An Explanation

Hello again!

This week's blog is about my personal tastes, and here is the logic behind why I'm blogging about them:

1) When you see what my operatic preferences are, you'll know what angle I'm coming from when I say, "I don't think So-and-so's voice is the best" or "I think What's-his/her-name is the bomb digitty!"

2) If my tastes just so happen to be the same as yours, you'll find my blogs all the more helpful. 

Now, let's start at the beginning. I'm pretty new to the world of opera-- I've been an opera fan for about five years now-- but I'm the type who researches. When I find something I want to try, I try lots of different variations until I find exactly the one I want. In general, I love voices with strong vibratos; hence my love of Ingvar Wixell, Joseph Callejá, Kiri Te Kanawa, etc. It adds such a gentility to the sound. When it comes to female singers, I've found that I like older singers better-- Amelita Galli-Gurci, Erna Berger, Dorothy Bond, etc. with exceptions being Maria Callas and Roberta Peters. I like the delicate clarity of these voices, as opposed to the slightly muddled and lower-toned voices of the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Fortunately, the older sound has come back into vogue with sopranos like Kathleen Kim, Karita Matila, Louise Fribo, and Sumi Jo, all of whom I adore. There are a few singers I tend to boycott: aforementioned Maria Callas (listening to her sing the high notes of Amelia in "Un Ballo in Maschera" is literally painful), Montserrat Caballé (I think her voice is a little deep) and, of course, Joan Sutherland. 

 "Oh dear!" You must be thinking. "Those three are some of the most highly acclaimed singers in history! This girl's insane-- how can anyone boycott them???"


Well, allow me to explain. I have nothing against these ladies as people. In fact, I don't have anything against them as performers. Callas had a very lilting voice, Caballé's was steady and sure, and she's not half bad at acting, and Sutherland, "La Stupenda," had an incredible range, excellent breath control, and a very supple, flexible voice. However, these ladies were part of an unfortunate phenomenon. Each became very famous while they were young and their voices at their peak. As the years went by, their voices continued to mature, but they did not move on to roles that really suited their ages. At the age of thirty-three, Joan Sutherland's  soaring coluratura was unparalleled. At the age of forty-four, she was still playing the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," the role of a troubled young woman, and it pains me to say this, but she butchered it. Really butchered it. She had obviously become something more of a mezzo-soprano or even alto by that time, and the magic of her famous Lucia was lost. She would have made a tremendous Azucena in Verdi's "Il Trovatore" or some other such part, but somehow or other, she was still kept in roles like Gilda in Verdi's "Rigoletto" and Violetta in his "La Traviata" (both of whom are supposed to be young women, and have very difficult coloratura arias). 


Now that you know all about what I think of Joan Sutherland and sopranos in general, let's move on to the men. I'll come out with it straight off: I'm a Baritone lover. The word literally means "the sound of a man" and I love that. I believe that there are many roles written for tenors that should have been for baritones (Faust, Othello, and Cyrano de Bergerac, to name a few). My sister and I, when speaking of opera and musical theatre, have decided that the perennial rule is "The Tenor is Always the Whelp." However, I have found exceptions to that rule, and besides, we only say that about the characters, not the singers! Anyway, I love baritones who are capable of making their voices soft and still warm or loud and still consistent. Favorite baritones include Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ingvar Wixell, Sherill Milnes, Tito Gobbi, Arturo la Porta (who unfortunately only ever recorded singing minor roles) and Robert Merrill. Bryn Terfel is also nice, but I get the feeling he's lost a lot of his passion and technique since he sang at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 1989; his voice doesn't sound as strong, he doesn't move his mouth as much, and his acting is pretty much the same deal every time I hear him--nothing new. (Sorry if that was a bit too harsh) I also enjoy hearing a good bass take the stage, particularly Nicolai Ghiaurov, my absolute favorite singer. In the way of tenors, I do find Placido Domingo to be a very dependable and reliable singer-- good vibrato, great range, incredible acting skills, and so very, very versatile! But I also like Jussi Bjöerling, the aforementioned Joseph Calleja, Enrico Caruso, Franco Corelli, and of course, Luciano Pavarotti. What a stereotype I am!


I recently discovered the importance of a good conductor. Herbert von Karajan and Richard Bonynge are very reliable conductors. Also, if you ever find a recording that says it's conducted by Arturo Toscanini, I would highly recommend it. Toscanini worked with Verdi himself, and Verdi (who was very picky about how his operas were conducted) was pleased by Toscanini's accuracy. He could remember his place in the score without sheet music, for heaven's sake! 

Now, here's a tricky one: what kind of operas I like. As I said, I'm pretty new to opera, but I have developed a few preferences as to which composers I enjoy and don't enjoy. I like Mozart (of course)and would like to listen to more Classical opera, and I'd also like to try Baroque operas, just to know what they're like. I love Romantic composers: Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, etc. I'm indifferent about Tchaikovsky's operas (but I adore his symphonies!), although "Eugene Onegin" is pretty good and "Pique Dame" looks really interesting. I am not incredibly fond of Wagner, although I'll confess I like "The Flying Dutchman" and I'm curious about "Parsifal," "The Meistersingers of Nüremburg" and "Lohengrin." As for Post-Romanticism... Puccini is pretty darn good, although in my opinion, even his arias sound like more recitatives, but I need to look into that more deeply. After all, Andrew Lloyd-Webber copied Puccini! I love Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci," but very much dislike its famous counterpart, Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" (it felt like it was dragging on for eternity even though it was only an hour long!) I'm not terribly fond of modern operas, but I must say, I enjoy Gian-Carlo Menotti's work (in particular, "The Telephone" and "The Medium").  


Well, there you have it. My likes, my dislikes, my pet peeves, my fandoms, everything. Now you know my perspective on opera, and you know my reasons for saying the things I say. Next week: An exploration of "L'Elisir D'Amore" (The Elixir of Love) by Donizetti.
Until then, I remain


Yours Truly,


~R.M.

A Tale of Two Giovannis

Hello, everyone! Before I begin, allow me to explain the purpose of this blog: I am here to write reviews of opera recordings and live performances I happen to catch (such as the "Live From the Met" simulcasts). I'm writing these reviews to help opera lovers such as myself find the best recordings of their favorite shows and also direct them towards ways to access live opera via movie theatres and television. I'm hoping to write these blogs once a week, but seeing as I am human and not a Martian, there is a chance I might miss a date or two. With that said, I shall begin...

Several months ago, an acquaintance of mine introduced me to a version of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" that was made into a film. It starred the ever-astounding Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky as both the Don and Leporello, and went by the titles "Don Giovanni Unmasked" and "Don Giovanni: Leporello's Revenge." Not having heard "Giovanni" before and not being fluent in 18th-century Italian, I waited to look into it until I had heard a full version and knew what the plotline was like. After listening to half of a full version starring Ingvar Wixell, I found that iTunes was selling the soundtrack of the film for $10, so I bought the music immediately and read a translated libretto to figure out the plot. I was absolutely addicted to it. Dmitri Hvorostovsky perfectly captures Giovanni's haughtiness and Leporello's cowardice and makes it sound easy. His slower-paced, lilting rendition of "Deh Vieni Alla Finestra" soon became my favorite song. Gary Reylea, the bass who played the Commendatore, was astounding,and Dominique Labelle made a crystal-clear and dazzling Donna Anna. In fact, I felt that "Don Giovanni: Leporello's Revenge" held only two disappointments: it is NOT a full version of "Don Giovanni;" it is basically an hour-long "Selections From" collection, and Barbara Dunn-Prosser's Donna Elvira was not exactly the shimmering, delicate sort of voice type I would look for. However, it is still an excellent recording, and I would highly recommend it or the film version (available in six parts on Youtube with German subtitles), which is absolutely brilliant.

Now for the second "Giovanni"! I mentioned in the last paragraph that I listened to half of a recording of "Don Giovanni" with Ingvar Wixell before purchasing "Leporello's Revenge." Well, I really liked the cast of that recording, and when I had money, I decided I wanted a full version of the opera so that I could hear it as Mozart meant it to be heard. I was worried that I would not be able to find that recording for sale (I had listened to it at a library), and wound up purchasing the exact thing I had listened to, but in a different cover: the Philips 3-disc "Complete Mozart Edition." The image with the mask is the edition you'll find for sale on the web. It stars Ingvar Wixell as Giovanni, Wladimiro Ganzarolli as Leporello, Kiri Te Kanawa as Donna Elvira, Mirella Freni as Zerlina with Richard Van Allan as her Massetto, Martina Arroyo as Donna Anna paired with Stuart Burrows as Don Ottavio, and finally, Luigi Roni as the Commendatore. I adore Kanawa's voice, and its clarity and emotion definitely lent a great deal of poignancy to the character of Elvira. Ingvar Wixell, too, has become one of my favorite singers since I heard him as Don Giovanni-- his voice can be both gentle and commanding, both sincere and disregarding with the slightest, deftest little change. Down sides to this recording? Well, I think Ms. Arroyo might have been having a hard day (vocally speaking) when this recording was made: in the opening scene, she didn't quite seem to make it to the highest notes (at least, not with the ease and accuracy with which Dominique Labelle pulled it off), and overall, her scales and arpeggios seem a little bit stressed. And normally, I'm not that big of a Mirella Freni fan, but she does make a very charming Zerlina. Only one other thing really, truly irks me, and that is fixable with iTunes. For those of you who don't know, "Don Giovanni" first premiered in Prague in 1786 or 87. Shortly after, Mozart went back to Vienna and tried to play it there, only to have the finicky Viennese rebuff him. So he added a few extra arias and recitatives (such as Ottavio's aria "Dalla Sua Pace") and tried again. Most people today perform and record the Viennese rendition of "Don Giovanni." However, I believe that Mozart really wanted it to be heard as it was done in Prague. On iTunes, these extra bits can be easily taken away from the playlist (which is what I do, but that's just me), although musically and historically, they could be very interesting to listen to. On a whole, though, the Philips recording is lovely, and I think that anyone trying to get acquainted with "Don Giovanni" would really enjoy it.

I hope that this post was helpful to somebody out there, or at least that is was enjoyable to read. Tune in next week for a treatise on my personal tastes and biases, so that it's easier to understand the angle I'm coming from when I comment on these performances. Until then, I remain your friend and fellow opera-lover,

~R.M.