If you need more evidence that Jonas Kaufmann is decibel for decibel the best tenor currently active this video from yesterday’s performance of Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West provides it. “Or son sei mesi” is in the second act and is the first of the tenor’s two aria. Kaufmann’s brilliant phrasing and his blaze of B-flats at the aria’s conclusion make his rendition extraordinary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqQ5-Pgw4jo
Unfortunately, the above video has gone dead. Instead, here’s Richard Tucker singing the aria. Richard Tucker -Or son sei mesi- La Fanciulla del West
He bores me. No excitment. The color of the voice always the same……….. I would gladly take less smooth phrasing to some excitement. …..after all, this aint lieder. (and a bit more head resonance, please). This guy just might cure my insomnia…….
Here’s a comment from a reader who prefers anonymity:
“Kaufmann’s voice is well suited to this role and he certainly was in fine voice. Kaufmann idiosyncratic sound with its’ dark timbre is off putting in much of the Italian and French roles that suited Di Stefano, Bjorling, Carreras and the like. I don’t want to hear him in Manon Lescaut, Boheme, Tosca or Butterfly. But in Tabarro and Turandot
I expect he would thrill as he did in Fanciulla. We know how brilliant his Werther is. I cringe to think of him in Manon, Romeo and Faust. Verdi is another matter. Otello is the only role that really suits him. Has he done Chenier?
As much as I admire his best performances in roles that bring out the best in his odd voice I am rarely as engaged and thrilled as I am with the true lyrico spinto tenors. I would really like to hear him do Die Tote Stadt.
I give him his due. That was as good a Dick Johnson as there has been in recent memory.. He is a notch below Tucker,Domingo and Del Monaco because of the timbre thing. But why quibble. He was terrific.”
I cannot think of anything I would wish to hear him in, even German. His technique has gotten quite smooth. I do quibble, as I am a very picky and opinionated filly. I saw Corelli in this role so I am also spoiled rotten. There are many I credit with being fine singers, but I just can’t stand their voices.
Operafilly, quibbling with the unknown………..
Well, there you go, Corelli and del Monaco bore the pants off me. All that shouting and “look at me”. If Kaufmann sings this like lieder – ie telling a story and being 100% engaged with the words, then Kaufmann is for me. And I love the dark timbre.
Allergic to passion??
I must admit Del Monaco can drone at times. And he doesn’t have much variety of vocal palatte. But sometimes he’s tremendously exciting.
Early Corelli had lots of FFF. But by the 60’s he had developed great finesse in volume and color. The Met Fanciulla ’64 with Kirsten has him singing the most elegant and luxurious final phrases of Act 1 that are totally breathtaking. The Tosca I saw him in is online and I think he’s entitled to scream in the torture scene. There was no screaming in the other’s I saw him in.
I think you just like Jonas’ silly hair..
If you want evidence that Corelli could do more than shout listen to this 1957 excerpt recorded at Covent Garden in 1957:
https://medicine-opera.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/E-lucevan-le-stelle-Corelli.mp3
And here’s the E Lucevan I saw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfVc-S54eEI&playnext=1&list=PLD164F92604B8205F&feature=results_video
And for dynamite, the ‘Vittoria” that seemed to go around the world…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfVc-S54eEI&playnext=1&list=PLD164F92604B8205F&feature=results_video
Interesting to compare 11 years apart.
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Because characterization is paramount for me, and plot incidental (see/hear an opera once and you know it forever), what keeps opera alive and changing for me is characterization and voice. And as Callas and Gobbi proved, it needn’t be a beautiful voice. Some can go for beauty alone. I can be blown away by either. But getting both in one singer is pure magic. That is why Natalie and I will never agree. But it is wonderful that no matter how differently, opera is enjoyed.