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100Singers uploaded a new video
(5 days ago)
Peter Schreier, Tenor (born 1935)
Claudio Monteverdi -- Ecco pur ch'a voi ritorno (L'ORFEO)
Johann Sebastian Bach -- Willst Du Dein Herz mir schenken...
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Peter Schreier, Tenor (born 1935)
Claudio Monteverdi -- Ecco pur ch'a voi ritorno (L'ORFEO)
Johann Sebastian Bach -- Willst Du Dein Herz mir schenken? 2:19
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -- Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE) 3:44
Franz Schubert -- Des Baches Wiegenlied (DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN) 7:54
My personal opinion: The career of this magnificent artist began, when he was a child. At the age of eight, young Peter Schreier entered in the preparatory class of the famous "Dresdner Kreuzchor". After he sang one of the three boys in Mozart's ZAUBERFLÖTE, he decided to make a musical career ("Vom Knabenalt zum lyrischen Tenor" - the title of an album released many years later). He remained with the choir as a tenor after his voice changed. In 1954 he took private voice lessons while working as a member of the "Leipzig Radio Chorus". Two years later, Schreier entered the Dresden High School of Music - and studied both, singing and conducting. In 1957 he appeared in the opera studio's production of IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETO by Cimarosa. He graduated two years later, and gave his official operatic debut there as the first prisoner in Beethoven's FIDELIO. In 1963 he gained a contract with the Berlin State Opera and became the leading lyric tenor. Three years later, Fritz Wunderlich died - and for many, Peter Schreier was his legitimate successor. When he came to the Salzburg Festival in 1967, he took over the roles planned for Wunderlich. On Christmas Day the same year, he introduced himself to the New York audience as Tamino; but already in 1969, Peter Schreier left the Met with a last performance as Don Ottavio. Although he was the pride of the former German Democratic Republic, his success on american ground was low. His reputation as a Mozart tenor was established, but not everyone's cup of tea. Some critics wrote, his voice was dry, flat and crisp. In contrast to Wunderlich, Schreier's voice had less energy, storm and vitality. It was an intimate voice: Rich in overtones, unobtrusive and almost chaste - The perfect singer for Bach and sacred baroque music. In my opinion, Schreier is the best oratorio tenor after Julius Patzak and Ernst Haefliger. Arnold Schönberg once said: "Passion! Everyone can do it! But most people are not familiar with intimacy and chastity!" In the early 1970s, Schreier sang Tamino in two complete recordings of DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE under Suitner and Sawallisch. It might be, for some listeners Fritz Wunderlich was more fiery and spontaneous, nevertheless Peter Schreier gave the gentle portrait of a young nobleman. His fine and decent singing was particulary suitable for Lieder. He recorded DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN many times with different accompanying instruments (the guitar version with Konrad Ragossing underlines the folk-like touch of the work very well). Schreier was also able to give a fine representation of a character outside his usual domain: He sang Loge as an ambiguous and enigmatic bandit in the interesting production of the complete RING under Marek Janowski (The only recording, in which all singers represent their roles throughout the whole project). The scene, in which Loge coaxed Alberich to turn into a frog, is a masterpiece of vocal acting. Peter Schreier here proves his versatility as well as in his unique portrayal of the evil witch (!) in the Suitner performance of Humperdinck's HÄNSEL UND GRETEL - a male voices makes the witch even more sinister! For Peter Schreier, it was self-evident to present his listeners flawless and pure singing; the legacy of what he'd learned as a youngster in the "Dresden Kreuzchor". He understood his art as an obligation to serve music and composer. It was Mahler, who once said: "There is only one star, it's the work of the composer!" In a positive sense, Peter Schreier always was normal: An introverted artist who was so often superior to the extroverted (Karajan was impressed by Schreier's talent for conducting). After a 2005 Prague performance of Bach's WEIHNACHTSORATORIUM, the 70 year-old Peter Schreier said good-bye to his long career as a singer. The tenor confessed, it was a farewell without melancholy. The wise decision of a great artist. I have chosen four exemplary compositions to expose the beauty and classicism of Peter Schreier's singing.
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"@TrveMetalsubtitulado Jour et nuit je me mets en quatre,
Au moindre signe je me tais,
C'est tout comme si je chantais! ...
Encore non, si je chanta..."
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"@TrveMetalsubtitulado Jour et nuit je me mets en quatre,
Au moindre signe je me tais,
C'est tout comme si je chantais! ...
Encore non, si je chantais,
De ses mépris il lui faudrait rabattre.
Je chante seul quelquefois;
Mais chanter n'est pas commode!
Tra la la! Tra la la!
Ce n'est pourtant pas la voix
Qui me fait défaut, je crois...
Tra la la! Tra la la!
Non! c'est la méthode.
Dame! on n'a pas tout en partage.
Je chante pitoyablement;"
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100Singers uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Martina Arroyo, Soprano (*1937)
Giuseppe Verdi LA FORZA DEL DESTINO
Pace, pace mio Dio
Conducted by Lamberto Gardelli
Recorded 1969
My personal opinio...
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Martina Arroyo, Soprano (*1937)
Giuseppe Verdi LA FORZA DEL DESTINO
Pace, pace mio Dio
Conducted by Lamberto Gardelli
Recorded 1969
My personal opinion: It was one of those embarrassing moments you'll never forget. It was in the 1980s. I sat in the audience, and on stage the italian tenor Lando Bartolini sang the beginning of the great love duet "Bimba, Bimba, non piangere" from MADAMA BUTTERFLY. As Martina Arroyo continued with "Quest' obi pomposa" and a few moments later with "Butterfly rinegata, rinegata e felice", it became quite clear, the duet would be a catastrophe, and Bartolini's face spoke volumes. A murmur went through the audience: Never before had I heard a high praised soprano in such a bad condition. It was really a poor start to become acquainted with the voice of Martina Arroyo. Thank heaven, this first impression was relativized later. But one question remained unanswered: Why was this soprano not used more often for recordings? At least, once her AIDA was highly praised. With this role, she stepped in for an indisposed Birgit Nilsson at the Met in 1965; it was her breakthrough. But when Ms. Arroyo was in her zenith, the role of the ethiopian princess was given on records to Caballé, Freni and to the lightweight Katia Ricciarelli - all soprano's with the wrong voice color or with an insufficient technique to sing this demanding part. Aida is a lirico spinto role for a "Soprano drammatico". Martina Arroyo proved with her splendid sung Leonora in the 1969 Gardelli-recording of LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, she had the qualities of a lyric dramatic soprano (Her "Pace, pace" is one of the best ever on records).
In September 1972, Arroyo sang AIDA at La Scala with Domingo, Cossotto, Cappuccilli and Roni. The same cast recorded the opera one year later under Muti; but Arroyo was replaced with Caballé (a wrong choice, but big names are more lucrative). Arroyo's "Ritorna vincitor" is dramatic expressive and sung with "limpid beauty" (Harriett Johnson). To hear "O patria mia" equally yearning, we have to go back to Zinka Milanov and Leontyne Price. In his book "A Knight at the Opera", Rudolf Bing wrote: "One day, when Ms. Arroyo came on stage, she was welcomed as Ms. Price. "I am the other one, my friend!", she said." Although she had self-confidence, she was renowned only as the "second black primadonna after Price!" The fate of a singer, who achieved much, but not all. She came to the Met already in 1959 as the "Celestial voice" in Verdi's DON CARLO, but rose to prominence not until 1963 as AIDA at the Zurich Opera House. Her success at the Met was a long time in the coming. Ms. Arroyo sang in Milan, London, Paris, Buenos Aires, Berlin, San Francisco and Chicago - to name just a few. Early in her career, a reviewer wrote: "She is a gifted soprano who appears to have remarkable potential". After her Met breakthrough in 1965, the house became her principle home until 1978. During these 13 years, she sang there Verdi and Puccini heroines and Mozart's Donna Anna (her recording as Donna Elvira under Böhm is NOT a highlight in her discography), Maddalena in ANDREA CHENIER, Santuzza and LA GIOCONDA. In October 1983, she sang for the Canadian Opera Company her first TURANDOT, a challenge she managed well (if we can trust in an obscure live recording). Shortly after, her voice declined and her career slowed down, when Martina Arroyo was in her mid-forties. It was around the time, when I saw her, certainly some years too late. We have to hear her early recordings (for example LES HUGUENOTS with Sutherland and the great rendition of FORZA Del DESTINO with Bergonzi), to understand why she once was highly admired. In 1981 the late in her career recording of CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA became the weak point in her discography: "Her Santuzza sounds like "Summertime" on Sicily", wrote "Opera on Records".
Martina Arroyo was a typical singer in the second row. Good enough for the greatest opera houses in the world, but she never reached the status and artistic ability of Leontyne Price. Arroyo was right, when she said, that she was only "The other one".
That was my personal opinion. What´s yours? Please let us know!
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100Singers uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Cesare Valletti, Tenor (1922-2000)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart DON GIOVANNI
Il mio tesoro
Conducted by Max Rudolf
Recorded 1953
My personal opinion: A sol...
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Cesare Valletti, Tenor (1922-2000)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart DON GIOVANNI
Il mio tesoro
Conducted by Max Rudolf
Recorded 1953
My personal opinion: A solo recital by Cesare Valletti is adorned with an ambitious title: "The last Tenore di Grazia". Of course, he wasn't, and fortunately it was only an advertising slogan and did not reflect reality. The line of the "Graceful Tenors" continued with Alfredo Kraus and Juan Diego Florez (to name two famous exponents); even the young Pavarotti had the qualities that features a "Tenore di Grazia": A lightweight, lyrical and very flexible voice for elegical and ornamented roles in many Belcanto operas by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. Perhaps, however, Valletti was one of the last exponents, who was able to use this qualities also outside the relevant repertoire of a "Tenore di Grazia". He sang Puccini's Pinkerton in the 1956 MADAMA BUTTERFLY stereo-recording (under Leinsdorf) with elegance and noblesse. Even Jussi Björling (then recording TOSCA the same time with Leinsdorf) was irritated by Valettis light voice, and according to an anecdote, he gave Valletti some advice how to sing the role "correct". In spite of all that, Valletti sang Pinkerton beautiful, and I can't imagine the thin voice of Florez in such a part. That's the difference: After Valletti, many Tenore di Grazia were overbred, and lost the weight of their voices. A voice without weight, volume and healthy middle register sounds impersonal and "white" ("una voce bianca"). Such a voice has little or no timbre. For many listeners, even the voice of the great Alfredo Kraus was dry, crisp and without warmth. Cesare Valletti continued the tradition of Fernando de Lucia and Tito Schipa, his teacher. For critic C. L. Osborne, Valletti even surpassed his master: "No one else, not even Schipa, knows how to paint so skillfully with colors, and no one else build a swelling phrase with such an instinct". Cesare Valletti could energize his voice without losses of the resonance. Therefore, some "Lyrico Spinto" roles were in his range. Certainly Valletti had not those qualities, that made Pavarotti a big star: He lacked verve and attack to hit the high C's in Tonio's great aria in LA FIGLIA DEL REGGIMENTO with comparable sovereignity. The result is a transposition. But he sings the final aria "Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali" from LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR with much more melancholy and "dolore" than Pavarotti. As Rossini's Almaviva, Valletti is far superior to the short and thin-dimensioned Luigi Alva, who owned the role for more than 10 years. Critic Will Crutchfield wrote, that Alva's colorature in "Ecco ridente" is only a mash. Cesare Valletti in the 1958 Leinsdorf recording (with Robert Merrill as Figaro in RIGOLETTO-style) is more eloquent and masculine than Alva. To be honest, I've never understood Alva's fame as Almaviva. Just listen to the excellent english tenor Bruce Ford or to the best of all Almaviva's on records, to Francisco Araiza (whose "Canto fiorito" is far superior to Alva). Both make clear that Almaviva is more than a "tenorino".
One of the most underrated and unnoticed studio performance of DON GIOVANNI is the 1953 production under Max Rudolf with a young Giuseppe Taddei in the name part, and Cesare Valletti as Don Ottavio. He proves that even in this pale role is a lot of potential. Cesare Valletti makes Ottavio a passionate and flourishing lover; the counterpart to Edda Moser's geriatric fiancé Kenneth Riegel in the strange Joseph Losey movie. Perhaps it was Valletti's most significant role. He debuted also as Ottavio in October 1953 at the Met, sang in more than 100 performances and after a 1960 dispute with Rudolf Bing during a rehearsal for L'ELISIR D'AMORE, Valletti was replaced with the uninteresting Dino Formichini - and his Met career was over. Formichini became a substitute for Gedda, and Valletti came back: But only 23 years later as one of the honored guests in the 1983 Centennial Gala. After a last performance as Nerone in Monteverdi's POPPEA, Valletti retired from stage in 1968 (and made a new career as a businessman). He died, age 78, in 2000.
His recordings are fine memories of "The Golden Age of Singing".
That was my personal opinion. What's yours? Please let us know!
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100Singers
Famous legendary Soprano Sena Jurinac died on November 22th 2011.
(2 months ago)
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cheers from Argentina!!