nessuno è perfetto, ma proprio non riesco a comprendere questa moda di odiare la Gheorghiu anche quando fa cose oggettivamente buone...anzi MOLTO buone! Bhà...
Almost no sopranos in the last decades sing the end of the aria that way, but the first Lisa ever - who sang for Tchaikovsky himself - was Medea Mei-Figner and she fortunately recorded this aria including many chest notes and ending it with a very long and forceful chest note going down to contralto territory. So I guess Gheorghiu's singing here is not wrong at all, perhaps just a little laboured.
Don`t you see that there are almost all russian repertoire with few exceptions and russian singers for the new season...!!!Don`t you have some questionmarks???????????
And this Bolschoi thing,if it`s such a great stage....where are singers like:Dessay,Fleming,Diego Florez,Damrau,in their new production?....HA-HA-HA,i`ve calculated recently the cost of a ticket at the Bolshoi to an opera in February 2012....and resulted.... below 20 $...hahahahahah::::))))))))) This is a shame for such an important newly stage,look at Covent Garden....quality after quality and the price speeks for itself above 100pounds can reach 300pounds!!!
@Desideria7:Sorry,as I recall,when Callas felt ill or she didn`t want to sing,they didn`t call Vishnevskaya,but ZEANI!!!!Is a huge difference,read Zeani`s ``Canta che ti passa book``,and there also are bit of fragments of Karajan`s praising her!!!
And what about Georg Solti..?when he affirmed that Gheorghiu can do ANYTHING!!! and walked out crying!!!!Are them all a bunch of no ones?And what about all the praising from Domingo,Gelb,Scoto,Tebaldi in the early years for A.G?
I agree with Homoclassicus,the chest notes are unique in the world!!!Especialy for this aria wich is sung by many singers but NOBODY is using the chest voice like her,practicaly,that notes are absent or diminished at other singers!!!
Is it so difficult to learn by heart that aria?......indecently, unscupulosly and bashful. I agree with Thezoom6488 and dhyanamudra. For me, Georgiu is a bad taste joke!!!
@pianissisimo1 It's nonetheless interesting that this bashful and indecent soprano, even with the "lack of taste" of singing with the score in hand, sang with more color and better phrasing than most other Lisas of the last years (the ones available in YT, at least) and great ease throughout a huge range from chest low notes to the top. It's unfair to judge her performance based on how it looks instead of how it sounds, and in this video you have to consider the sound is obviously very bad.
And,oh...Mme.Zeani is also 85 like Vishnevskaya,and she was considered the biggest teacher of the past decade!!!!Her recordings are sold out every year in big numbers and we are almost in 2012!!!Mme Zeani`s words regarding Angela Gheorghiu:Her voice is a combination between ME AND CALLAS!!!!! this is on youtube!!!!!!
@sebyopera This remarque of Mme Zeani doesn't make her honor,it's more than stupid."Between me and Callas",ha-ha-ha.There is only one thing: if you CAN'T sing LIsa - DON'T DO IT and even DON'T TRY to do it and all the more on the great stage of the Bolshoi!With this performance Gheorgiu felt down in the eyes of the whole world, I'm really sorry for her because I really liked her until I've heard her singing Lisa. Ah, and please don't touch Vishnevskaya! She was a great singer,greater than Zeani!
And...where was Anna Netrebko...if she is nowadays the biggest voice on stages of the Russian Federation?Was she to busy...in order to attend this UNIQUE GALA?
As of Galina Vishnevskaya`s apreciation towards Gheorghiu`s performance,is the same regarding my apreciation for Vishnevskaya`s performance of Casta Diva,available on Youtube!!!A singer can`t be the perfect LIsa at the same time with the perfect Norma,Brunhilde,Adina,Mimi,Tosca...it is outrageous to say that she was unrepeared-surely at this level,she knew what she was singing and it is not a shame to have the exact text in front of you still knowing you are not a russian-repertoire singer!!!!
I have to say this:Angela`s career is soon to reach 20 years on Covent Garden stage and elsewere,and over 25 if we include the singing in Ceausescu`s regime in Romania.It is so easy to throw with heavy words and to offense a world-class singer like her,apreciated by:Placido Domingo,Jose Carreras,Luciano Pavarotti,Virginia Zeani,Directors from all stages,In my opinion the aria was full of emotions and sensibility.
"The soloists themselves were a mixed bag, from Violeta Urmana’s enormous, ringing, but somewhat cold tones...to Natalie Dessay’s mannered and hyperactive rendition...The most beautiful singing of the evening came from Angela Gheorghiu in Lisa’s aria from “The Queen of Spades.” A glorious voice, warm and human and full of feeling, even if she was singing with a score (she was a last-minute addition)". Opera critic Marina Harrs in "The Faster Times".
No-no, the russian site "Ballet and Opera" (about 28 october) is filled with the unanimous unpleasant, dooming comments about Gheorghiu's performance.
Is the Russian audience represented by one person? I doubt this...
Angela is a professional and this was the reason why she was invited to this prestigious Gala. I truly appreciate her performance, listening again and again to this wonderful aria. Anyway...it's a matter of taste....but her voice expresses so much passion and it's beyond all words.
On her Facebook page she informed on the 5. Oct. that she is going to sing at the Bolshoi re-opening Gala. Well, 23 days in advance, should be enough time to learn one aria by heart.
Yes-yes, it's probable she does'nt know what she's singing about. To go on the stage with that unprepared item - it's indecently and - unscrupulously! BOLSHOI is the SANCTUARY but not a defile-podium. Russian audience is indignant.
Yes-yes, it's probable she does'nt what she's singing about. To go on the stage with that unprepared item - it's indecently and - unscrupulously! BOLSHOI is the SANCTUARY but not a defile-podium. Russian audience is indignant.
It was just a response to some little innexactitudes of the comments here, that's the motivation, not hearing Gheorghiu in this aria over and over again. Of course I don't hate her, why should I hate someone that I don't know. And tarnishing her reputation, really? Are you serious? Can an anonymous commentor do this?
So if you don't like this rendition what exactly is your motivation for returning to it over and over again? Either, contrary to your claims, you hate Gheorghiu and take pleasure in tarnishing her reputation, or, also contrary to your claims, you actually do like her rendition of this aria. Your statement is inconsistent with your behaviour (of returning to a rendition you allegedly dislike).
Exquisite appearance, unique timbre, celestial vibrato...outstanding beauty!!! Enough arguments to stir envy! So... even jealous and malicious people visit her fan blogs! Funny!
Is even funnier how fans accuse everybody of being jealous or malicious even when her diva is not critizised. She didn't step for Domingo at the last minute as certain rumours said, trying to justificate her for being, aparently, unprepared. She has a beautiful voice and she's a fantastic Marguerite or Magda, even a very good Violetta, probably the best of the last twenty years, but IMHO this aria is not for her.
She is in top shape, vocally and physically. Her rendition of this aria is the best available on youtube (frustrated and bitter Gheorghiu-haters notwithstanding).
@operasfab -Please, do not talk if you don't know the circumstances! It is so easy to judge and so difficult to perform! Angela stepped in for Domingo the last minute.She should be really appreciated for this. SO IT'S UNDERSTANDABLE WHY SHE USED A PARTITION. Just think how you looked and sounded if had to learn a Romanian score in few days!!!
@emotion70 Nor exactly. If you do a little research - for example on the blog published by her fans- , you will discover that on October 13th Gheorghiu was announced for the Bolshoi's gala. So she didn't appeared at the last second, eager to rescue the theatre.
@emotion70 at this level of "professionalism" it should not be a problem to learn one of the most famous arias in Russian repertoire last minute (which it was not). if she knew she can not learn a Russian aria - don't sing it!!! sing a vocalise or anything else you are good at. Its an embarrasing performance. She has no clue what she is singing about. Lisa is about to commit suicide and is desparate - well, if you notice, Angela smiles quite often in her "interpretation".
@secretmax07 Are you sure you didn't listen to the 1984 studio recording with Vishnevskaya? I mean, she was 58 y.o. by then, so this aria was obviously much more effortful to her older voice. However, during her prime, as wonderful as Gheorghiu is, Vishnevskaya was simply unsurpassable in this repertoire.
@Homoclassicus I listened to this one: watch?v=PSMVKUsdtYU. It's a matter of subjectivism anyway. I don't know if I'm correct or not, but it seems to me that Galina has a different technique, as the sopranos from her time tend to use... it brings quite a bit with crying (it reduces the stress on vocal cords) so she sounds a bit 'whiney' for me (even Montserrat Caballe has this). What I love about Angela is her very clearly defined timbre. Recording Quality has, anyway, improved since then.
@25wnc Actually, Vishnevskaya seems to me much more enigmatic and reflective (as she always is whenever I saw her in videos) than judging Gheorghiu's interpretation. Gheorghiu sang this difficult aria extremely well - with true force both at the chest notes and at the top - considering she was visibly nervous: she was singing it for the very first time in the climactic moment of the Bolshoi Theater gala and in front of the likes of Vishnevskaya. Come on! hehe
@Homoclassicus Mostly I love her italian reperoire(Verdi,Puccini,several belcanto roles), she's perfect lyric soprano with lucious and natural voice. This time she disappointed me so much.., rough phrasing, poor and shellow intonations.Does she render an emotional state of poor Liza awaiting for her German, before her suicide?Hardly! I doubt that she even knows what she's singing about. Music is not about only notes and vocal technique, it's also about feelings.I guess that you know this well.
she is the greatest of all, I love her small imperfections !
silviutz28 2 months ago
nessuno è perfetto, ma proprio non riesco a comprendere questa moda di odiare la Gheorghiu anche quando fa cose oggettivamente buone...anzi MOLTO buone! Bhà...
Pamp02 2 months ago
Yikes, isn't it just generally poor form not to have your music memorized?
heula1 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Almost no sopranos in the last decades sing the end of the aria that way, but the first Lisa ever - who sang for Tchaikovsky himself - was Medea Mei-Figner and she fortunately recorded this aria including many chest notes and ending it with a very long and forceful chest note going down to contralto territory. So I guess Gheorghiu's singing here is not wrong at all, perhaps just a little laboured.
(cited from a credential opinion).
sebyopera 3 months ago
Don`t you see that there are almost all russian repertoire with few exceptions and russian singers for the new season...!!!Don`t you have some questionmarks???????????
sebyopera 3 months ago
@sebyopera hey... there are good singers in the world even if they are not internationally known. And the russian singing school is very good.
Serinia4melodic 3 months ago
And this Bolschoi thing,if it`s such a great stage....where are singers like:Dessay,Fleming,Diego Florez,Damrau,in their new production?....HA-HA-HA,i`ve calculated recently the cost of a ticket at the Bolshoi to an opera in February 2012....and resulted.... below 20 $...hahahahahah::::))))))))) This is a shame for such an important newly stage,look at Covent Garden....quality after quality and the price speeks for itself above 100pounds can reach 300pounds!!!
sebyopera 3 months ago
Are they all a bunch of crap and only Vishnevskaya is truly the greatest?!REMEMBER:one aria doesn`t destroy your career!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sebyopera 3 months ago
@Desideria7:Sorry,as I recall,when Callas felt ill or she didn`t want to sing,they didn`t call Vishnevskaya,but ZEANI!!!!Is a huge difference,read Zeani`s ``Canta che ti passa book``,and there also are bit of fragments of Karajan`s praising her!!!
And what about Georg Solti..?when he affirmed that Gheorghiu can do ANYTHING!!! and walked out crying!!!!Are them all a bunch of no ones?And what about all the praising from Domingo,Gelb,Scoto,Tebaldi in the early years for A.G?
sebyopera 3 months ago
I agree with Homoclassicus,the chest notes are unique in the world!!!Especialy for this aria wich is sung by many singers but NOBODY is using the chest voice like her,practicaly,that notes are absent or diminished at other singers!!!
sebyopera 3 months ago
Is it so difficult to learn by heart that aria?......indecently, unscupulosly and bashful. I agree with Thezoom6488 and dhyanamudra. For me, Georgiu is a bad taste joke!!!
pianissisimo1 3 months ago
@pianissisimo1 It's nonetheless interesting that this bashful and indecent soprano, even with the "lack of taste" of singing with the score in hand, sang with more color and better phrasing than most other Lisas of the last years (the ones available in YT, at least) and great ease throughout a huge range from chest low notes to the top. It's unfair to judge her performance based on how it looks instead of how it sounds, and in this video you have to consider the sound is obviously very bad.
Homoclassicus 3 months ago
And,oh...Mme.Zeani is also 85 like Vishnevskaya,and she was considered the biggest teacher of the past decade!!!!Her recordings are sold out every year in big numbers and we are almost in 2012!!!Mme Zeani`s words regarding Angela Gheorghiu:Her voice is a combination between ME AND CALLAS!!!!! this is on youtube!!!!!!
sebyopera 3 months ago
@sebyopera This remarque of Mme Zeani doesn't make her honor,it's more than stupid."Between me and Callas",ha-ha-ha.There is only one thing: if you CAN'T sing LIsa - DON'T DO IT and even DON'T TRY to do it and all the more on the great stage of the Bolshoi!With this performance Gheorgiu felt down in the eyes of the whole world, I'm really sorry for her because I really liked her until I've heard her singing Lisa. Ah, and please don't touch Vishnevskaya! She was a great singer,greater than Zeani!
Desideria7 3 months ago
And...where was Anna Netrebko...if she is nowadays the biggest voice on stages of the Russian Federation?Was she to busy...in order to attend this UNIQUE GALA?
sebyopera 3 months ago
@sebyopera Yes she was. AN was engaged by Anna Bolena at the Met.
spqrmor 3 months ago
As of Galina Vishnevskaya`s apreciation towards Gheorghiu`s performance,is the same regarding my apreciation for Vishnevskaya`s performance of Casta Diva,available on Youtube!!!A singer can`t be the perfect LIsa at the same time with the perfect Norma,Brunhilde,Adina,Mimi,Tosca...it is outrageous to say that she was unrepeared-surely at this level,she knew what she was singing and it is not a shame to have the exact text in front of you still knowing you are not a russian-repertoire singer!!!!
sebyopera 3 months ago
I have to say this:Angela`s career is soon to reach 20 years on Covent Garden stage and elsewere,and over 25 if we include the singing in Ceausescu`s regime in Romania.It is so easy to throw with heavy words and to offense a world-class singer like her,apreciated by:Placido Domingo,Jose Carreras,Luciano Pavarotti,Virginia Zeani,Directors from all stages,In my opinion the aria was full of emotions and sensibility.
sebyopera 3 months ago 6
"The soloists themselves were a mixed bag, from Violeta Urmana’s enormous, ringing, but somewhat cold tones...to Natalie Dessay’s mannered and hyperactive rendition...The most beautiful singing of the evening came from Angela Gheorghiu in Lisa’s aria from “The Queen of Spades.” A glorious voice, warm and human and full of feeling, even if she was singing with a score (she was a last-minute addition)". Opera critic Marina Harrs in "The Faster Times".
SavHub 3 months ago 9
very good rendition of Liza's aria! Bravo Angela!
MrSharrik 3 months ago
Wonderful voice!
Congratulations, Angela!
Kisses from Romania!
ioanalazar1 3 months ago 3
To look also "Opera cake", october,29.
TheZOOM6488 3 months ago
No-no, the russian site "Ballet and Opera" (about 28 october) is filled with the unanimous unpleasant, dooming comments about Gheorghiu's performance.
TheZOOM6488 3 months ago
She was completely unprepared, foolishly smiling at tragic places and horribly flat at the end!
MrSibbear 3 months ago
Is the Russian audience represented by one person? I doubt this...
Angela is a professional and this was the reason why she was invited to this prestigious Gala. I truly appreciate her performance, listening again and again to this wonderful aria. Anyway...it's a matter of taste....but her voice expresses so much passion and it's beyond all words.
Andisorable 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
On her Facebook page she informed on the 5. Oct. that she is going to sing at the Bolshoi re-opening Gala. Well, 23 days in advance, should be enough time to learn one aria by heart.
dhyanamudra 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Yes-yes, it's probable she does'nt know what she's singing about. To go on the stage with that unprepared item - it's indecently and - unscrupulously! BOLSHOI is the SANCTUARY but not a defile-podium. Russian audience is indignant.
TheZOOM6488 3 months ago 2
Yes-yes, it's probable she does'nt what she's singing about. To go on the stage with that unprepared item - it's indecently and - unscrupulously! BOLSHOI is the SANCTUARY but not a defile-podium. Russian audience is indignant.
TheZOOM6488 3 months ago
I agree with 25wnc. That rendition is shameful and revolting!
TheZOOM6488 3 months ago
Comment removed
dhyanamudra 3 months ago
Comment removed
dhyanamudra 3 months ago
It was just a response to some little innexactitudes of the comments here, that's the motivation, not hearing Gheorghiu in this aria over and over again. Of course I don't hate her, why should I hate someone that I don't know. And tarnishing her reputation, really? Are you serious? Can an anonymous commentor do this?
LaArsinoeIV 3 months ago
So if you don't like this rendition what exactly is your motivation for returning to it over and over again? Either, contrary to your claims, you hate Gheorghiu and take pleasure in tarnishing her reputation, or, also contrary to your claims, you actually do like her rendition of this aria. Your statement is inconsistent with your behaviour (of returning to a rendition you allegedly dislike).
SavHub 3 months ago
Exquisite appearance, unique timbre, celestial vibrato...outstanding beauty!!! Enough arguments to stir envy! So... even jealous and malicious people visit her fan blogs! Funny!
Congratulations Angela!!! Chapeau!!!
Andisorable 3 months ago
Is even funnier how fans accuse everybody of being jealous or malicious even when her diva is not critizised. She didn't step for Domingo at the last minute as certain rumours said, trying to justificate her for being, aparently, unprepared. She has a beautiful voice and she's a fantastic Marguerite or Magda, even a very good Violetta, probably the best of the last twenty years, but IMHO this aria is not for her.
LaArsinoeIV 3 months ago
this is nice, but i don't know the aria very well.
asdfopera 3 months ago
She is in top shape, vocally and physically. Her rendition of this aria is the best available on youtube (frustrated and bitter Gheorghiu-haters notwithstanding).
SavHub 3 months ago
Comment removed
operasfab 3 months ago
@operasfab -Please, do not talk if you don't know the circumstances! It is so easy to judge and so difficult to perform! Angela stepped in for Domingo the last minute.She should be really appreciated for this. SO IT'S UNDERSTANDABLE WHY SHE USED A PARTITION. Just think how you looked and sounded if had to learn a Romanian score in few days!!!
emotion70 3 months ago
@emotion70 Nor exactly. If you do a little research - for example on the blog published by her fans- , you will discover that on October 13th Gheorghiu was announced for the Bolshoi's gala. So she didn't appeared at the last second, eager to rescue the theatre.
LaArsinoeIV 3 months ago
@emotion70 at this level of "professionalism" it should not be a problem to learn one of the most famous arias in Russian repertoire last minute (which it was not). if she knew she can not learn a Russian aria - don't sing it!!! sing a vocalise or anything else you are good at. Its an embarrasing performance. She has no clue what she is singing about. Lisa is about to commit suicide and is desparate - well, if you notice, Angela smiles quite often in her "interpretation".
msmstre 3 months ago
She is amazing.....listen to her lower notes, she dares to use the chest voice.
With getting older, she gets even better and more mature.
Beautiful!!!!
And, don't we love the dress???
christiaandhooghe 3 months ago
By the way...as regards Galina Vishnevskaya...it was definitely an expression of admiration...
Andisorable 3 months ago
Magnificent push-up
Ginotti 3 months ago
Angela as gorgeous as ever! Congratulations!
You brought light and soul to this gala!
Andisorable 3 months ago
That rendition of Liza's aria was so shameful, the look on Galina Vishnevskaya's face at the end says it all.
25wnc 3 months ago
@25wnc By curiosity I checked Galina's rendition of this aria. In my opinion Angela is better.
secretmax07 3 months ago
@secretmax07 Are you sure you didn't listen to the 1984 studio recording with Vishnevskaya? I mean, she was 58 y.o. by then, so this aria was obviously much more effortful to her older voice. However, during her prime, as wonderful as Gheorghiu is, Vishnevskaya was simply unsurpassable in this repertoire.
Homoclassicus 3 months ago
@Homoclassicus I listened to this one: watch?v=PSMVKUsdtYU. It's a matter of subjectivism anyway. I don't know if I'm correct or not, but it seems to me that Galina has a different technique, as the sopranos from her time tend to use... it brings quite a bit with crying (it reduces the stress on vocal cords) so she sounds a bit 'whiney' for me (even Montserrat Caballe has this). What I love about Angela is her very clearly defined timbre. Recording Quality has, anyway, improved since then.
secretmax07 3 months ago
@25wnc Actually, Vishnevskaya seems to me much more enigmatic and reflective (as she always is whenever I saw her in videos) than judging Gheorghiu's interpretation. Gheorghiu sang this difficult aria extremely well - with true force both at the chest notes and at the top - considering she was visibly nervous: she was singing it for the very first time in the climactic moment of the Bolshoi Theater gala and in front of the likes of Vishnevskaya. Come on! hehe
Homoclassicus 3 months ago
@Homoclassicus Mostly I love her italian reperoire(Verdi,Puccini,several belcanto roles), she's perfect lyric soprano with lucious and natural voice. This time she disappointed me so much.., rough phrasing, poor and shellow intonations.Does she render an emotional state of poor Liza awaiting for her German, before her suicide?Hardly! I doubt that she even knows what she's singing about. Music is not about only notes and vocal technique, it's also about feelings.I guess that you know this well.
spqrmor 3 months ago
she looks 26, not 46!
SavHub 3 months ago 2
@SavHub Es verdad !, parece mucho mas joven. Y también es una artista fantastica... Gracias GOBRIAS por publicar este video !
veeerooniicaaa 3 months ago
excelent!
pYp02061 3 months ago