Nicolai Gedda sings Glinka- I remember a wonderful moment

Nicolai Gedda (b.1925) is widely acknowledged as one of the most prolifically recorded operatic artists of the 20th century. When it comes to evaluating his legacy, the expansive discography is at once a blessing and something of a curse. A blessing, because it affords us the opportunity to enjoy the formidable linguistic prowess and stylistic versatility of opera's most celebrated polyglot. Few are the tenors who have been able to move artfully and convincingly between Mozart and Janacek, Viennese operetta and Swedish art song. Gedda, however, possessed an intellectual curiosity and work ethic (not to mention a mastery of at least seven languages) that allowed him to assay a repertory whose breadth has been approached by very few singers in recorded history.

On the other hand, any artist who spends copious amounts of time in the studio is almost invariably bound to produce a few clinkers.These may take the form of recordings that present the voice at something less than peak condition and/or evince a poor match between performer and material. In Gedda's case, the latter situation was infrequent. Apart from recorded excerpts of such roles as Radames and Riccardo, one rarely finds him testing the waters in uncongenially heavy repertoire. However, a number of his records do bring us a voice that sounds rather hard and pressed, particularly after the mid 70's. As with other workhorse singers (i.e. Domingo), this has given critics ammunition to pounce on Gedda for his vocal inconsistency or occasional lack of dramatic engagement.

Nevertheless, at his best Gedda's voice comprised a number of special qualities. In the second volume of his seminal series "Singers of the Century", the eminent author and critic John Steane identified "sweetness" as its essential, defining property, at least as experienced in the tenor's "live" performances. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to hear Gedda on stage in his prime, so I am unable to comment on this assessment. But the aural image of the recorded voice seems rather different to me, with sweetness being at best a secondary characteristic. Certainly, the instrument did not have the saccharine, almost feminine delicacy of Kozlovsky; the light, honeyed touch of Schmidt or Kiepura; or even the nectar-like, dulcet sound of Wunderlich or the young di Stefano. I have always found Gedda's voice to be leaner and more dry, its most salient quality best described as "buoyancy" rather than "sweetness". Indeed, it always seemed an airy, lithe instrument, imbued with lilt and considerable charm. And while it lacked squillo, it was consistently well-deployed and projected.

The buoyancy and charm are immediately evident in Glinka's romance "Ya pomniu chudnoe mgnovenie" ("I remember a wonderful moment"), a setting of a well-known poem by Alexander Pushkin. Gedda's voice is wonderfully fresh, and he captures the text's shifting moods exceedingly well: the ardor and excitement of discovering "purest beauty" in the opening verses, the darkness of squandered dreams in the middle section, and the soul's reawakening- accompanied by the reappearance of the initial theme- at the end. One would expect Gedda's Russian diction to be excellent, and it is; pronunciation is near-native. The only sore spots are his Russian "e"'s which he sometimes fails to articulate as diphthongs (as in "bez" or "trevogakh"). He is accompanied here by Liya Mogilevskaya.

Transliteration of the text follows:

Ja pomnju chudnoje mgnoven'je:
Peredo mnoj javilas' ty,
Kak mimoljotnoje, viden'je,
Kak genij chistoj krasoty.

V [tomlen'jakh]1 grusti beznadezhnoj,
V trevogakh shumnoj sujety,
Zvuchal mne dolgo golos nezhnoj,
I snilis' milyje cherty.

Shli gody. Bur' poryv mjatezhnyj
[Rassejal]2 prezhnije mechty,
I ja zabyl tvoj nezhnyj,
Tvoji nebesnyje cherty.

V glushi, vo mrake zatochen'ja
Tjanulis' tikho dni moji;
Bez Bozhestva, bez vdokhnoven'ja,
Bez sljoz, bez zhizni, bez ljubvi.

Dushe nastalo probushden'je:
I vot opjat' javilas' ty,
Kak mimoljotnoje viden'je,
Kak genij chistoj krasoty.

I serdce b'jotsja v [upojen'je,]3
I dlja nego voskresil vnov'
I bozhestvo, i vdokhnoven'je,
I zhizn', i sljozy, i ljubov'.

An English translation can be found here:
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=50399

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Nicolai
• Gedda
• Николай
• Гедда
• lyric
• tenor
• Russian
• romance
• remember
• wonderful
• moment
• Mikhail
• Glinka
• Alexander
• Pushkin

[Herur22]

Thank you for posting and thank you for the extensive commentary. I would add that this song is from the concert in Moscow in March 1980.

But regarding the  "recorded excerpts of such roles as Radames and Riccardo..." - he had sung Riccardo fairly frequently on the stage.

[khankonchak]

Thank you for providing the recording data. The information that I have lists it as a concert performance from the early 1980's but gives no specific date or location.

Gedda did sing Riccardo on stage fairly regularly but was often taken to task by critics for being too "light" for the role. He also left no complete studio recording of the part. I do agree, however, that perhaps this was not the best example on my part.

[oakroom48]

Expressive - wonderful. Thanks for posting!

[Luthierano]

looks like Elvis! lol!

[AulicExclusiva]

What an exquisite performance, full of simplicity and tenderness. Perfect style.

[nhcrama]

I have to say that I disagree with the characterization of Gedda's voice as lacking sweetness. I find that particularly in his softest voice, he tends to evoke a tone of breathtaking beauty, and yes, sweetness. Examples of this are 'Magische Tone' and 'Je Crois Entendre Encore'.

I do agree, however, that his voice took a turn for the worse in the 1970s. In his recordings of operas (perhaps related to their vocal weight) from this period do seem to possess a pressed and steely quality.

[Katiuszkasanda]

Comme toujours un modèle de musicalité.Couleur typiquement slave,j'aime énormément!

[pianist527]

Thank you for the video of a excellent tenor. I agree with Sean, you write beautifully and with knowledgeable precious details. Congratulations for your comments.

[pylgrym]

Please post GEDDA as ELIJAH.

[vstasov]

Thanks for the excellent and interesting essay. Agree that his vowels are lacking the dipthong (and palatalization?). A kind of tenor cousin of Fischer-Dieskau. I wish he were a little warmer and juicier, but he's an intelligent, classy artist. Very nice Glinka.