His biggest deficit is that he cannot stand still. His jerking around and grimaces I find quite irritating and distracting. And this is not his repertoire at all. He should not convince himself otherwise. Actually a pretty bad rendition of this aria in comparison to the many outstanding performances available here on YT.
@steadicat The whole passage from "Nè sul tuo regio sasso..." is funny. It's almost like he can't really hear what the orchestra is doing - the entire phrase just hangs a bit below the pitch. Of course, that is exactly the tessitura and the kind of vocal writing that makes these roles so very difficult to sing. They just sit on D-flat, D, E-flat and E natural. Only the true Verdi baritones (Bruson, Cappucili, MacNeil, etc.) can do that, and it's even hard for them.
I hope the London producton of Macbeth next year will be better than that awful pantomime going on behind him in this video! Simon deserves so much better than that. Love his performance on this though!
His biggest deficit is that he cannot stand still. His jerking around and grimaces I find quite irritating and distracting. And this is not his repertoire at all. He should not convince himself otherwise. Actually a pretty bad rendition of this aria in comparison to the many outstanding performances available here on YT.
TommyHaegin 1 month ago
@steadicat The whole passage from "Nè sul tuo regio sasso..." is funny. It's almost like he can't really hear what the orchestra is doing - the entire phrase just hangs a bit below the pitch. Of course, that is exactly the tessitura and the kind of vocal writing that makes these roles so very difficult to sing. They just sit on D-flat, D, E-flat and E natural. Only the true Verdi baritones (Bruson, Cappucili, MacNeil, etc.) can do that, and it's even hard for them.
assindiastignani 9 months ago
@steadicat He came in late at about 4:50, but I didn't hear what you heard with the pitch.
rovingdesertfox 1 year ago
sorry, he is just not a big verdi baritone. stick to mozart
mrrk 1 year ago
Awfully pitchy, especially starting at 3:28. That's not like him...
steadicat 1 year ago
I hope the London producton of Macbeth next year will be better than that awful pantomime going on behind him in this video! Simon deserves so much better than that. Love his performance on this though!
theflossie100 1 year ago
Bravo, Simon. I hope I will see him in Macbeth:-))
eurydike 1 year ago