Casta Diva - Norma (Vincenzo Bellini)
1st place: Renee Fleming
I love the rich, warm tone of her voice! I heard so much power, focus, and vibrancy! Her high notes were so clear and clean and flawless, and her low range was so lusty and rich. It sounds so light and healthy. It's incredible that she doesn't have her mouth open wider, but I notice she has plenty of back molar space. Her breath is a little gaspy at times. I did not like the way she chose to express the piece physically. I feel like her facial expression did not match the song at all. It looked like she was just singing rather than really performing. She looked beautiful and released, but did not convey the meaning of the text to me. However, her voice was just so beautiful I had to give her first place.
2nd place: Anna Netrebko
What an entrance! She looks so calm and elegant. Her face is showing a lot of emotion, but I think she could go even further. Physically she is displaying a lot more emotion than the other singers, and that's why I had a hard time deciding between her and Fleming. However, I felt that Netrebko's voice did not have as much color and depth as Flemings, and did not sound as healthy and invigorated. Still, her voice sounded so beautiful. She has such amazing control of dynamics. Her mouth, jaw, and face are so released and she makes the sound look effortless
3rd place: Sumi Jo
This one was difficult. The recording from Cindy was wonderful, her singing was so expressive, immediate, and buttery. I loved her rich timbre, particularly in her light, high notes. Her diction was most impressive, very precise and clear with a lot of conviction. However, I looked up another video of her in a live performance and her voice was not as clean, and her body was extremely tense. This is why I placed her third in the lineup. I also detected a lot of [h] in the onset of her tone in the more acrobatic passages.
4th place: Maria Callas
Her expression suits the mood very well. What eyebrows this woman has! She is very expressive with her face and body, but I feel like she could convey more emotion vocally. Did anyone else feel like she was rushing the tempo in the beginning? Strange ensemble issues there. She moves with a lot of freedom and lightness, her voice doesn't get weighed down in the mellismatic passages. Her tone is very consistent throughout her upper and lower register. Last cadenza was a little pinched and I feel like her vibrato got wider at the end of the song. The last note did not sit well.
5th place: Barbara Frittoli
Wide vibrato, but nice tone. Diction is pretty clear but vowels sound odd to me, kind of unnaturally bright? The opposite of round. This recording isn't the best so it's a little bit difficult to say. But not a lot of expressive motion, she keeps ducking her head when she sings low which is annoying. She also winces really obviously in the middle. That tells me she's not really involved in her performance, she's just singing.
6th place: Joan Sutherland
Her jaw is doing strange things. It takes a long time to open fully for the vowel and stays closed for a lot of [i]s. She's not very expressive, but it is probably the directors choice to have her stand there like a statue. Her low notes are a bit honky to me. Her tone is dark and round, but it is also unwieldy. She is very accurate and does a really cool trill though!
Loser: Edita Gruberova
Her eyebrows are stuck in a funny, surprised expression that doesn't mean anything to anybody. She is throwing her head back really far which also looks weird. I didn't see any emotion cross that surprised looking face. Her phrasing is very jerky. Her high notes sound harsh and bleaty. Low notes often fall back into her throat. Her quieter passages sound much healthier, but sometimes becomes inaudible. I can't understand the text.
No comments:
Post a Comment