Leonard Warren - Vanne...credo un dio crudel - Otello - Verdi - LIVE!

[Fegen]

Renata Tebaldi was so right when she said of Leonard Warren, "...He was

truly stupendous." What a voice!

[legatofancier]

Warren's voice sounds better in recordings of live performances than in most of his commericial recordings. I've begun to wonder if this was because of the limited frequency range of the microphones used for the early monophonic recordings and dynamic compression in mastering them to analog records. That might account for some of the muffled quality of the sound on LP. In live recordings he sings differently, the voice being much more open and free. It makes for a fascinating comparison!

[redgrapeskins]

That was childsplay for Mr Warren-didn't even break a sweat here.

[draparks]

i love it when voice teacher geeks talk about bullshit like "thyroarytenoid" and "crycoarytenoid" that have no bearing on good technique or great artistry.... Leaonard Warren was simply a great great singer..powerful, stentorian, colorful, theatrical...Richard Miller is a gas bag surpassed only by Dale Moore..and Justino Diaz could not carry Warren's suitcase..please

[MrCafiero]

@draparks So you think it is bad for a voice teacher to know how the voice should function ideally?  And what exercises therefore to use to help a singer who has any given problem?

[ddevicente]

@MrCafiero I believe he is referring to practical knowledge vs. regurgitating textbooks. Nobody will argue your points, just the method of achievement. And Leonard Warren is indisputably great. Love that sound.

[operalament]

@MrCafiero You commented on regeistration w respect to Earnest Symmons who appears here on you tube. I still have difficulty understanding the concept. In the greatest singers it is difficult to detect any change in the production of the sound throughout the vocal range. one is hard pressed to find the point where Bjorling suddenly does something different in production. Earnest Symmons was my dad, he studied w Frank Laforge. There is a recording of him in his early 20s doing credo

[MrCafiero]

@operalament It can be hard to hear, but it is more about training the muscles involved in phonation which, in turn, make a better sound. So while men never really sing in falsetto, those muscles are still involved and should be strong. So we do exercises to strengthen them. That makes the full voice sound better.

[aspsingr]

I could be wrong but i think that laugh at the very very end starts on a high c. And its in full voice. Try laughing on a high c. NOT EASY!

[kimancuo]

I personally like best Justino Diaz' version. There is also a video out there of the full opera with him and Domingo. Outstanding!

[joepass87]

This aria demonstrates Warren's outstanding high voice but not his "falsetto register." All the singing in this recording is thyroarytenoid dominant (modal register), not cricothyroid dominant ("head voice").

[MrCafiero]

Who said he sang in falsetto or headvoice in this recording? Even when singing in full chest voice (TA dominant) the falsetto participation is there, especially when going higher in the range. Not the sound, but the muscular participation. And also the covering muscles.

[joepass87]

Sure. Participation but not dominance. Males only use modal dominant in Classical singing (that includes pianissimi and mezza voce) unless they're going for comic effect. Read Richard Miller or Donald Miller on this for more info.

[MrCafiero]

I don't need to read Miller for anything. He produced no great singers. The falsetto is DOMINANT in mezza voci and pianissimi. TA is less prominent in those. It is a scientific fact.

[MrCafiero]

And, actually, the pianissimi are absolutely *NOT* TA dominant. They are definitely falsetto dominant.

[Sieglinde84]

Evil aria + dark brass sounds = chills. (The only thing I sometimes wonder is how Iago would be even more scary if he was a bass. Deeper sounds more evil.)

Warren's voice is so beautiful. Pity he passed away so early.

Iago is definitely a great baddie, but he doesn't beat his bass colleagues. I myself find the Grand Inquisitor way more wicked.

[saintsaens21]

You should listen to bass Justino Diaz' version here on youtube, it's definitely more threatening.

[MrCafiero]

I have. It is very "threatening". LOL! Also George London, Carroli, and Ruffo!

[ShawDAMAN]

Was his 1960 Boccanegra broadcast or recorded in any way I wonder.......

[MrCafiero]

This is the 1954 recording with Del Monaco and Tebaldi.

[ShawDAMAN]

Yes, thank you, but what I meant was, was his 1960 "Boccanegra" (his last complete performance) broadcast, or recorded in any way?

[jmccracken1963]

I have never seen a copy of that performance, in whole or in part, available anywhere. I would say "probably not," particularly since Mary Curtis-Verna was singing Maria Boccanegra in place of the originally scheduled Renata Tebaldi (who could not make it in time for rehearsals because of the VERY heavy snow in New York that winter), and because the "tape-recorder set" was probably waiting for the broadcast on April 2, for which Warren WAS scheduled and with Zinka Milanov as Maria Boccanegra.

[ShawDAMAN]

Thanks for all that and yes that "jives" with what I've found. That all makes sense.

[stevevandien]

It's absurd how Warren dominates almost every baritone who has since performed this role. MacNeil is certainly in the same class. Maybe Merrill, Milnes, Chernov -- perhaps Cappucilli, though his top tones were less than ideal-- anybody else in the same zip code, or near it?

[MrCafiero]

I think MacNeil was the greatest after this together with Merrill. Milnes was more a lyric baritone as was Cappucilli. The question is, though, would anyone who is singing like this as a young singer be cultivated? Especially in the United States.

[mantiXcore]

I love this recording, and Leonard Warren certainly demonstrates an amazing ability with it, but in my opinion, no one comes close to Sergei Lieferkus in the role of Iago. I am a huge fan on Milnes, too, though.

[MrCafiero]

I have not heard of Lieferkus. I will check him out. I think MacNeil was pretty amazing as Iago as was Ruffo. And you cannot count out Merrill and London.:)

[stevevandien]

Haven't heard Leiferkus -- would love to do so, if you can provide some links:)__

[mantiXcore]

Strange, there aren't any videos on here of him playing Iago, except for his brief appearence at the very beginning. He's definitely worth checking out, though. He's my favorite Iago.

By the way, I misspelled it in my earlier post - it's "Leiferkus".

[jmccracken1963]

I am a bit surprised, in this discussion of great interpreters of Iago in the past, that NOBODY has mentioned three of the BEST of all time, in my humble estimation: Lawrence Tibbett, Tito Gobbi, and (in Toscanini's broadcast) Giuseppe Valdengo.  Each of these three, too, was OUTSTANDING in this role, as the recorded evidence testifies. So, too, were Warren, Merrill, Milnes, MacNeil, and Cappuccilli. And I'm also partial to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the role!!!

[mantiXcore]

Really? I would think Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's voice was too light to handle it. Don't get me wrong, I love his voice, but I never pictured him doing as heavy a role as Iago.

[MrCafiero]

Fischer-Dieskau was way too light for Iago. He was a light baritone, probably really a tenor.

[jmccracken1963]

Well, before you render FINAL judgment, listen to Sir John Baribirolli's EMI recording of OTELLO, in which Fischer-Dieskau does, indeed, sing Iago, with James McCracken, Gwyneth Jones, Anna Di Stasio, Piero De Palma, and Florindo Andreolli, among others. His voice may have been too light to sing Iago in the U.S., but he did well by the role in Europe, where the size and seating capacity of even the major houses is less than the Met or Lyric Opera or the War Memorial.

[MrCafiero]

Well, I cannot say that I like Fischer-Dieskau all that much anyway except in Lieder. His voice was too light for the orchestration that is written in Otello. Many people end up singing roles they shouldn't just due to fame. Like Pavarotti singing Aida.