That will depends a bit on what you mean by 'compare'. I apologize for assuming the worst if you really didn't mean to commit the usual opera-fans antic of using one diva to put down the others they don't like.
Imagine other people keep coming to post on clips of your favorite singers that others should listen to another singer instead (the implication being that she's better than the one shown). You're better off just stating opinion about a singer just on her own merits/flaws.
I can understand how some people can not like her singing of Baroque. What I don't understand is this need to say that others who actually like it should compare it to other artists' way of singing (as if there is only one way of singing the music 'right') so that they may 'see the light' that Kasarova doesn't sing it as well as the others do. She is no superhuman, but she is unique. That she doesn't sing/sound like the others is precisely what her fans enjoy about her. It's art, not competition
i like her when she brings her A game. i feel like this isnt her best, but she is very unique and brings alot of energy to music that can be made very very lifeless.
To goopera: wow, that sounds great, I am a fan of Prina as well...do you know if they may have videotaped that? I only ask because I know that Munich videotapes their Handel/Alden productions a lot, and I would love to get a dvd of Kasarova as Ariodante someday...
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
why do Italians write in their language on youtube world website? dont they learn fuckin english at school? travel you idiots! the world has grown a lot since Michelangelo!
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
poverina!! ha perso tutta la bellezza della voce a furia di ingolare i suoni! non si capisce una nota...perchè staccare un tempo così veloce se non è più intelligibile la musica? chi è al servizio di chi?? il cantante non dovrebbe stravolgere un brano per fare un numero da circo, e poi con un risultato talmente penoso! poverina!
What a fun cute production!!! I'm guessing it's very singer-friendly as they don't really have to move much and act with torso and up! It sounds to me that her top notes now sound more effortful than, say, when she sang Orphee, where she nailed a high C.
Er.. is there a high C for Orphée? Perhaps you're thinking about Rosemary Joshua's Eurydice?
I wouldn't speculate about why Maestro Bicket 'didn't correct' her ornamentation, tho. Especially at this breakneck tempo he's imposed on her. Kasarova is a big star in Europe, but she is hardly a sacred monster who can dictate things to the conductor.
Her voice is more centered toward the bottom indeed.. which is why she doesn't sing the high Bellini roles anymore (and Idamante is probably out too). :o)
And yep, it's her uniqueness that endears her to me and other fans... who wouldn't care for her to start sounding like every other mezzo just to please a few critics. The late Lorraine Hunt was beloved for the same reason, I think.
Yes,"Amour, viens rendre" has a high C in the cadenza (by Pauline Viardot). I'd be disappointed by Harry Bicket if he found those ornaments completely acceptable. Her top notes tend to shriek (e.g., all the B naturals in the Rossini numbers). She has such unique mannerisms, and it obviously works for her (and many admirers including myself) while some voice teachers might cringe. She's a super diva all right; the number of times she canceled for her Met debut really says something.
Considering that this is a 'live' performance, I really doubt that Bicket could have 'corrected' her even if he wanted to. And at this tempo, I wonder how many singer wouldn't have a hard time just keeping up.
Kasarova canceled her Met debut 3 times due to illness (she seems prone to the cold during the winter). Never heard any rumor about the 'alternative reasons' and wouldn't start one myself.
Also, we're no longer in the early to mid-20th century. Singers aren't untouchable gods and goddesses nowadays.
I wouldn't call her B's 'shriek' either (for an admirer, you sure find lots of problems with her). She's a deep mezzo with top extension, so her high notes are loud by necessity (tho that doesn't stop some folks from accusing her of being a soprano pretending to be a mezzo).
I said I was an admirer, not a fanatic who listens without criticism busy defending any obvious faults. One man's (and many others') shriek is another man's "powerful, gleaming top"!
Don't me wrong, I'd still count this the best version of this aria, well, neck-and-neck with Lorrain Hunt's, but really, her mannerisms (or what others may eveb consider "bad vocal technique") are so evident. Btw, I thank you for posting this clip; I just realized you did. Is this available on DVD? I'd buy it.
This is not yet commercially available but may be so soon since it was broadcast last year.
Smorg...still looking for a fanatic who listens w/o criticism while defending her obvious faults. Who here says she has a seamless voice or traditional techniques? Admirers admire the artist's virtues...and probably would have problems when someone drop in to say she sounds like a whale's vomit.
I'll say this, performance tempo is set by the conductor and not the singer. Fisher left Horne in the dust at various points on her '98 Rinaldo CD. Could he have "corrected" her flubs in live performance? Could Bicket? Would that even be reasonable considering the tempo they set? Kasarova is as agile as they come and she has a time just keeping up at this rate. Criticism is good ....as long as they are constructive.
Think you meant the '89 Rinaldo. Yeah, Horne got left behind a few times there by the orchestra. I never heard of Kasarova until a few months ago... so I doubt that she's a sacred monster either. Wonder how well she'd sing it at slower pace (she does great in Parto, parto with Harnoncourt's tempo!).
Sounds like a whale vomitting: imprecise rhythm, blemishes in the coloratura, gratuitous glottal, etc. Very unusual for her but hardly surprising. What did Kasarova expect to happen with her forced technique? This is my favourite piece of music in existence, so this video is truly repulsive to me. Susan Graham and Anne Sofie von Otter are the real Ariodante's.
I guess all the major opera houses fighting to get her to sing Ariodante at their theater and the public buying up all the ticket to hear her are a bunch of fools without ears? Forced technique? She's going on her 20th year of being a highly in demand A-list opera singer.. I suspect you are more successful as a singer?
Honestly, do you really think you're scoring for Graham or Von Otter with a comment like this?
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Far be it from me to discredit those who pay good money to hear her. However, if such persons should think that they are encouraging an informed and skillful rendition of a baroque masterpiece, then they are seriously mistaken.
Do apply what you say to yourself. Just because you use the original Ariodante as your screen-name doesn't make your own personal preference of how baroque singing should sound like the universal standard others must comply with.
Graham and Von Otter are wonderful singers in their own right... Though they aren't my favorites. You don't see Kasarova fans going around bashing clips of them singing while saying Kasarova is the 'real' this and that.
If you think you know better than everyone else how this is to be sung (never mind that no audio recording from the Baroque period exist, and the improvisations aren't on the score either), then by all means sing it and post a clip. If I have to choose between what well trained musicians like Kasarova and Bicket (who is a Baroque specialist) think and what a castrato-wannabe think about Handel's music, I'll choose the Kasarova and the Bicket. Every time.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Repeatedly, you mistake me for having suggested that I personally have the greatest of expertise in performing Ariodante, a pretension which I do not believe that I have made. Rather, I have expressed a valid preference for the more scholarly work of S Graham and of A S von Otter in this repertoire.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
I base my said preference (and my earlier critique of Kasarova), in my studying, albeit a humble amount, of the academic dissertation done on Baroque performance. Although that does not make me an expert, it does lead me to the understanding that Kasarova's voice is not the appropriate medium for this music.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
As for Bicket, he has a habit of employing people in Baroque music who ought not be employed as such (I'm sure you will recall the Renee Flemming CD). While Kasarova is not nearly as objectionable as Flemming (and in some Handel roles, the former demonstrates some formidable qualities), in this, she appears as another bel cantist wannabe-ing her way into this Baroque treasure.
"this video is truly repulsive to me. Susan Graham and Anne Sofie von Otter are the real Ariodante's."
Hmmm... I'm afraid I didn't mistake anything you said or implied but refuse to stand behind when called on.
But then one wouldn't mistake a 15 yrs old who thinks he knows best exactly what is "appropriate" for this music for the great Carestini either... never mind legends to be like Kasarova or celebrated conductors like Bicket... Or even great singers like Graham or Von Otter.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Yeah, her da capo ornaments were quite poor, I think. Harry Bicket probably didn't wanna "correct" a superstar diva. Maybe that's why he gets to work with all those superstars. Bicket doesn't hire them; he gets hired by them!
I love this aria too! It's totally overshadowed by Dopo notte and Scherza infida; it deserves equal fame. I do think Kasarova has a "different" technique with very aggressive coloratura, which I actually find quite thrilling. She's certainly "instantly recognizable", isn't she?
As for a great Ariodante, my favorite is Lorraine Hunt. I think Susan Graham "cheated" on that initial long semiquaver passage, but she certainly made up with Scherza infida.
Will try in a few weeks, matie. My video ripper is acting strange at the moment. It's a great show indeed. Might be commercial released in a year or two, since they broadcast it. ;o)
Have you check out the other aria at the Liceu's website yet? It's great!
Thank you so much for posting this...have been waiting so long for a few new additions to the kasarova repertoire on youtube...this is awesome...find the puppetting so fitting! and what an aria!well done ms Kasarova!
You're welcome.:o) I hope this performance becomes available via DVD soon. What a heroic Ariodante she is, ay? I've only heard other singers done it at a slower tempo. The pace here is almost inhumane I don't know how she still manages to accent it while filing off all the notes. :o)
Thanks for the compliment, Smorgy! And thanks for uploading this! I tried a couple of times, but didn't success... This was recorded on May 26, 2006 and broadcast by the National Catalan TV on July 27, 2006.
By the way, there's also a video of "Dopo Notte" at liceubarcelona dot com. Enjoy!
You're welcome, and thanks again very much, Pinxo! ;o) I'm jealous of you and Philopera and Suspa now for getting to experience this thing live! Gotta go update the info now. Grazi! :o)
Hey Suspa! I got it from a wonderful fellow Kasarova-fan in Spain. It is definitely coming your way soon. ;o) I really like the marionette theater look of the staging, though it gets a bit too static at times. But you know Frau Kasarova, she's always engaging! :o)
im not a fan of modern productions but i kinda like this puppet idea
moghedien13 2 years ago
Gosh! She doesn't hit the high notes, I don't know why because I know she has those notes. It's not so good this performance. Anyway I like it.
JEANHIKER 2 years ago
Though there might be different opinion on how she approaches the tone, nevertheless she is a great star for Baroque music!
Tigermuc 2 years ago 3
That will depends a bit on what you mean by 'compare'. I apologize for assuming the worst if you really didn't mean to commit the usual opera-fans antic of using one diva to put down the others they don't like.
Imagine other people keep coming to post on clips of your favorite singers that others should listen to another singer instead (the implication being that she's better than the one shown). You're better off just stating opinion about a singer just on her own merits/flaws.
SDCmorg 3 years ago
I can understand how some people can not like her singing of Baroque. What I don't understand is this need to say that others who actually like it should compare it to other artists' way of singing (as if there is only one way of singing the music 'right') so that they may 'see the light' that Kasarova doesn't sing it as well as the others do. She is no superhuman, but she is unique. That she doesn't sing/sound like the others is precisely what her fans enjoy about her. It's art, not competition
SDCmorg 3 years ago
i like her when she brings her A game. i feel like this isnt her best, but she is very unique and brings alot of energy to music that can be made very very lifeless.
moghedien13 2 years ago
who the hell cares about the "Bayerische Staatsoper" ... she´s great any place - ex Balletmaster prof.christiaan danhoff arad.
ptfauen 3 years ago 2
To goopera: wow, that sounds great, I am a fan of Prina as well...do you know if they may have videotaped that? I only ask because I know that Munich videotapes their Handel/Alden productions a lot, and I would love to get a dvd of Kasarova as Ariodante someday...
hoping, hoping...
evangeline135 3 years ago
was she in that Alden production with chairs all over the place? who sang with her?
evangeline135 3 years ago
sorry, this was a reply to the person who saw her in Munich in this role...youtube never puts comments where i put them...never mind...
evangeline135 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
why do Italians write in their language on youtube world website? dont they learn fuckin english at school? travel you idiots! the world has grown a lot since Michelangelo!
pianofolle 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
poverina!! ha perso tutta la bellezza della voce a furia di ingolare i suoni! non si capisce una nota...perchè staccare un tempo così veloce se non è più intelligibile la musica? chi è al servizio di chi?? il cantante non dovrebbe stravolgere un brano per fare un numero da circo, e poi con un risultato talmente penoso! poverina!
russermollesca 4 years ago
The really positive thing in Munich is that Polinesso is now sung by Sonia Prina and not any more by this horrible countertenor!
Gudrun74 4 years ago 4
What a fun cute production!!! I'm guessing it's very singer-friendly as they don't really have to move much and act with torso and up! It sounds to me that her top notes now sound more effortful than, say, when she sang Orphee, where she nailed a high C.
vitellia 4 years ago
Er.. is there a high C for Orphée? Perhaps you're thinking about Rosemary Joshua's Eurydice?
I wouldn't speculate about why Maestro Bicket 'didn't correct' her ornamentation, tho. Especially at this breakneck tempo he's imposed on her. Kasarova is a big star in Europe, but she is hardly a sacred monster who can dictate things to the conductor.
SDCmorg 4 years ago
Her voice is more centered toward the bottom indeed.. which is why she doesn't sing the high Bellini roles anymore (and Idamante is probably out too). :o)
And yep, it's her uniqueness that endears her to me and other fans... who wouldn't care for her to start sounding like every other mezzo just to please a few critics. The late Lorraine Hunt was beloved for the same reason, I think.
SDCmorg 4 years ago
Yes,"Amour, viens rendre" has a high C in the cadenza (by Pauline Viardot). I'd be disappointed by Harry Bicket if he found those ornaments completely acceptable. Her top notes tend to shriek (e.g., all the B naturals in the Rossini numbers). She has such unique mannerisms, and it obviously works for her (and many admirers including myself) while some voice teachers might cringe. She's a super diva all right; the number of times she canceled for her Met debut really says something.
vitellia 4 years ago
Considering that this is a 'live' performance, I really doubt that Bicket could have 'corrected' her even if he wanted to. And at this tempo, I wonder how many singer wouldn't have a hard time just keeping up.
Kasarova canceled her Met debut 3 times due to illness (she seems prone to the cold during the winter). Never heard any rumor about the 'alternative reasons' and wouldn't start one myself.
SDCmorg 4 years ago
Also, we're no longer in the early to mid-20th century. Singers aren't untouchable gods and goddesses nowadays.
I wouldn't call her B's 'shriek' either (for an admirer, you sure find lots of problems with her). She's a deep mezzo with top extension, so her high notes are loud by necessity (tho that doesn't stop some folks from accusing her of being a soprano pretending to be a mezzo).
SDCmorg 4 years ago
I said I was an admirer, not a fanatic who listens without criticism busy defending any obvious faults. One man's (and many others') shriek is another man's "powerful, gleaming top"!
Don't me wrong, I'd still count this the best version of this aria, well, neck-and-neck with Lorrain Hunt's, but really, her mannerisms (or what others may eveb consider "bad vocal technique") are so evident. Btw, I thank you for posting this clip; I just realized you did. Is this available on DVD? I'd buy it.
vitellia 4 years ago
This is not yet commercially available but may be so soon since it was broadcast last year.
Smorg...still looking for a fanatic who listens w/o criticism while defending her obvious faults. Who here says she has a seamless voice or traditional techniques? Admirers admire the artist's virtues...and probably would have problems when someone drop in to say she sounds like a whale's vomit.
SDCmorg 4 years ago
I'll say this, performance tempo is set by the conductor and not the singer. Fisher left Horne in the dust at various points on her '98 Rinaldo CD. Could he have "corrected" her flubs in live performance? Could Bicket? Would that even be reasonable considering the tempo they set? Kasarova is as agile as they come and she has a time just keeping up at this rate. Criticism is good ....as long as they are constructive.
SDCmorg 4 years ago
Think you meant the '89 Rinaldo. Yeah, Horne got left behind a few times there by the orchestra. I never heard of Kasarova until a few months ago... so I doubt that she's a sacred monster either. Wonder how well she'd sing it at slower pace (she does great in Parto, parto with Harnoncourt's tempo!).
MBWoland 4 years ago 2
Sounds like a whale vomitting: imprecise rhythm, blemishes in the coloratura, gratuitous glottal, etc. Very unusual for her but hardly surprising. What did Kasarova expect to happen with her forced technique? This is my favourite piece of music in existence, so this video is truly repulsive to me. Susan Graham and Anne Sofie von Otter are the real Ariodante's.
GiovanniCarestini 4 years ago
I guess all the major opera houses fighting to get her to sing Ariodante at their theater and the public buying up all the ticket to hear her are a bunch of fools without ears? Forced technique? She's going on her 20th year of being a highly in demand A-list opera singer.. I suspect you are more successful as a singer?
Honestly, do you really think you're scoring for Graham or Von Otter with a comment like this?
SDCmorg 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Far be it from me to discredit those who pay good money to hear her. However, if such persons should think that they are encouraging an informed and skillful rendition of a baroque masterpiece, then they are seriously mistaken.
GiovanniCarestini 4 years ago
Do apply what you say to yourself. Just because you use the original Ariodante as your screen-name doesn't make your own personal preference of how baroque singing should sound like the universal standard others must comply with.
Graham and Von Otter are wonderful singers in their own right... Though they aren't my favorites. You don't see Kasarova fans going around bashing clips of them singing while saying Kasarova is the 'real' this and that.
SDCmorg 4 years ago
If you think you know better than everyone else how this is to be sung (never mind that no audio recording from the Baroque period exist, and the improvisations aren't on the score either), then by all means sing it and post a clip. If I have to choose between what well trained musicians like Kasarova and Bicket (who is a Baroque specialist) think and what a castrato-wannabe think about Handel's music, I'll choose the Kasarova and the Bicket. Every time.
SDCmorg 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Repeatedly, you mistake me for having suggested that I personally have the greatest of expertise in performing Ariodante, a pretension which I do not believe that I have made. Rather, I have expressed a valid preference for the more scholarly work of S Graham and of A S von Otter in this repertoire.
GiovanniCarestini 4 years ago
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I base my said preference (and my earlier critique of Kasarova), in my studying, albeit a humble amount, of the academic dissertation done on Baroque performance. Although that does not make me an expert, it does lead me to the understanding that Kasarova's voice is not the appropriate medium for this music.
GiovanniCarestini 4 years ago
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As for Bicket, he has a habit of employing people in Baroque music who ought not be employed as such (I'm sure you will recall the Renee Flemming CD). While Kasarova is not nearly as objectionable as Flemming (and in some Handel roles, the former demonstrates some formidable qualities), in this, she appears as another bel cantist wannabe-ing her way into this Baroque treasure.
GiovanniCarestini 4 years ago
"this video is truly repulsive to me. Susan Graham and Anne Sofie von Otter are the real Ariodante's."
Hmmm... I'm afraid I didn't mistake anything you said or implied but refuse to stand behind when called on.
But then one wouldn't mistake a 15 yrs old who thinks he knows best exactly what is "appropriate" for this music for the great Carestini either... never mind legends to be like Kasarova or celebrated conductors like Bicket... Or even great singers like Graham or Von Otter.
SDCmorg 4 years ago
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Yeah, her da capo ornaments were quite poor, I think. Harry Bicket probably didn't wanna "correct" a superstar diva. Maybe that's why he gets to work with all those superstars. Bicket doesn't hire them; he gets hired by them!
vitellia 4 years ago
I love this aria too! It's totally overshadowed by Dopo notte and Scherza infida; it deserves equal fame. I do think Kasarova has a "different" technique with very aggressive coloratura, which I actually find quite thrilling. She's certainly "instantly recognizable", isn't she?
As for a great Ariodante, my favorite is Lorraine Hunt. I think Susan Graham "cheated" on that initial long semiquaver passage, but she certainly made up with Scherza infida.
vitellia 4 years ago
mmm... i don't like her very much in Ariodante...
is better Sara Mingardo or Anne Sofie von Otter...
Asterionu 4 years ago
I would give anything to see this whole production!!! Please, can you post more? PLEASE????
evangeline135 4 years ago
Will try in a few weeks, matie. My video ripper is acting strange at the moment. It's a great show indeed. Might be commercial released in a year or two, since they broadcast it. ;o)
Have you check out the other aria at the Liceu's website yet? It's great!
SDCmorg 4 years ago
yes, I watched the Liceu's video, and it was amazing also. I love everything about it :)
evangeline135 4 years ago
Sorry, but this is too blustery for my taste. I vote for Susan Graham!
ariodante76 4 years ago
Thank you so much for posting this...have been waiting so long for a few new additions to the kasarova repertoire on youtube...this is awesome...find the puppetting so fitting! and what an aria!well done ms Kasarova!
sajolene 4 years ago 6
You're welcome.:o) I hope this performance becomes available via DVD soon. What a heroic Ariodante she is, ay? I've only heard other singers done it at a slower tempo. The pace here is almost inhumane I don't know how she still manages to accent it while filing off all the notes. :o)
SDCmorg 4 years ago
Thanks for the compliment, Smorgy! And thanks for uploading this! I tried a couple of times, but didn't success... This was recorded on May 26, 2006 and broadcast by the National Catalan TV on July 27, 2006.
By the way, there's also a video of "Dopo Notte" at liceubarcelona dot com. Enjoy!
pinxo74 4 years ago 6
You're welcome, and thanks again very much, Pinxo! ;o) I'm jealous of you and Philopera and Suspa now for getting to experience this thing live! Gotta go update the info now. Grazi! :o)
SDCmorg 4 years ago
I was there in BCN ; she was great but the voice a little tired
philopera 4 years ago 6
That's so scary lol
operamusicfan 4 years ago
Hey smorg where did you get this! Great!!!
suspa64 4 years ago 6
Hey Suspa! I got it from a wonderful fellow Kasarova-fan in Spain. It is definitely coming your way soon. ;o) I really like the marionette theater look of the staging, though it gets a bit too static at times. But you know Frau Kasarova, she's always engaging! :o)
SDCmorg 4 years ago