singing that sounds so fresh at 7:15 till about 7:28.

[jmccracken1963]

@halavey Your comments are right on target!!! Just one little correction: the TURANDOT with Ross (and Norden, Macurdy, and Boucher, too, with Martin Rich conducting) is from a 1974 park concert, not 1973 (and it was the only TURANDOT parks concert that summer, too; the other parks concerts in 1974 were of LA BOHEME, with Barry Morell as Rodolfo).

[TheVerdiBaritone]

The more I listen to Nilsson in Italian opera the more I like her. Likewise, the more I prefer her to other sopranos.

[AlberichNibelungo]

¡Vaya jaleo que se hizo Tucker con su particella en el pasaje de "M'ami, m'ami. O sia distrutto...!" ¿Alguien sabe qué dice luego?

[mazzone1]

She was too cold for Italian roles, and his voice came too much from the back of the throat, not a lovely Italian legato.

[moghedien13]

@mazzone1 she not my fave for italian roles either. in fact i always find her to be unvaried an aside from being a vocal phenom and a great wagnerian (again from the vocal standpoint) she doesnt do much for me. still its nice to hear her sounding youthful here. and you simply cant deny those high notes.

[Zva26]

I consider Nilsson to be the Godzilla soprano of opera ----- the biggest, the most powerful, and the most searingly Nordic voice of the last century. She made Turandot sound like a child's play, and her Brunnhilde and Isolde have still not been approached to this day. Turandot of course, is a foregone conclusion. Birgit Nilsson was the grand empress of dramatic sopranos.

[TreblesBasses]

PERFECT DUO!!!!

[ShawDAMAN]

Superb, and Tucker did have a C, but you can tell why he rarely used it.. Nearly all the C's I've heard him sing were a bit shouted, especially on the release. Interesting cause he had a super solid B that never sounded strained that I've heard.