Well, this is the best, most musically intelligent, clean performance of this I know. It displays the interpretive intelligence, and thoughtful training she got from working with Schwartzkopf. Before we show what spiritual lilliputians we are by throwing our pebbles at a giant that a boulder couldn't bring down, let's start by applying that aspect of criticism that is most important and, yet, most neglected: appreciation. And there is much good here to appreciate, & the good is very, very good.
bravissimi! fleming's performance here, as her performances of several operas of richard strauss(arabela, capriccio, rosenkavalier, etc.), are of a kind of modern women, dependent and has her own thoughts.
in addition, on the stage of the met, it's not just about music. here you see that each note is reflected by the two figures' action. so, they are also great actor and actress here.
btw: fleming's trill at the end and the 16th notes of the last 'pieta' are simply stunning.
For me, Fleming's voice isn't suited to Donna Anna. She's divine as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro and as Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, but Anna is a dramatic coloratura role or a dramatic-lyric role best suited to singers like Leontyne Price, Joan Sutherland, Edda Moser, Carol Vaness, Cheryl Struder & Anna Tomawa Sintow. In Fleming's defense, however, her Mozart in those days was better than anything she's recently sung!
Fleming brings to the role interesting ambiguities; was she attracted to her tormentor, while still portraying virtue. It is an extremely intelligent and ambiguous rendition of this role. And she no doubt overplays the role of the virtuous lady because things ' are not what they seem', as Hamlet would have put it. Her rendition brings to it all the contradictions of tempted or ravished virtue.
One has to go back to Casanova planning out DON GIOVANNI in Prague with Mozart and da Ponte. Donna Anna is Tirso de Molina's "virtue" foil to don Juan and Donna Elvira Moliere's "moralistic" foil to don Don Juan. Leontyne Price fully explained Tirso de Molina's original intent and, as, usual, plumbed the depths of the role. Fleming sings truly magnificently with that glorious voice and excellent technique but with her own "personalized concert" interpretation for modern audiencesl
Le style est très... personnel, un peu sirupeux, et la ligne de chant manque quelque peu de simplicité. Mais la technique est souveraine. Le timbre est magnifiquement mis en valeur, rien n'est forcé, tout est émis, même les aigus, avec une décontraction absolue. Mais le plus impressionnant, à mon sens, reste sa maîtrise du souffle. La reprise, à ce tempo pire que lent, sans respirer, est juste surhumaine. Une grande leçon de chant.
People are saying Fleming sounds self-indulgent in this performance. I do disagree, but then I also ask myself whether a little self-indulgence isn't really necessary. I mean, Don Ottavio just called her "crudele" because she didn't value his genuine feelings for her (of course, because she was in pain after her father's death). "Non mi dir" is an aria that calls for sentimental persuasion and a feeling of self pity: its last words are "perhaps Heaven will someday have mercy on me"!
You see, it's just that I'd rather avoid these first words: "perhaps Heaven will someday have mercy on Mozart"! Now, to hear how the piece should be done, play the (also live) version in my channel by CHERYL STUDER. Of these two, Studer has the last word.
Of course. No wonder 99.9% of your videos are with Cheryl Studer. Come on, let's be sincere and just admit "In my opinion Studer was far superior as a singer, period" and not pretend to be really analyzing this particular performance without any previous judgement or preference (in particular when, in a comparison, you have an obvious choice that is already previously defined)...
what does it mean to say someone's performance is "self indulgent" anyway? that's such a vague thing that you could say about just about any confident singer.
I prefer a little more clean and less artful singing in general, and especially in Mozart. I find this a little too self-indulgent, full of swoops and even scoops (those octave leaps!). Compare this with Gruemmer, M. Price, and even Vaness. And Annette Dasch. I think this was her period of "mannered" singing. I have a feeling that it was kinda fixed after she did Rodelinda, which was so much better than her Alcina. Regardless, she makes me all happy as long as she opens her mouth. LOVE HER!
Agree she is ever excessive and self indulgent. The end effect is gross. Just uploaded Cheryl Studer singing this, live (audio only). Play it and see if you like it.
XAnimeAddict: I disagree with you. It's actually the other way round...there are a lot of mezzos who should actually train there vocalchords the right way and would then be a lyrico (spinto) soprano. The "urr urr?"
1. We should remember above all else that this performance is very exquisite regardless of what voice type is singing it.
2. The urr urr look at Te Kanawa and Coltrubras' Sull Aria. D. Roschman also does it a lot in Dove Sono. In any of the "rise-and-falls" you can hear it. You won't hear it in any of the Spanish composers, mostly Mozart. It's basically apparent when people "rest" on notes.
I too think Renee is very hit or miss in terms of her vocal performances. Like many true mezzos who train to be sopranos her voice sometimes betrays her with that " urr urrr urr" thing their voices do. (listen to Te Kanawa or Roschman )
Anyways, she seriously owns this performance. I was almost into tears. From just watching and listening you can tell this peace is about a conflict of deep emotions and Renee exemplifies the emotion, the performance, and vocals with tremendous skill. Brava!
Te Kanawa is a mezzo who trained to become a soprano. It's done quite often. It's in biographies about her.
Renee has a very unique voice, but voice type is defined by a number of things on of which being the quality of the voice without strain. Renee voice has a somewhat dark color/deeper timbre. However, given Renee's skill she manages to use her instrument in a manner that makes her voice hard to classify into one particular mold. But, most certainly her color/timbre are that of a mezzo.
I am a highly trained soprano myself, and in my experience, voice categorization is subjective, and I will have to disagree with you about both Te Kanawa and Fleming. Listen to Kiri's Rachmaninov vocalise, and you will be hard put to call her a mezzo. By your timbre parameters, it seems only lyric coloraturas and soubrettes singing lyric soprano repertoire would qualify as sopranos.
I've heard people say that Renee Fleming's voice doesn't do coloratura. I don't know what they're talking about because all the coloratura I've heard her do, including that here is amazing.
Gorgeous voice. However, the choices she made in her interpretation sapped the energy and drama out of this aria. However, I really respect her as an artist who goes for what she believes in, even if the end result tends to sound overworked and much too precious.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Donna Anna let this masked stranger(Don Giovanni) in to her room(sex?) they get caught Don Giovanni try to scape but the comendatore won't let him to scape and the comendatore start a fight with Don Giovanni and Don Giovanni kills the comendatore in self defense...so actually all the problems are Donna Anna's fault not Don Giovanni's.
Well. it's not stated in the libretto if it was really she; Don Giovanni could have bribed/seduced some (maid)servant to let him in as well. Anyway, if he had had his way with her, why does he state "vanno mal tutti quanti" just after D. Elvira has rescued Zerlina?
She's committed as an actor and has made very interesting choices. This lies well in her pure lyric voice, which has nice oomph on the high fortes, but tends to more delicacy. The main quibble I have with this - and it's a big one for me - is the liberties she takes with the text, particularly in the recitativo. This isn't bel canto (and even there, it gets excessive) and must be done straight as an arrow, or the line is ruined, and therefore, much of the dramatic sense.
I tend to agree with this comment. If you look at a barenreiter score you will notice she does almost all if not all of the appogituras and mordants denoted in the score. I do not always agree with the placement of these musical devices because they then to take the strength out of the text.
This isn't the bel canto era. This is clearly a lyric role. She sounds very confident. Unfortunately this recording quality is not the best. It is after all recorded in performance which I've never known to be the same quality as seeing it live.
well the fact that it's Mozart implies a certain ease in florid singing. I didn't say she had to be as exacting as a coloratura, but a certain ease with running notes is assumed for Donna Anna. Considering Fleming has done a brilliant Violetta (wherein the awesome-ness carried through in the recording), I would expect the same from her here.
I think it's exactly the opposite: Fleming's Donna Anna was brilliant but her Violetta was lacking in terms of her comfort level with the coloratura. It's a matter of opinion for sure, but I can't find any fault with her reading of this aira. In fact, I enjoy all of Fleming's Mozart roles because her characterization was always very moving and vocally the roles fit her like a glove.
@londonblue123 I think you have to check your ears about this one. Maybe it's my PC speakers but other music plays fine... This doesn't even come near to Edita Gruberova's Donna Anna.
Don Giovanni killed her father and she is NOT happy. The other guy, named Don Otavio, wants to marry her. She tells him she isn't ready and he calls her "Cruel". Then she sings this aria where she explains her feelngs.
Well, this is the best, most musically intelligent, clean performance of this I know. It displays the interpretive intelligence, and thoughtful training she got from working with Schwartzkopf. Before we show what spiritual lilliputians we are by throwing our pebbles at a giant that a boulder couldn't bring down, let's start by applying that aspect of criticism that is most important and, yet, most neglected: appreciation. And there is much good here to appreciate, & the good is very, very good.
avarmadillo 3 days ago
What production is this from, is there a DVD??
MsOwl24 1 month ago
@MsOwl24 Yes there is a DVD. Its from The Met. Bryn Terfel sings Don Giovanni ;)
spenzur 1 month ago
Very nice voice, And she sounds great on the recordings. I just wish she cut down on her stage ego.
cloudy0317 3 months ago
@cloudy0317 You do realize this a stage performance from a theatre...not a tv film....
arnbjorgmaria 2 months ago
Anna wants to sing this? ahahahah!!!
olympicfreak678 4 months ago
bravissimi! fleming's performance here, as her performances of several operas of richard strauss(arabela, capriccio, rosenkavalier, etc.), are of a kind of modern women, dependent and has her own thoughts.
in addition, on the stage of the met, it's not just about music. here you see that each note is reflected by the two figures' action. so, they are also great actor and actress here.
btw: fleming's trill at the end and the 16th notes of the last 'pieta' are simply stunning.
lxr0913 5 months ago
het summum van een vocaal weergaloos gezongen compleetheid, voor mij is Fleming het antwoord, daarom kan ik het niet droog houden
Groet Kees Weijens
reintje77 8 months ago
Stunning!
spintotenor83 8 months ago
For me, Fleming's voice isn't suited to Donna Anna. She's divine as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro and as Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, but Anna is a dramatic coloratura role or a dramatic-lyric role best suited to singers like Leontyne Price, Joan Sutherland, Edda Moser, Carol Vaness, Cheryl Struder & Anna Tomawa Sintow. In Fleming's defense, however, her Mozart in those days was better than anything she's recently sung!
OperaMystery80 9 months ago
Mozart is brilliant!
nostopsnopurgatory 9 months ago
splendid!
nyctotokyo231 9 months ago
I admire her for her vocal beauty! Thank you for sharing!
Laistry 10 months ago
her hair changes at 6:51 and then changes back a few seconds later!!! i wonder how why they had to fill in a different performance there
thesir27 11 months ago 2
Fleming brings to the role interesting ambiguities; was she attracted to her tormentor, while still portraying virtue. It is an extremely intelligent and ambiguous rendition of this role. And she no doubt overplays the role of the virtuous lady because things ' are not what they seem', as Hamlet would have put it. Her rendition brings to it all the contradictions of tempted or ravished virtue.
lady00010 1 year ago
One has to go back to Casanova planning out DON GIOVANNI in Prague with Mozart and da Ponte. Donna Anna is Tirso de Molina's "virtue" foil to don Juan and Donna Elvira Moliere's "moralistic" foil to don Don Juan. Leontyne Price fully explained Tirso de Molina's original intent and, as, usual, plumbed the depths of the role. Fleming sings truly magnificently with that glorious voice and excellent technique but with her own "personalized concert" interpretation for modern audiencesl
bestmaster3 1 year ago
She is the absolute perfect Donna Anna to me; It is outstanding and I love it!!!!
KarenVermeiren 1 year ago 2
She sounds gorgious and looks amazing :-)
fludu1 1 year ago
She always sounds amazing! ALWAYS!
nostopsnopurgatory 1 year ago
oh my god, so beautiful!! brava miss fleming
panchoct 1 year ago
I trully cant beliebe she can maintain her extreme sound quality in this aria - the Sound is too difficult to believe it is that gorgeous
LohengrinT 1 year ago
真的是超棒的，音色和表情都很高貴！
silvershen1103 1 year ago
pure beauty ,,,, I love this.
TaVo78 1 year ago
As much as I love Fleming's artistry and beautiful voice, no one is up there with Ms. Price.
kelwien 1 year ago
The best!
OperaLover84 1 year ago 2
Perfection!
OperaLover84 1 year ago 3
Maravilhosa!
oplutao 1 year ago
Será que tanto conhecimento musical faz bem para todos?...Sei lá!...
oplutao 1 year ago
I used to like listening to Fleming. Now all I hear is scoop scoop scoop scoop.
jmahlon 2 years ago
Le style est très... personnel, un peu sirupeux, et la ligne de chant manque quelque peu de simplicité. Mais la technique est souveraine. Le timbre est magnifiquement mis en valeur, rien n'est forcé, tout est émis, même les aigus, avec une décontraction absolue. Mais le plus impressionnant, à mon sens, reste sa maîtrise du souffle. La reprise, à ce tempo pire que lent, sans respirer, est juste surhumaine. Une grande leçon de chant.
toupelitidl 2 years ago
People are saying Fleming sounds self-indulgent in this performance. I do disagree, but then I also ask myself whether a little self-indulgence isn't really necessary. I mean, Don Ottavio just called her "crudele" because she didn't value his genuine feelings for her (of course, because she was in pain after her father's death). "Non mi dir" is an aria that calls for sentimental persuasion and a feeling of self pity: its last words are "perhaps Heaven will someday have mercy on me"!
Homoclassicus 2 years ago 14
You see, it's just that I'd rather avoid these first words: "perhaps Heaven will someday have mercy on Mozart"! Now, to hear how the piece should be done, play the (also live) version in my channel by CHERYL STUDER. Of these two, Studer has the last word.
Scalatti 2 years ago
@Scalatti
Of course. No wonder 99.9% of your videos are with Cheryl Studer. Come on, let's be sincere and just admit "In my opinion Studer was far superior as a singer, period" and not pretend to be really analyzing this particular performance without any previous judgement or preference (in particular when, in a comparison, you have an obvious choice that is already previously defined)...
Homoclassicus 1 year ago
@Homoclassicus Let me spell it out for you: I can't stomach Fleming's vulgar ways in about 99.9% of the stuff she sings.
Scalatti 1 year ago
@Homoclassicus
what does it mean to say someone's performance is "self indulgent" anyway? that's such a vague thing that you could say about just about any confident singer.
raigekimaru 1 year ago
I prefer a little more clean and less artful singing in general, and especially in Mozart. I find this a little too self-indulgent, full of swoops and even scoops (those octave leaps!). Compare this with Gruemmer, M. Price, and even Vaness. And Annette Dasch. I think this was her period of "mannered" singing. I have a feeling that it was kinda fixed after she did Rodelinda, which was so much better than her Alcina. Regardless, she makes me all happy as long as she opens her mouth. LOVE HER!
vitellia 2 years ago
Agree she is ever excessive and self indulgent. The end effect is gross. Just uploaded Cheryl Studer singing this, live (audio only). Play it and see if you like it.
Scalatti 2 years ago
XAnimeAddict: I disagree with you. It's actually the other way round...there are a lot of mezzos who should actually train there vocalchords the right way and would then be a lyrico (spinto) soprano. The "urr urr?"
AnnaKatharinLandgraf 2 years ago 3
Comment removed
XAnimeAddict 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@AnnaKatharinLandgraf
1. We should remember above all else that this performance is very exquisite regardless of what voice type is singing it.
2. The urr urr look at Te Kanawa and Coltrubras' Sull Aria. D. Roschman also does it a lot in Dove Sono. In any of the "rise-and-falls" you can hear it. You won't hear it in any of the Spanish composers, mostly Mozart. It's basically apparent when people "rest" on notes.
XAnimeAddict 2 years ago
I too think Renee is very hit or miss in terms of her vocal performances. Like many true mezzos who train to be sopranos her voice sometimes betrays her with that " urr urrr urr" thing their voices do. (listen to Te Kanawa or Roschman )
Anyways, she seriously owns this performance. I was almost into tears. From just watching and listening you can tell this peace is about a conflict of deep emotions and Renee exemplifies the emotion, the performance, and vocals with tremendous skill. Brava!
XAnimeAddict 2 years ago
@XAnimeAddict Where do you get that she is a true mezzo? Te Kanawa, a mezzo?
emeboteerf 2 years ago
Te Kanawa is a mezzo who trained to become a soprano. It's done quite often. It's in biographies about her.
Renee has a very unique voice, but voice type is defined by a number of things on of which being the quality of the voice without strain. Renee voice has a somewhat dark color/deeper timbre. However, given Renee's skill she manages to use her instrument in a manner that makes her voice hard to classify into one particular mold. But, most certainly her color/timbre are that of a mezzo.
XAnimeAddict 2 years ago
I am a highly trained soprano myself, and in my experience, voice categorization is subjective, and I will have to disagree with you about both Te Kanawa and Fleming. Listen to Kiri's Rachmaninov vocalise, and you will be hard put to call her a mezzo. By your timbre parameters, it seems only lyric coloraturas and soubrettes singing lyric soprano repertoire would qualify as sopranos.
emeboteerf 2 years ago 2
I am not a Renee Fleming fan but this is stunning! Beautiful singing.
nanbil 2 years ago
spendide!
juliaknecht 2 years ago
Du beau chant, certes, mais, si peu habité ! On est à cent coudées de l'extraordinaire Donna Anna de Teresa Stich-Randall (les vocalises !)
cyranosined 2 years ago
She is fabulous in this. Sheer perfection.
wanzenettl 2 years ago
I've heard people say that Renee Fleming's voice doesn't do coloratura. I don't know what they're talking about because all the coloratura I've heard her do, including that here is amazing.
irregularverb37 2 years ago 6
Fleming is of course very good, but I have not heard her rise to this level before. One of the best versions of this I have heard.
OlDoinyo 2 years ago
I love that top note at 2:57.
I don't know why but I always get chills.
cavgrad04 2 years ago
I think it's the note along with the orchestra that does that. Mozart was good at placing certain pitches in strategic places like that. :)
irregularverb37 2 years ago
Gorgeous voice. However, the choices she made in her interpretation sapped the energy and drama out of this aria. However, I really respect her as an artist who goes for what she believes in, even if the end result tends to sound overworked and much too precious.
altanotte 2 years ago
I love her singing Donna Anna much more than Donna Elvira. This is beautiful!
oneredsoprano 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Donna Anna let this masked stranger(Don Giovanni) in to her room(sex?) they get caught Don Giovanni try to scape but the comendatore won't let him to scape and the comendatore start a fight with Don Giovanni and Don Giovanni kills the comendatore in self defense...so actually all the problems are Donna Anna's fault not Don Giovanni's.
Renee Fleming is just amazing by the way!
Heartlessiceboy 2 years ago
Never thought about it like that!!!! lol
passion4livin 2 years ago
Well. it's not stated in the libretto if it was really she; Don Giovanni could have bribed/seduced some (maid)servant to let him in as well. Anyway, if he had had his way with her, why does he state "vanno mal tutti quanti" just after D. Elvira has rescued Zerlina?
nnmakowska 2 years ago
she's absolutelly amazing. maybe the most beautiful rendition of this aria
madziua90 2 years ago
Yeah, that's the hard part. :) Her technical mastery is fabulous.
Caredhel 2 years ago 2
I stopped breathing too! Her control and emotion are out of this world!!
jpcugini 2 years ago
:sighs: Oh Renee...teach me, please!
rootedinfaith3 2 years ago
Okay, I love Renee Fleming. She's awesome. :D
Hausisse 2 years ago
I think she's amazing in this. But whats with the skull? Is that her fathers? lol But Renee Fleming is an amazing artist
hillevifan 3 years ago
The "skull" seems to be the mask Don Giovanni was wearing (while he attacked Anna and her father).
nsmeng 2 years ago
She's committed as an actor and has made very interesting choices. This lies well in her pure lyric voice, which has nice oomph on the high fortes, but tends to more delicacy. The main quibble I have with this - and it's a big one for me - is the liberties she takes with the text, particularly in the recitativo. This isn't bel canto (and even there, it gets excessive) and must be done straight as an arrow, or the line is ruined, and therefore, much of the dramatic sense.
leslielandberg 3 years ago 3
I tend to agree with this comment. If you look at a barenreiter score you will notice she does almost all if not all of the appogituras and mordants denoted in the score. I do not always agree with the placement of these musical devices because they then to take the strength out of the text.
koollynne 2 years ago
such erudition... i'm speechless.
mish80 3 years ago
Fleming sings the hell out of this aria. She's more of a Donna Anna than a Fiordiligi, if you ask me.
FaustinaBordoni 3 years ago 3
AMAZING. IS very good singing.
klitenmestre 3 years ago
Don't agree...and this is not, and not supposed to be a fast coloratura!
SVENSKSOPRAN 3 years ago
She knows what she's singing, alright. I really appreciate that. But she doesn't seem very comfortable with the coloratura.
forallyouknow 3 years ago
This isn't the bel canto era. This is clearly a lyric role. She sounds very confident. Unfortunately this recording quality is not the best. It is after all recorded in performance which I've never known to be the same quality as seeing it live.
Jaydoggy531 3 years ago
well the fact that it's Mozart implies a certain ease in florid singing. I didn't say she had to be as exacting as a coloratura, but a certain ease with running notes is assumed for Donna Anna. Considering Fleming has done a brilliant Violetta (wherein the awesome-ness carried through in the recording), I would expect the same from her here.
forallyouknow 3 years ago
I think it's exactly the opposite: Fleming's Donna Anna was brilliant but her Violetta was lacking in terms of her comfort level with the coloratura. It's a matter of opinion for sure, but I can't find any fault with her reading of this aira. In fact, I enjoy all of Fleming's Mozart roles because her characterization was always very moving and vocally the roles fit her like a glove.
spsp2sp3sp3dsp3d2 3 years ago
The acting, everything....yummy!!!
SVENSKSOPRAN 3 years ago 2
Who is he?
SVENSKSOPRAN 3 years ago
Gooooooosh!
SVENSKSOPRAN 3 years ago
who plays Don Ottavio?
forallyouknow 3 years ago
paul groves
johngarner3 3 years ago
Perfection!
OperaLover84 3 years ago 2
Beautiful performance from Fleming but for me Sutherland will always be the quintessential Donna Anna!!!
domi2020 3 years ago 3
I agree totally
timsuffolk 3 years ago
oh my gosh! that was better than the gruberova-stuff from salzburg in 1990...
londonblue123 3 years ago 4
@londonblue123 I think you have to check your ears about this one. Maybe it's my PC speakers but other music plays fine... This doesn't even come near to Edita Gruberova's Donna Anna.
bartstynen 1 year ago
Wonderful
lady00010 3 years ago 4
What a jewel! Renee is right up there with Ms. Price.
ncrunch 3 years ago 15
margaret or leontyne price?
silvr94 1 year ago
Perfect.
ElliePearl 3 years ago 3
I agree! Brava.
tararep 3 years ago 3
i'm not a fan of renee but she nailed this aria! beautiful!
bms31 3 years ago 4
Don Giovanni killed her father and she is NOT happy. The other guy, named Don Otavio, wants to marry her. She tells him she isn't ready and he calls her "Cruel". Then she sings this aria where she explains her feelngs.
phil1231 3 years ago 3
can someone please explain to me what's happening in this scene? thanks!
trekkie2006 3 years ago