Renee Fleming - Eugene Onegin - Letter Scene (part 1)

[elliedwa]

I've never heard a non-Russian singer sing with good Russian pronunciation. BUT hers is the best I've heard. The biggest problem is that it's hard to sing soft consonants, I think. She gets the vowels pretty correct

[elliedwa]

I've never heard a non-Russian singer sing with good Russian pronunciation.

[adelajdasing]

LOVE IT!

[caliking100]

@adelajdasing

i know right

[mrantiquedealer]

yuch!

[azoressinger]

Beautiful!

[RusSoprano]

I think, Freni's russian is Much more better!!

But I like Rene Fleming though...

[JaRoWi1647]

@RusSoprano

M-me Freni is Italian and the Italian pronunciation is much more similar to the Russian, than the English one. So , M-me Flemiong´ s Russian is really decent!

[alexpjp]

@JaRoWi1647 it really isn't decent! Great singing, but the pronunciation is painfully wrong.

[JaRoWi1647]

@alexpjp

I´m very sorry, Russiam is my mother - language! )))

[alexpjp]

@JaRoWi1647 Mine also! :P

And Renée Flemming's Russian pronunciation really is VERY bad. Razve ne tak? 

[JaRoWi1647]

@alexpjp

But her singing is wonderful. It´s enough.)))

[pouchkinepouchkine]

I'm a Russian and in my opinion Renee is the BEST Tatiana. So spontaneous, live interpretation, and in the same time classic opera canons are respected. THE BEST! N1!

[BelCantoV]

By the way her Russian is good. Some words I didn't understand, even I know this poem very well; but the Russian vowels are very hard to sing. She did a good job with that!

[emeboteerf]

@BelCantoV If I recall correctly, she mentioned in her book that she sang this in Russia for a big diplomatic event, so she made sure the diction was as perfect as possible -- not that she wouldn't normally, but the pressure was on.

[werkis2]

@BelCantoV Yup agree russian words some of them so hard to sing out :)

[karljeff14]

i to think flemming's voice is georgeous, but some of the sections are a bit rushed,especially tatiana's last few notes. i also have leontyn price's performance.i believe it was with fritz reiner,chicago symphony. her performance is breathtakingly beautiful. in fact ms.price's performance in that recording was the first one i ever heard of this incredible aria.

[cacciato66]

Fleming's voice is extraordinary, however, i have an old vinyl of Leontyne Price singing this that is Superb ... the richness of Price's voice makes me shiver!

[JeeRant]

Gaaah why are the subtitles in FRENCH??

[csupor]

Because Arte is a French-German cultural television channel.

[alvarito45]

Ningún cantante puede hablar perfectamente la lengua de cada ópera si no es la suya. Claro!, en A street car named Desire (Previn, Williams) Renee va perfecta: OBVIO!! es su idioma. Pero aquí cuenta mas que todo la música, su voz, su timbre...y estos son perfectos. Bravo renee!!. Imagínense a cualquier cantante fuera de su lengua: todos son deficientes, por ejemplo Domingo en Wagner, Villazón en Bizet, Alvarez en Donizzetti, y la lista no acabará. Pero valen sus voces.

[Politeama]

Tiene razón, auqneu hay operas que son una prueba de fuego cuando no se domina el idioma o la gracia expresiva de ese idioma, eso sucede principalmente con algunas operas españolas como LA VIDA BREVE que la vi recientemente y fue peor que una tortura china, pues la cantante no poseía ni el ritmo, la gracia ni la expresividad del idioma español y para mi fue una experiencia nada agradable. Hay idiomas que son menos exigentes en este aspecto, uno de ellos es el francés.

[CONTESTAR]

I cannot judge Renee's russian but I know a committed performance when I see one.

Though I can boast fluency in some languages, I would even dare say that I don't particularly prefer native speakers in any opera, as the most stunning diction most often came from people singing what was not their mother tongue! Callas, Bjoerling, Kiri to name a few. I wont mention legendary singers messing up their own language because I adore some of them and I don't want to be misunderstood.

[cantanteporsiempre]

her russian is odd!!!, and I don´t feel the happiness, sorry fleming, don´t like this version

[stoby4]

she is not supposed to be or play happiness..., in the very scene before she sais (sings) to the nurse that she is totally sad. and suddenly happy again.

I think she does it brilliant.., this confusion of feelings

[DrRobbieG]

I agree stoby4. She is overwhelmed with romantic feelings that she didn't anticipate. As she writes about her passion, she laments, asking "why the hell am I writing such a bluntly honest letter to this guy!?", or, to quote the libretto: "I have not the strength to subdue my heart...I should never have known you, nor should I have known this torment." I don't doubt that you don't "feel the happiness", since she's a scared country girl who fears she's fallen hopelessly in love with a playboy.

[CharlotteinWeimar]

Oda Slobodskaya, the great Russian Soprano, who sang Tatiana only a generation or so after it was written, can now be heard here in the most lovely, spirited and authentic of recordings. If you love this opera and this aria do take a look.

[Lohengrin]

yeah sure... We will be searching this aria with nobodies, when we have a Vocal Miracle-Renee singing it? no thank you... I ll stick with No1s... you can go and find this with every little nobody molesting it ;)

[CharlotteinWeimar]

Oda Slobodsskaya is a very great singer who was chosen by Chaliapin to be principal Soprano in his own Company when he toured western europe in the 1920s.

[Reinaldo146]

Did anybody in this audience see on TV the St. Petersburgh 300th Anniversary Gala where Fleming sang this aria in front of many world heads of state, at the Mariinsky (ex-Kirov)?

It's like the earth swallowed it. No recordings to be found, no comments anywhere, yet, it was such a memorable evening for posterity. Go figure.

[paulostroff99]

Best I've heard since Oda Slobadskaya!

[trekkie2006]

Ha.. wonderful!! But why is Renee writing with her right hand?? She's left handed! you can tell that she's having trouble with it :) i guess she wanted to mix things up.. but wonderful, absolutely amazing performance!

[1laboheme]

I think that maybe with the staging they thought "They'll think to much about you being left-handed if you write with it" Who knows though? haha beautiful though so glad they broadcasted this

[trekkie2006]

haha, that's a nice idea. Too bad people who really follow Renee will know that she's left handed and will probably be like.. "woah?" lol

[ciociosan]

i know! didn't she write with her left hand in the earlier version with hvorostovsky?

[LindaLaCagnina]

Please let it come out in dvd!

[iAMturandot]

amen! if this doesnt come out on dvd i will be one depressed person!!! this was by far my favorite moviecast and i really hope they put all of them on video!!!

[hazelmsmith]

This better come out on a dvd soon or I'll be glued to youtube for the rest of my natural life. The HD presentation was spectacular.

[colaandcoke]

one of my lovliest arias. she´s perfect for.

[CHerbek]

Hamazing! As usual ;)

[vivaverdi]

Bravissima. Wonderful to re-see it after the HD movie presentation.

[rjw0886]

Thank u so much!!!