tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post4959660632578900595..comments2023-11-03T09:05:31.265-04:00Comments on Soho the Dog: Una furtiva lagrimaMatthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10936327293692397100noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-6405086988296485262007-09-18T20:39:00.000-04:002007-09-18T20:39:00.000-04:00In my humble opinion, Luciano Pavarotti was the gr...In my humble opinion, Luciano Pavarotti was the greatest singer of all time. Period. One can pick apart various aspects of his vocals and choose the other tenors, each with some stronger or extra character in some parts of the vocal range. But, none surpass the great Pavarotti when all things are considered.grandanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04086441232186565559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-85889623966574161952007-09-09T14:31:00.000-04:002007-09-09T14:31:00.000-04:00No Idomeneo, but Pavarotti singing "Un'aura amoros...No <I>Idomeneo</I>, but Pavarotti singing "Un'aura amorosa" is <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJsRfY6xfIM" REL="nofollow">on YouTube</A>. Perfectly lovely, but I would imagine the same challenge as with any other Mozart—who do you cast with him?Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10936327293692397100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-47438811537306357812007-09-08T16:37:00.000-04:002007-09-08T16:37:00.000-04:00I don't know Pavarotti's Idomeneo - I can believe ...I don't know Pavarotti's <I>Idomeneo</I> - I can believe he'd have the right kind of sound at the same time that I wonder how he does with "Fuor del Mar." For me, Ben Heppner is about the best there is. As for <I>Tell</I>, I have heard that one, and Martinelli's still the tenor for me, but I realize he's not everyone's cup of tea.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-26952422074976915902007-09-07T07:50:00.000-04:002007-09-07T07:50:00.000-04:00Though I've always preferred Domingo as a musician...Though I've always preferred Domingo as a musician and an artist, the Pavarotti voice was genuinely unique. His performances in the recordings of "Idomeneo" and "William Tell" alone will probably never be bettered in musical history.<BR/><BR/>There were a couple of famous productions of "Tosca" and "Turandot" in Ponelle productions in the early 1980s, starring Pavarotti and Caballe at the San Francisco Opera, and after hearing them it occurred to me that there was no earthly reason to ever go hear those two operas again. The two singers were both impossibly large and ungainly by that point, and dramatically rather absurd, but it didn't matter as their singing effortlessly took the audience to another universe.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-40411015887689434742007-09-06T20:08:00.000-04:002007-09-06T20:08:00.000-04:00I agree about Gigli's more muscular sound, and I t...I agree about Gigli's more muscular sound, and I think that he was more successful in heavier repertory than Pavarotti was, though they are both superb in the lyric rep. <BR/><BR/>Bjoerling's diction was better in Swedish than Italian, and he was also more expressive in his native language. There's a sound-only clip of him singing Lohengrin's farewell, of all things, that is simply astonishing. You can hear it here - http://greatvoices.tripod.com/<BR/><BR/>He was going to record the whole role, dammit.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-76060630118777021132007-09-06T11:57:00.000-04:002007-09-06T11:57:00.000-04:00The most beautiful voices of the previous generati...The most beautiful voices of the previous generation, loosely speaking, were those of Gigli, born in 1890, and Bjoerling, born in 1911. Bjoerling died young, at 49 in 1960, but Gigli sang until 1955. My eyes more or less crossed when I ran across a photo of him singing Radames around 1952 or 53 in Stockholm, to the Aida of Birgit Nilsson.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.com