My tour of the Staatsoper - a post to follow, gave me an opportunity to photograph one of the set pieces I did like, though not in it's full, staged glory:
Maria Callas & Victoria de los Angeles Maria Callas Maria Callas’ renown as La Divina is of course legendary. Her legacy, however, is equally clearly controversial. Walter Legge, producer of many of her recordings, describes her vocal assets as part of a larger section on the same in Jürgen Kesting’s Maria Callas . Her three octave range, distinctive timbre, sizable voice, a potential darkness in the middle range, easy coloratura , and access, if not security in the top notes. Perhaps even more of note is Kesting’s description of the dichotomy between “good” voices, lacking in naturally effortless technique but with great artistry, and “beautiful” voices whose effortless technique seems to be the end in itself. Kesting asserts that Callas fell into the former category. Kesting repeatedly addresses issues of style in relation to this categorization, noting Callas’ abilities to execute pianissimi , portamenti , true Bel Canto coloratura , and emotional shading. ...
José Carreras & Georges Thill Note: Finding recordings of and writings on Georges Thill was rather difficult in comparison with the previous singers I’ve studied. Rather than abandon the pursuit entirely, however, I decided to focus a bit more heavily on José Carreras by listening to three full operas and excerpts. For Thill I was limited to excerpted arias from a variety of sources and highlights of a Charpentier opera. José Carreras José Carreras’ career defies easy explanation because of the multiplicity of factors that defined both his technique and his repertoire throughout. It remains unclear if his progression from Bel Canto lyric repertoire all the way through spinto repertoire caused or was caused by a darkening depth in the voice even as it retained its fundamental characteristics. Many critics questioned the function conductors and fame played in role selection and a strong suspi...
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau & The Deep Voice Principle Note: Suitable baritones who fit the subject of this project were substantially more difficult to find than singers of previous voice types. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau fit the bill perfectly because of his experience in a variety of operatic repertoire and in art song, but few others did. I have written at length about Fischer-Dieskau and then addressed this problem itself. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau In order to study Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau I used assorted recordings of art songs along with three recordings of longer works. The assorted recordings of art song were of pieces I had in my own collection as well as the seminal Erlkönig. I used a video recording of Winterreise in 1979 with Alfred Brendel at the piano, a recording of Rigoletto under the direction of Rafael Kubelik in 1964, and an opera film of Le nozze di Figaro under Karl Böhm in 1...
Comments
Post a Comment