Fiorenza Cossotto in Aida ; Judgement scene

Fiorenza Cossotto as Amneris; Judgment scene. She causes pandemonium at the MET with this performance.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Opera
• Verdi
• Aida
• Amneris
• Fiorenza
• Cossotto

[crewmantle]

There was MUCH chatter before this performance as to whether Cossotto would upstage Price during this farewell taping, as she reputedly did to Callas in the final Paris Norma's.

In reality the performances of Price and McCracken in this Aida were SO banal, a second tier mezzo would have upstaged them.

The audience at LEAST got their moneys worth from Cossotto, who gave an unrelenting portrayal as the betrayed Egyptian princess.

And for that, I say; BRAVA Cossotto!

[sirmercutio99]

She's wonderful. Altodivo is right that last 15 seconds was supurb. How anyone but a top-tier mezzo can sing that is beyond me. Cossotto was top-tier!

[crewmantle]

Indeed. The final curses delivered by Cossotto's Amneris are the culmination of frustrated royal fury which she built throughout the scene.

BUT notice how the smallest gesture is reflexed and timed precisely to each note for maximum drama. We are watching a BRILLIANT study of an opera characterisation. The realism is breathtaking.

Cossotto brought the house down and this performance has become legendary. Operaphiles around the world knew what happened that night: the very next morning.

[crewmantle]

One more thing fer1179 (couer de lion) I have around 25 Aida's in my collection... knew it for decades, but I never GOT IT until I heard and saw Zajick as Amneris. Zajick RAWKS the casbah.

[fer1179]

I really liked it, but I still prefer Dolora Zajick's performance.

[crewmantle]

You can play Amneris on a sliding scale either of two ways to make sense of her; at one end as a petulant teenager or the other as a royal princess. Zajick went the first route, Cossotto the other end of the spectrum. Both brilliant Amneris' unrivalled today.

Good choice fella! Bravo 2 U for getting it!

[senilangakali]

Never, Never has an Amneris been applauded and acclaimed as Cossotto was here.....

[ahmad123987]

How amazing was her acting!

[Dymension]

@foratti I know I'm joining in late in the conversation. One thing is color of voice and the other is presence. Some said Nilsson was not "mechanically big" like Leonie Rysanek, but the metal in her voice allowed her an unbelievable cutting power as to drown everyone else on stage without even trying. Perhaps Cossotto was similar in this regard. I heard her when quite young in 1983 as Azucena and thought of her as quite loud!

[alessandro63145]

ahaha..questa e' buona interprete piccina...Il teatro lirico non puo' essere giudicato come latre forme d'arte,ci sono fenomeni nei quali e' impossibile spiegare l'arte.Ci sono persone che si sbattono ad nterpretare e non danno emozioni,voci spelndide e no danno emozion...e voci che non necessitano di altro che di sentirle...vedi Callas vedi Cossotto...facendo lo spelling dell'artista trovi anche da dire,ma quando le hai davanti devi solo inginocchiarti.IL delirio del pubblico ne e' la prova

[leprincebeaumont]

Platealissima! Voce, voce e ancora voce; ma non c'è l'ombra di un accento che non sia banale o altisonante. Grande voce e grande tecnica, ma interprete piccina.

[foratti]

@Greatfan2011 BUT I wanted to make a difference between color and volume. I know Cossotto voice was very big but she was not a real dramatic like Obraztsova or Fedora Barbieri or Stignani and in the theater she could be exciting but in recordings I am talking of "live" recordings , not disc, if you play any of her "live" Amneris audio CD from the late '60s or early '70s she sounds like a soprano

[foratti]

@Greatfan2011 : I never heard Cossotto live I am 31 but did you ever heard Stignani or Fedora Barbieri live ? I am sure you didn't and and not that you cannot realize as a voice is (beyond the topic you talked about you are right that it seems many times microphone does not like big drammatic voiced sopranos, Nilsson, Tebaldi, etc) and Cossotto though a mezzo it happens the same too, BUT

[Greatfan2011]

I must add that I never compare. Cossotto was always exciting, perhaps not in the best taste but she was a spectacular vocalist. Obraztsova was another story. Obraztsova's voice is beautiful. She tended to thin her top notes in Amneris too. Nobody is perfect and we are speaking about 2 of the greatest mezzos in XX century. No singer is flawless, we are human beings.

[Greatfan2011]

@foratti Did you hear Cossotto live in her prime ? In her absolute prime ? Her top notes which are captured as ' thin ' in recordings, were very brilliant and full . Cossotto's must surely be one of the less ' phonogenic ' voices in redording history. Recordings catch a certain hollowness which was part of her center and makes it much hollower and many top notes sound too light. I heard her as Adalgisa, here, with Sutherland and did not like it. Too much pressure...

[foratti]

@Greatfan2011 : Since around 1973/74 onwards Cossotto started to sing off pitch in the top register