Eileen Farrell - Tacea la notte placida

A great performance by the great dramatic soprano Eileen Farrell. From her "Eileen Farrell Sings Verdi" album.

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• eileen
• farrell
• verdi
• il
• trovatore
• leonora
• coloratura
• bel
• canto
• dramatic
• soprano
• american

[sillyboydeux]

A power hitter from the get go! Absolutely one of the best "authentic" sopranos to come along in 100 years. I don't understand monpitt500 saying "never had the top notes really": that makes absolutely no sense, and is not supported by any performance she ever gave.

[primohomme]

@sillyboydeux

I think he means that she didn't go above high C, like when she sang Leonora in Il Trovatore she didn't sing the high Db's. Still, wonderful singer.

[sillyboydeux]

@sillyboydeux Well a beautiful high C is a very high note, and hers are as full voiced as her chest tones, which happens but rarely in music history. Caballé had the upper 3rd, but almost never used it. In fact, she omitted the E-flats in Lucia. It sucked, but for different reasons. Donizetti never wrote those notes in the original score, anyway, and I am sure Giuseppe Verdi would have preferred Eileen Farrell over Renée Fleming.

[primohomme]

@sillyboydeux

Caballe never truly had the top notes, she has said it herself, she did sing a nice Db in some recordings, but her D6 was done with effort.

I think fleming is a beautiful singer, perhaps not perfect but her vocalization and voice are beautiful.

[sillyboydeux]

@sillyboydeux I think Renée Fleming has blown her chance for immortality, or leaving a legacy, whatever you might want to call it, by indulging in truly bizarre and sometimes arhythmic phrasing. It is most certainly a voice spun from pure gold, but she doesn't really have much of a message as an artist nor does she employ the voice to serve the composer; rather to her own eccentricities. She's just earning and burning (fossil fuel for air travel!) I love Eminem more than Renée Fleming.

[primohomme]

@sillyboydeux

Well, at least she sings the music with a full bodied sound instead of having to re-write the music to suit her by avoiding passages she can't sing, such as Devia and Gruberova do.

[vivegedda]

@sillyboydeux I am mon pitt 500,now called Vivegedda. Even her Bb wasn't easy. In this tacea, her first high note is already flat She had a great voice but her technique on high notes was a real flop. I sang Cavaradossi along with her as Tosca and the problem was evident during the whole opera.

[JohnLennonsSexSlave]

Pretty girl, powerful voice.

[monpitt500]

Problem is she never had the top notes really!

[saagua1953]

It was a pity she was not used earlier and more often by the Metropolitan. She had a vast range, a great great voice, and should have been a prima dona assoluta at the Met, but never was adequately appreciated.