100 Greatest Singers: EZIO PINZA

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What do you think about Pinza? Please comment!

Ezio Pinza, Bass (sometimes Bass-Baritone) (1892-1957)

Gioacchino Rossini - Il Barbiere di Siviglia
La calunnia e un venticello
(Recorded 1940)

My personal opinion: Sometimes you have an option between two great offers. In this special case I asked myself: Who was better, Ezio Pinza or "the other great Don Giovanni"?
Both owned preferences the other one hadn´t, and finally I had to make my decision in view of style and culture. Pinza sang with more instinct for melody and line, and his "Calunnia" is a paradigm for a controlled performance of a masterpiece that often became a cheap comedy.
Pinza was a central singer!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ezio
• Pinza
• Bass
• Baritone
• Don
• Giovanni
• Mozart
• Rossini
• Verismo
• Belcanto

[ruffomaldito]

My opinion?...I declare myself incompetent to pass jugment over your treasured list, which includes fantastic singers of whom I ´d never heard. I could re-write the list every week and be perfectly satisfied. But you´ve introduced us to so many of the oldies.....so all I can say is: Thanks!

[100Singers]

Thank YOU very much for your nice compliment!

[VinylToVideo]

After hearing Pinza's Don Giovanni there was no "the other great Don Giovanni" for me.

[lawprof3]

Pinza's intonation and phrasing are perfect and he inhabited every role with deep dramatic flair. I love my Pinza CDs.

[1Victorinus]

There were a number of great basses in the first half of the 20th century (Kipnis, etc), but none had a more beautiful voice than Pinza.

[thephantom1946]

How strange some young person would think that Pinza was weak in characterization. He was well known for his excellent characterization and acting of his roles, as well as for his gorgeous voice. Critics many times described him as a great singing ACTOR in his opera roles, and after. He was a standout.

[mlcollins10]

he had a natural, not manufactured-sounding voice. One of the top bassos of all.

[MissLadyboy007]

@thephantom1946 What about Nazzareno di Angelis(sp?), Pol Plancon and Cesare Siepi? I do like Pinza he possessed a beautiful lyric bass voice but I think that he was rather weak in the characterisation side. In other words a pretty voice but not much sense of character.

[baltoman24]

Pinza was certainly among the greatest, perhaps the greatest of the basso cantante -certainly no one since comes close. In addition, his wonderful character helped him create the most vivid characters. thank you for this wonderful recording of a great artist!

[seektheforce]

@thephantom1946 Jose Mardones was quite good too.

[seektheforce]

@sch48 but reading music certainly helps...

[thephantom1946]

For me, there is/was no basso cantante as good as Pinza, the best of the best. I've heard many others in over fifty years, and he's still the greatest. I have his autobiography and yes, he could read music, just not sight read to sing right off the page.

[emacasta]

Just perfect!



[Bonacrik]

wonderful recording