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» Bryce Westervelt - Who is the Greatest Soprano of all-time?

Who in your opinion is the greatest soprano of all-time?

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» Smorg - Who is the Greatest Soprano of all-time?

In response to Who is the Greatest Soprano of all-time? posted by brycethetenor:

Oh gosh... the greatest... er.. Sutherland? Big gorgeous voice capable of Wagner, but so technically polished she made Lucia di Lammermoor sounds a walk in the park. Not as dramatically involved as Callas or Varnay, but really not a characterless canary either.

Nowadays they're so specialized... I'd vote for Gruberova in the Bel Canto, Voigt for the German fach, er...who has the Italian?...Matilla? Gheorghiu? Rachette?

-- posted by Smorg

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» Bryce Westervelt - Who is the Greatest Soprano of all-time?

In response to Who is the Greatest Soprano of all-time? posted by Smorg:

Ah....a Callas fan! If we could just get Dame Joan to sing words, any words....funny that we bring her up as we are also having a discussion about Donizetti!

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» Smorg - Who is the Greatest Soprano of all-time?

In response to Who is the Greatest Soprano of all-time? posted by brycethetenor:

rofl

O, I prefer Callas to Dame Joan (or to Renata Tebaldi, for that matter), too. Didn't pick her the greatest 'cause the voice went bad in her prime ... and that is a voice that takes some getting used to to many, I think. :o) I have Sutherland's Lucia CDs, but I don't think anyone comes close to the Callas/Karajan ('55?) recording yet. Absolutely astounding! And the voice was still there and it was big as well as agile.

I also worship Astrid Varnay... but that voice went pretty quickly, too.. and was probably too heavy for florid stuff.

Come to think of it... the magnificent Eileen Farrell also had a heavy weight voice, but she did Bach and kept her voice healthy for a long time. Do you think Varnay's top notes would have hung around longer had she done some Bach or Haendel in between all those Hochdramatische roles she was singing?

Cheers,
Smorg :o)

-- posted by Smorg

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» Smorg - Who is the Greatest Soprano of all-time?

In response to Who is the Greatest Soprano of all-time? posted by brycethetenor:

I'm a Callas fan, too! Didn't pick her since the voice could get really ugly at times... But she's a personal favorite.

Ya' know, I hadn't listen to Dame Joan for so long I forgot about her diction problem thingy. Here the fee cable TV program 'Classic Arts Showcase' is running a clip of her doing 'Vissi d'arte' from Tosca this week... I first saw it on Saturday night and didn't realize that she was actually singing it in Italian until the 3rd phrase or so. Whatever it was she thought she was singing, it didn't sound anything close to 'vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore'!

-- posted by Smorg

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