# Second Round: Voi chi sapete: Von Stade, DiDonato, Leonard



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Isobel Leonard makes a good looking fella! I'd bet she'd be a great Ocavian!


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

I voted for Leonard since the other two voices sounded heavy to me. Her's was still not what I would hope for since she sounded a little tentative - but of these three, I found it the most pleasing.


----------



## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

An easy vote for Von Stade, not a favourite of mine but perfectly capable in this repertoire if not as special as Patti or some others neither vocally or interpretively. I don't like DiDonato much and Leonard almost sounds as though she's struggling a little with this fairly simple music.


----------



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Leonard’s voice is somewhat obscured by a dusty vibrato, though it does have a rather masculine tone. The deceptively simple tune is not an easy sing; it has to be flowing on the breath, _legato,_ the tone kept light but firm; 

The Di Donato sound is a bit generic with a good high register in contras with a rather weak lower one, or at least not obviously used. Some white tone is used here, perhaps to denote nervousness or uncertainty.

When I think of Cherubino, it is Von Stade‘s image that comes to mind. She was my first and perfect in every way, the voice and manner suggesting the androgynous youth, even the timbre recalling a boy on the cusp of manhood; but deliciously not quite there yet.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Ever since I saw the famous 1973 Glyndebourne production of *Le nozze di Figaro *on TV, Von Stade has been my go to Cherubino. She has always seemed just perfect for the role to me and so she seems here. DiDonato are both fine, but Von Stade is the very personification of Cherubino to me.

Here she is in that Glyndebourne performance with Kiri Te Kanawa as the Countess and Ileana Cotrubas as Susanna. The production and the TV broadcast made all three of them stars.


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

All lovely -- all different but I liked the drama given by diDonato best. They are all so close -- each in their own way. Tough call.


----------



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I wouldn't normally complain about any of them, but when I am in this analyzing and voting mode, I am dissatisfied with all three  . I liked best Teresa Berganza from the previous round. I'll try to listen again tomorrow, maybe I am just tired. (It's 1:39 am for me)


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Unlike others here, I have never seen Von Stade onstage, and I can't help wondering whether their responses to her are governed more by memories than by what she does with the music on this recording. Maybe, too, it's a matter of what we want to hear in Mozart, but I must say that I hear virtually nothing but a stream of pure tone, perfect notes laid end to end on a bed of absolutely rigid rhythm, with not even a slight ritardando heading back into "Voi..." I need more from the pubescent little cherub than this. Both DiDonato and Leonard inject a little - a very little - more flavoring into the aria in acknowledgement of the fact that it has words, but nothing to make us question our received image of Mozart, Angelic Avatar of Musical Purity.

If there were any way of testing the wager, I'd bet anything that neither rubato nor portamento were concepts unknown to the age of Watteau, Rousseau and Goethe. I'd even bet that if Mozart had heard a Cherubino singing like these white-robed choirboys at a rehearsal he would have leapt onto the stage and made a few dirty jokes to loosen the lad up.

I feel a bit like sitting this one out, but I'll be a sport and go for DiDonato, who comes alive and summons up the character at least momentarily.


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

SanAntone said:


> I voted for Leonard since the other two voices sounded heavy to me. Her's was still not what I would hope for since she sounded a little tentative - but of these three, I found it the most pleasing.


Actually I had to change my vote, since I meant to vote for the first singer, which I thought was Leonard based on the comment just above the clip. So, Von Stade gets my vote.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> Leonard’s voice is somewhat obscured by a dusty vibrato, though it does have a rather masculine tone. The deceptively simple tune is not an easy sing; it has to be flowing on the breath, _legato,_ the tone kept light but firm;
> 
> The Di Donato sound is a bit generic with a good high register in contras with a rather weak lower one, or at least not obviously used. Some white tone is used here, perhaps to denote nervousness or uncertainty.
> 
> When I think of Cherubino, it is Von Stade‘s image that comes to mind. She was my first and perfect in every way, the voice and manner suggesting the androgynous youth, even the timbre recalling a boy on the cusp of manhood; but deliciously not quite there yet.


I love your description of her voice. I went through a real Von Stade phase at one time. I like that she always sounds like a mezzo with a touch of a boy alto thrown in and you can always pick her voice out blind. I don't like mezzos so much like DiDonato who sound like sopranos, though I greatly enjoy her on video as she is an exciting performer and a very good musician. I really find Leonard to be captivatingly handsome in the role and I can give her a slide on some things because of it LOL.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Unlike others here, I have never seen Von Stade onstage, and I can't help wondering whether their responses to her are governed more by memories than by what she does with the music on this recording. Maybe, too, it's a matter of what we want to hear in Mozart, but I must say that I hear virtually nothing but a stream of pure tone, perfect notes laid end to end on a bed of absolutely rigid rhythm, with not even a slight ritardando heading back into "Voi..." I need more from the pubescent little cherub than this.


I'll admit that I'm probably as guilty of this as anyone. Von Stade is not, I suppose, the kind of singer I usually go for, but there is something so winning about the beauty of the voice and her charming stage manner that I can't help capitulating. We might also consider that this aria is a simple, strophic song, which Cherubino is performing for the Countess, not the revelation of his personality that the earlier _Non so piu _is. 

I think also we have become more used to a fairly straight style of singing Mozart. I remember even Schwarzkopf, great Mozart singer though she was, coming in for some flack for over-characterising the music in her early 1950s recital of Mozart arias, where she clearly differentiates between Cherubino and Susanna, Zerlina and Donna Anna. Here's her version of the aria. I have a feeling it will be more to your taste. I like it too, though I can't really imagine Schwarzkopf playing the role on stage.


----------



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I will be honest. I saw this opera in my teenage years and it bored me. I need to see it again after years now. But the reason I like this aria is not Cherubino, but Elisabeth Bingley (Edit: Bennett) from the BBC version of the Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This is the scene: 



So what I want from this aria is not Cherubino, but Elisabeth, wondering if she loves Mr. Darcy after all. Unlike Cherubino, she has a chance, we know she will win. The scene is so idylical, at least 3 people admire her very much, who wouldn't want that ?
So I want this idylic feeling from the aria, some kind of other wordly perfection (not meaning Jenifer Ehle is singing it perfectly  ), without too much rubato, but not boring. Maybe the first singer is somewhat like that, but that piano part tipped me towards boredom (yes, I KNOW pianissimi are highly valued.)
I would settle for any of the three singers, but if I have to choose, each of them makes me somewhat satisfied and somehow dissatisfied. I don't feel like voting.


----------



## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I'll admit that I'm probably as guilty of this as anyone. Von Stade is not, I suppose, the kind of singer I usually go for, but there is something so winning about the beauty of the voice and her charming stage manner that I can't help capitulating. We might also consider that this aria is a simple, strophic song, which Cherubino is performing for the Countess, not the revelation of his personality that the earlier _Non so piu _is.
> 
> I think also we have become more used to a fairly straight style of singing Mozart. I remember even Schwarzkopf, great Mozart singer though she was, coming in for some flack for over-characterising the music in her early 1950s recital of Mozart arias, where she clearly differentiates between Cherubino and Susanna, Zerlina and Donna Anna. Here's her version of the aria. I have a feeling it will be more to your taste. I like it too, though I can't really imagine Schwarzkopf playing the role on stage.


Your post reads "Video unavailable - This video is not available"

I'm not certain if this is what you had intended to post, but if it isn't, I'll try to find it if you'll provide more information.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Shaughnessy said:


> Your post reads "Video unavailable - This video is not available"
> 
> I'm not certain if this is what you had intended to post, but if it isn't, I'll try to find it if you'll provide more information.


Yes it's the same performance. The one I added is obviously only available in the UK, though it was provided to youtube by Warner Classics.


----------



## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> I will be honest. I saw this opera in my teenage years and it bored me. I need to see it again after years now. But the reason I like this aria is not Cherubino, but Elisabeth Bingley from the BBC version of the Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This is the scene:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Isn't it Elizabeth Bennett?


----------



## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

ColdGenius said:


> Isn't it Elizabeth Bennett?


Elizabeth Bennett 

Caroline Bingley is Charles Bingley's sister and Elizabeth's rival for the affections of Mr. Darcy.


----------



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

It was my subconscious at work, probably. Mr. Bingley is the warmest one here. And even more in the scene before this one.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I'll admit that I'm probably as guilty of this as anyone. Von Stade is not, I suppose, the kind of singer I usually go for, but there is something so winning about the beauty of the voice and her charming stage manner that I can't help capitulating. We might also consider that this aria is a simple, strophic song, which Cherubino is performing for the Countess, not the revelation of his personality that the earlier _Non so piu _is.
> 
> I think also we have become more used to a fairly straight style of singing Mozart. I remember even Schwarzkopf, great Mozart singer though she was, coming in for some flack for over-characterising the music in her early 1950s recital of Mozart arias, where she clearly differentiates between Cherubino and Susanna, Zerlina and Donna Anna. Here's her version of the aria. I have a feeling it will be more to your taste. I like it too, though I can't really imagine Schwarzkopf playing the role on stage.


After I wrote what I did and watched the Von Stade video you posted, it occurred to me that "Voi" might be, as you say, basically a song and not a spontaneous expression of feeling. Looking at it that way, I feel a little less critical. It's been ages since I listened to all of _Figaro,_ and I haven't watched a staged or filmed performance since the 1970s, so in listening to "Voi" I wasn't visualizing Cherubino giving a little concert in the lady's boudoir with Susanna on guitar. That said, there's no reason for a randy young fellow singing about the madness of sexual passion (the words could almost come from Act 2 of _Tristan!_) not to let his powdered peruke slip a little and show more of himself than he might intend to. Teenage boys are, after all, awkward and paradoxical creatures (and, if memory serves, generally at least somewhat obnoxious).

With Adelina Patti's adventurously personal interpretation a permanent part of my mental furniture, I'll never hear this music - and maybe Classical period music in general - in quite the way I used to, or at least in the way people often perform it. What Callas told her master class about not singing Mozart on tiptoe would, I suspect, have been understood by most singers of Patti's generation as referring not merely to vocal production but to style. Classicism may mark a bit of a respite between the extravagances of the Baroque and the Romantic eras, but there's no evidence that musicians became less expressive or imaginative for half a century, and recordings tell us that the creative contribution of the singer was still valued in Verdi's time. I suspect that Mozart, Haydn and company would have found the way, say, Siepi sings "Non piu andrai" boring, and would have loved hearing Philippe Sly having some fun with it.


----------



## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

Anett Fritsch - Mozart: Arien - was a 2017 Gramophone Awards Finalist - Recital candidate - 

Link to label authorized complete recording -



https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kLiSAxOeoFN2los9cUsDWxF4yS4xyYwn8















Spoiler: Anett Fritsch - Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492: Voi, che sapete che cosa e amor


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Shaughnessy said:


> Anett Fritsch - Mozart: Arien - was a 2017 Gramophone Awards Finalist - Recital candidate -
> 
> Link to label authorized complete recording -
> 
> ...


Some charming embellishments in the da capo, most of which I like. No doubt singers would have done such things, every singer a little different. Without recordings spontanous decoration was a thing of the moment; the next time you heard the music, if you ever did, it might sound rather different. But with so many recordings nowadays, we can have great variety too.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> Classicism may mark a bit of an emotional respite between the extravagances of the Baroque and the Romantic eras


I completely agree with you about the Romantic, but not the Baroque. Think of the Doctrine of the Affections, (which can be seen as a dated/limited way of using contrast within a movement); or typical Handelian da capo arias. Where do we find anything like Mozart's Idomeneo in Handel? Look at Monteverdi, Purcell; emotionalism with use of dynamics is nil.
Overall, the Baroque tends to be cerebral with use of rhythm. There's certain "primitiveness" (lack of refinement) about it that's passed as "daring expressiveness".
One could argue Bach uses harmony in an emotional way, but his style can be seen as simply an epitome of the "Germanic style". Nothing more. Similarly, this work, from 1768, contains much dark, eerie-sounding harmonies, but I can't post any of its excerpts cause it's blocked on youtube due to copyright.


----------



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Woodduck said:


> Without recordings spontanous decoration was a thing of the moment; the next time you heard the music, if you ever did, it might sound rather different. But with so many recordings nowadays, we can have great variety too.


Marina Rebeka said, she never repeats the embelishments of the same aria on the different recordings.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

hammeredklavier said:


> emotionalism with use of dynamics










(early 1793)




(1786)




(1771)


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

hammeredklavier said:


> I completely agree with you about the Romantic, but not the Baroque. Think of the Doctrine of the Affections, (which can be seen as a dated/limited way of using contrast within a movement); or typical Handelian da capo arias. Where do we found anything like Mozart's Idomeneo in Handel? Look at Monteverdi, Purcell; emotionalism with use of dynamics is nil.
> Overall, the Baroque tends to be cerebral with use of rhythm. There's certain "primitiveness" (lack of refinement) about it that's passed as "daring expressiveness".
> One could argue Bach uses harmony in an emotional way, but his style can be seen as simply an epitome of the "Germanic style".


i hear - and see, in the visual arts and architecture - the Baroque as distinctly extravagant and powerfully expressive. Of course there's great variety. In music, improvisation could be nearly as important as the written score, and soloists got extremely creative. It wasn't just empty decoration. Many musicians since the HIP movment have tried to recapture some of the wildness of the Baroque, which exists in tension with its formality. In some of Bach's organ works the tension builds and builds within the superstructure, finally shattering and relaxing in an excruciating, chromatic cadence after a long pedal point. With the Rococo, this sense of strain, of energy on a leash, of gratification heightened through creative delay, dissipates. Listen to the progressive relaxation in concertos of J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, and J.C. Bach.

For Baroque intensity in the visual arts, try Bernini's _David_ and _Ecstasy of St. Teresa._


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> In some of Bach's organ works the tension builds and builds within the superstructure, finally shattering and relaxing in an excruciating, chromatic cadence after a long pedal point.


So by that reasoning, "such improvisations are non-conformist by nature", Pasterwitz or Krebs (died in 1803, 1780, respectively, contemporaries of Mozart) can be seen as simply "different", and not "inferior" to Mozart.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> Listen to the progressive relaxation in concertos of J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, and J.C. Bach.


Try this-

*Requiem in C Minor, MH 155 (1771)*
Requiem 1st theme & "trumpet signal": [ 0:20 ] 
Requiem 2nd theme: [ 3:20 ~ 3:45 ]
Dies irae theme: [ 6:26 ~ 2:38 ]
Requiem '3rd theme': [ 7:00 ~ 7:12 ]
Lacrimosa theme: [ 11:41 ~ 11:48 ] www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzmj8lRLHh0&t=11m41s
Dies irae theme recapitulated (within 'Dies irae' movement): [ 12:12 ~ 12:24 ]
Requiem '3rd theme' recapitulated (within 'Dies irae' movement) +
chromatic fourth theme (climbing from D to G in bass): [ 12:40 ~ 12:50 ]
Amen & Requiem '3rd theme' elaborated (coda of 'Dies irae' movement): [ 12:52 ~ 13:40 ]
Quam olim abrahae fugue: [ 16:06 ~ 17:18 ]
Quam olim abrahae fugue recapitulated (with added figures in strings): [ 18:52 ~ 20:02 ] 
Hosanna theme (Lacrimosa theme transformed/recapitulated): [ 24:23 ~ 24:30 ]
Requiem '4th theme' & "trumpet signal": [ 26:48 ; 27:56 ]
chromatic fourth theme recapitulated (climbing from G to C in soprano): [ 28:40 ~ 28:50 ]
Cum sanctis tuis fugue: [ 29:17 ~ 31:16 ]
Requiem 2nd theme recapitulated: [ 31:22 ~ 31:50 ]
Requiem 1st theme recapitulated: [ 31:58 ~ 32:30 ]
Cum sanctis tuis fugue recapitulated: [ 32:38 ~ 34:30 ]


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

hammeredklavier said:


> So by that reasoning, "such improvisations are non-conformist by nature", Pasterwitz or Krebs (died in 1780, a contemporary of Mozart) can be seen as simply "different", and not "inferior" to Mozart.


What reasoning? I merely described something. I'm not arguing that anything is "superior" or "inferior." You have a tendency to argue about things I haven't taken a position on. Why is that?


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

hammeredklavier said:


> Try this-
> 
> *Requiem in C Minor, MH 155 (1771)*
> Requiem 1st theme & "trumpet signal": [ 0:20 ]
> ...


No offense, but who wants to take the time for all the music you're constantly posting? Do you think your examples prove anything? Please let's not derail this thread any further.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> What reasoning? I merely described something. I'm not arguing that anything is "superior" or "inferior."


Friend, in the end it's all _subjective_.


hammeredklavier said:


> _What if_ Le Nozze di Figaro is really "just one step away" from Cosi fan tutte, which is regarded by many today as Corny Confections, aesthetically (not just idiomatically)? Was Mozart guilty of producing the latter (to make a living, in his place and time)? What if he's just a _glorified crowd-pleaser_?


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

I'm looking forward to seeing how Maria Ewing compares to the others in this aria.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

hammeredklavier said:


> Friend, in the end it's all _subjective_.


So might this be the "end"? I won't ask what "it" is. And please don't tell me, now or in the future. Yes, please, let this be the end.


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

If I never see another Michael Haydn link, it will be too soon


----------



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Sigh...
I used to annoy people around me with my love for opera. So I stopped. It was so lonely. I gave up on it for years (but there were other reasons too). Now I enjoy so much, that I can come here to TC (or facebook) and find a company to obsess with. But ... what to do, if you are one more step away, and your taste is unusual even for the wide ocean of the internet ?


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Becca said:


> I'm looking forward to seeing how Maria Ewing compares to the others in this aria.


I thought of using her but I don't know of two more who can compete with her. I don't know Mozart mezzos so well.


----------



## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

Seattleoperafan said:


> *I thought of using her but I don't know of two more who can compete with her. I don't know Mozart mezzos so well.*


Potential choices...



Spoiler: Susan Graham - "Voi che sapete"













Spoiler: Magdalena Kožená













Spoiler: Brigitte Fassbaender













Spoiler: Giulietta Simionato













Spoiler: Elina Garanca - German version













Spoiler: Conchita Supervía












Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492: Voi che sapete (Recorded 1928)


Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesLe nozze di Figaro, K. 492: Voi che sapete (Recorded 1928) · Conchita Supervia · Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · Ange...




www.youtube.com










Spoiler: Maria Ewing












Maria Ewing sings Voi Che Sapete


Maria Ewing- Cherubino (mezzosoprano)Karl BohmWiener Philarmoniker




www.youtube.com


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Shaughnessy said:


> Potential choices...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Supervia for sure. Cossotto is a bit of a surprise on the Giulini recording.


----------



## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Supervia for sure. Cossotto is a bit of a surprise on the Giulini recording.





Spoiler: Fiorenza Cossotto


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Sometimes on popular arias it is fun to get some input on choices. I have a third round with Ewing now  I am really good on Mozart sopranos. I know mezzos just not for that style of singing Thanks for the help.


----------



## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Shaughnessy said:


> Anett Fritsch - Mozart: Arien - was a 2017 Gramophone Awards Finalist - Recital candidate -
> 
> Link to label authorized complete recording -
> 
> ...


She sang Comtess in my only live Nozze. 

Magdalena Kozena is a good idea.


----------



## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Here the choice between three charming women was hard as never. All are gorgeous. I don't care it's a song of a permanently horny boy. I chose DiDonato probably because I've heard her live. Voi che sapete is one of her favorite encores.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ColdGenius said:


> Here the choice between three charming women was hard as never. All are gorgeous. I don't care it's a song of a permanently horny boy. I chose DiDonato probably because I've heard her live. Voi che sapete is one of her favorite encores.


How was your experience of her live. I bet she had great stage presence. I don't find her to have a very individual sound but live I don't think that matters as much. I enjoy her in videos.


----------



## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Seattleoperafan said:


> How was your experience of her live. I bet she had great stage presence. I don't find her to have a very individual sound but live I don't think that matters as much. I enjoy her in videos.


It was spectacular. First time was Semiramide in München. I got used to it were sung by sopranos and had in mind recordings of Caballe, Sutherland and Callas. But she was magnificent. (In the same production, but in another block sang Albina Shaghimuratova, a notable lyric coloratura; it's a pity I didn't hear her in this role). The production was also an example of a clever modern staging and a costume designer didn't hate women. The confused queen, who screwed things up big time, looked excellent. (The rest of the cast was impressive too). 
For a second time I saw her in a recital of Mozart arias and Berlioz's La morte de Cleopatra. Mozart was sung irreproachably. In Berlioz there was many low passages, but she got over them well. She's always dramatically persuasive. 
Third time was a recital too, a postcovid piano one. Its topic was loneliness, she spoke to the audience a lot in pauses, everybody was chuffed. The program was mixed, it included Rückert Lieder by Mahler, Dido's lament from Les Troyens, some songs and my favorite arias of Cleopatra, by Hasse and Handel. Piano accompaniment has some issues, especially in baroque, but about her voice and stage presence I can tell only good things. 
Comparing her to two my Didos, Semenchuk and Matochkina, who are more dramatic mezzos, would be almost impossible thing. All three girls show worthy Dido. Lately I also heard La morte de Cleopatra by Semenchuk, and I must say, this were different performances, every of them was gorgeous in its own way. 
Finally, I must say that DiDonato has a good taste and successfully avoids all these feathers and tinsels.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ColdGenius said:


> It was spectacular. First time was Semiramide in München. I got used to it were sung by sopranos and had in mind recordings of Caballe, Sutherland and Callas. But she was magnificent. (In the same production, but in another block sang Albina Shaghimuratova, a notable lyric coloratura; it's a pity I didn't hear her in this role). The production was also an example of a clever modern staging and a costume designer didn't hate women. The confused queen, who screwed things up big time, looked excellent. (The rest of the cast was impressive too).
> For a second time I saw her in a recital of Mozart arias and Berlioz's La morte de Cleopatra. Mozart was sung irreproachably. In Berlioz there was many low passages, but she got over them well. She's always dramatically persuasive.
> Third time was a recital too, a postcovid piano one. Its topic was loneliness, she spoke to the audience a lot in pauses, everybody was chuffed. The program was mixed, it included Rückert Lieder by Mahler, Dido's lament from Les Troyens, some songs and my favorite arias of Cleopatra, by Hasse and Handel. Piano accompaniment has some issues, especially in baroque, but about her voice and stage presence I can tell only good things.
> Comparing her to two my Didos, Semenchuk and Matochkina, who are more dramatic mezzos, would be almost impossible thing. All three girls show worthy Dido. Lately I also heard La morte de Cleopatra by Semenchuk, and I must say, this were different performances, every of them was gorgeous in its own way.
> Finally, I must say that DiDonato has a good taste and successfully avoids all these feathers and tinsels.


Thanks for the great review. I have a hard time picturing her in Berlioz but I wasn't there as I picture bigger voices for that piece. I would gladly go to a concert of hers.


----------



## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Thanks for the great review. I have a hard time picturing her in Berlioz but I wasn't there as I picture bigger voices for that piece. I would gladly go to a concert of hers.


She sang much both La morte and Les Troyens past couple seasons. I got used to more dramatic voices in Berlioz, but she didn't show any issues. 
Semenchuk sings Dido in Europe too, and was acclaimed. And tonight I go to see her again.


----------



## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

ColdGenius said:


> ...And tonight I go to see her again.


I did it!


----------



## damianjb1 (Jan 1, 2016)

This is very beautiful. Cossotto is not normally associated with this type of repertoire but I think it's a gorgeous piece of singing.


----------

