# Netrebko's In Questa Reggia



## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

What do you think of this performance?
I think she'll be out of voice in no time. And it's not even worth it. Oh and I'd like to hear that without microphones


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Tuoksu said:


> What do you think of this performance?
> I think she'll be out of voice in no time. And it's not even worth it. Oh and I'd like to hear that without microphones


It was one performance of one aria it is not like she is singing Turandot for a season.
By the way I think every singer is allowed to take water over their heads once in a while.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I am absolutely delighted that her Nebs pulled this one off -- and so very perfectly! She's a Turandot in the offing and the sooner the better. That was a superb and spectacular rendering of an impossibly difficult aria.
Brava, Anna. You are a winner.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Overpaid and overhyped, mediocre voice.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Sloe said:


> It was one performance of one aria it is not like she is singing Turandot for a season.
> By the way I think every singer is allowed to take water over their heads once in a while.


Sure, she can experiment. But don't try to sell a husky Mimi voice as a mediocre Turandot because you have a microphone. She couldn't be farther from a dramatic, let alone Wagnerian fach. Just a swallowed, throaty and pushed voice that is still not squillante nor projective.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Tuoksu said:


> Sure, she can experiment. But don't try to sell a husky Mimi voice as a mediocre Turandot because you have a microphone. She couldn't be farther from a dramatic, let alone Wagnerian fach. Just a swallowed, throaty and pushed voice that is still not squillante nor projective.


If there were no microphone we would not have been able to hear it unless we were there in person.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Sloe said:


> If there were no microphone we would not have been able to hear it unless we were there in person.


Well I'm obviously not talking about mics used to capture the performance. I'm talking about personal mics and amplification (that no one wants to talk about) which allow small or medium, non-dramatic voices like Netrebko to sing heavy Verdi, Wagner and Turandot.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

It does not get past the very first phrase for me. Ugh. I have no idea why she tries to sing this fiendishly difficult aria suited for Dimitrova, Marton, Nilsson (and Callas!) But I do hope she will put this case to rest for good.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

what the actual truck.......

she has plenty of opportunities to sing wherever she wants. leave the dramatic music to the dramatic voices. you'd think she would have learned after the Norma fiasco.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> what the actual truck.......
> 
> she has plenty of opportunities to sing wherever she wants. leave the dramatic music to the dramatic voices. you'd think she would have learned after the Norma fiasco.


for clarification: I realize the demands that come with being a singer, which sometimes includes having to take on roles which don't 100% fit for the sake of eating/paying rent, but when you are in as high demand as Netrebko, you don't need to be singing rep that requires a voice 4X what you can put out. one of the reasons I respect Fleming is that her choices of repertoire were more reasonable. sure, she dipped a little too far into bel canto for my tastes (her coloratura isn't the best, and while she has an impressive upper extension, the core of her voice clearly sits lower than that), but nothing worthy of scathing criticism (the more lyrical, lower-lying French and Eastern European rep which, imo, best suit her voice are also not in terribly high demand).


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> one of the reasons I respect Fleming is that her choices of repertoire were more reasonable. sure, she dipped a little too far into bel canto for my tastes (her coloratura isn't the best, and while she has an impressive upper extension, the core of her voice clearly sits lower than that)


(By the way, I recommend you to listen to her performance in Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (Opera Rara), the bel canto fireworks Fleming unleashed were eye-opener for me. ####ing unbelievable! I haven't heard too many of her recordings before so I had to force close my jaw afterwards )


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

Tuoksu said:


> What do you think of this performance?
> I think she'll be out of voice in no time. And it's not even worth it. Oh and I'd like to hear that without microphones


It's horrible. She lacks both proper breath control and correct intonation and her voice is too small. Why would she sing this?


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Barelytenor said:


> It's horrible. She lacks both proper breath control and correct intonation and her voice is too small. Why would she sing this?


Because they let her.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

It's a perennial temptation for singers to try roles too big for them. The motivation may be a sense of challenge or adventure, or pure ego. Way back in 1896 Nellie Melba (never deficient in ego) thought she ought to be able to shine as Brunnhilde in _Siegfried._ She lost her voice temporarily and vowed not to be so vain in the future. Beverly Sills, who said "I was born with the mind of Birgit Nilsson and the voice of Beverly Sills," sang the three Donizetti queens and even tried Norma, knowing she would shorten her career but unable to resist the dramatic challenge.

If it's a one-shot deal and you're miked, why not? Hopefully the folly will stop there.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Guess I'm the only one on this website that is go-go Netrebko. I find her voice matured and ready. The rest of you don't .
Different ears! Different strokes!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Guess I'm the only one on this website that is go-go Netrebko. I find her voice matured and ready. The rest of you don't .
> Different ears! Different strokes!


Do not loose sleep over it, do what you like.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Guess I'm the only one on this website that is go-go Netrebko. I find her voice matured and ready. The rest of you don't .
> Different ears! Different strokes!


I do not condemn her for singing In questa reggia but I just do not think it sounds good.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Guess I'm the only one on this website that is go-go Netrebko. I find her voice matured and ready. The rest of you don't .
> Different ears! Different strokes!


matured for a bit of spinto rep: sure
matured for heavy dramatic rep: definitely not. that role is voice killer even for real dramatic sopranos

in all fairness, at least she only sung the aria as opposed to the entire role. that would have been suicidio.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> matured for a bit of spinto rep: sure
> matured for heavy dramatic rep: definitely not. that role is voice killer even for real dramatic sopranos
> 
> in all fairness, at least she only sung the aria as opposed to the entire role. that would have been suicidio.


She singing that on the new album.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Callas was smart enough to drop _Turandot_ from her repertoire. Nilsson, on the other hand, called it her "vacation role." Apparently the only part of Birgit that ever got tired onstage was her feet.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Rightfully so, it's almost half apart from a opera for the soprano.


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## Scopitone (Nov 22, 2015)

So then, who do we _want _to hear for Turandot or Norma or some of these other career killers?

This aria is on Netrebko's newest album, _Verismo_.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Scopitone said:


> So then, who do we _want _to hear for Turandot or Norma or some of these other career killers?
> 
> This aria is on Netrebko's newest album, _Verismo_.


Does the name Sondra Radvanovsky ring a bell?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Nina Stemme did Turandot at the Met recently. Pretty good, though not in the league of Birgit Nilsson, Gina Cigna, or Eva Turner. Has anyone else heard this splendid "In questa reggia" by Inge Borkh from 1955? And listen to Mario del Monaco's Calaf:






Offhand I can't think of any clarion-voiced dramatic sopranos like these (or any dramatic tenor like del Monaco!) presently active.


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## Scopitone (Nov 22, 2015)

nina foresti said:


> Does the name Sondra Radvanovsky ring a bell?


Don't know her. I am an opera noob. 

Looks like spotify has an album of Verdi arias from her



Woodduck said:


> Nina Stemme did Turandot at the Met recently. Pretty good, though not in the league of Birgit Nilsson, Gina Cigna, or Eva Turner. Has anyone else heard this splendid "In questa reggia" by Inge Borkh from 1955? And listen to Mario del Monaco's Calaf:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I guess it's not the thing these days, to do that kind of singing? Not "sexy", perhaps?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Does the name Sondra Radvanovsky ring a bell?


Here is Radvanovsky doing "Un bel di."






Based on this, I would hope she doesn't try Turandot.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Nina Stemme did Turandot at the Met recently. Pretty good, though not in the league of Birgit Nilsson, Gina Cigna, or Eva Turner.


Nina Stemme have sung Turandot several times before.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Scopitone said:


> Don't know her. I am an opera noob.
> 
> Looks like spotify has an album of Verdi arias from her
> 
> I guess it's not the thing these days, to do that kind of singing? Not "sexy", perhaps?


Grab that album, Scopitone. Radvanovsky is one of the most wonderful voices to grace an opera stage today.
You will thank me.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Her voice suits a certain repertoire which is fair enough. But every artist should know their limits, as if! I had the misfortune recently to acquire her Four Last Songs. Yikes. If I never hear her singing these again it will be a day too soon. Please Anna, no more orchestral lieder. It's just not her thing but that's o.k. There is plenty of music out there that she shines in.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Scopitone said:


> So then, who do we _want _to hear for Turandot or Norma or some of these other career killers?.


*
Maria Guleghina.* It has already killed her voice now though.
Nina Stemme is good enough for Turandot and Wagner.



> Does the name Sondra Radvanovsky ring a bell?


Sondra is a wonderful* Verdi Spinto* with a huge voice (for her fach) and decent coloratura. She's impressive in the Three Donizetti Queens and Norma. Still I wouldn't want to hear her in Turandot, even though she told Bing and Dennis it's among the roles she wants to try, among others like Abigaille, Lady Macbeth etc.. This kind of roles calls for a much heavier and steelier timbre.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Tuoksu said:


> *
> Maria Guleghina.* It has already killed her voice now though.
> Nina Stemme is good enough for Turandot and Wagner.
> 
> Sondra is a wonderful* Verdi Spinto* with a huge voice (for her fach) and decent coloratura. She's impressive in the Three Donizetti Queens and Norma. Still I wouldn't want to hear her in Turandot, even though she told Bing and Dennis it's among the roles she wants to try, among others like Abigaille, Lady Macbeth etc.. This kind of roles calls for a much heavier and steelier timbre.


lovely spinto voice: yes
decent coloratura: HELL no


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> lovely spinto voice: yes
> decent coloratura: HELL no


Rectif: Decent for that size of voice.  I loved her in Roberto Devereux. She's no Sills but she handled it with enough mastery. And still better than Netrebka


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Tuoksu said:


> Rectif: Decent for that size of voice.  I loved her in Roberto Devereux. She's no Sills but she handled it with enough mastery.


not even then. compare her to females with equally large or larger voices such as Shirley Verrett, Ghena Dimitrova, Ebe Stignani or Marisa Galvany.



> And still better than Netrebka


agreed (fwiw, Trebs is fine is lyric and lighter verismo work).


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

In fairness, absolutely no one sings or has ever sung this aria well.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Couchie said:


> In fairness, absolutely no one sings or has ever sung this aria well.


You haven't heard Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> You haven't heard Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh?


Love her. Bless Ira Siff. I wish he'd bring her back. Those evenings were such fun.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Love her. Bless Ira Siff. I wish he'd bring her back. Those evenings were such fun.


Ira's getting up in years. His soprano days are over, I suspect. But what a diva!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Couchie said:


> In fairness, absolutely no one sings or has ever sung this aria well.


Give me a break , will you.






Dame Joan Sutherland. In questa reggia. Turandot. Giacomo Puccini.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> not even then. compare her to females with equally large or larger voices such as Shirley Verrett, Ghena Dimitrova, Ebe Stignani or Marisa Galvany.


I wouldn't compare any of today's singers to these haha

Still, she does give off a Callas vibe..


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tuoksu said:


> I wouldn't compare any of today's singers to these haha
> 
> Still, she does give off a Callas vibe..


My WORD! Jez, he is sexy looking!!!! Sorry for the digression.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

It is one of my very favorite arias. With the right singer it gives thrills. She pales in comparison to Dimitrova, Nilsson, E. Turner, Grob-Prandl, Alessandra Marc, Sutherland, early Callas, in no particular order. After hearing them she sounds like a singer with consumpion.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Couchie said:


> In fairness, absolutely no one sings or has ever sung this aria well.


there are a few 















Pugg said:


> Give me a break , will you.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


^and this



Woodduck said:


> You haven't heard Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh?


omfg :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> there are a few
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You could write the name of the singers to the links.
Your second link with Birgit Nilsson is wonderful.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I love that Nilsson clip. Couldn't take my eyes off her extraordinary face. She and Corelli were hors concours in these roles for their generation.

But Vera Galupe-Borszhk remains unique for her detailed projection of the text. At last we understand why Puccini couldn't write his final love duet but died instead.﻿


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

There's a rumor in opera circles that when Nilsson and Corelli sang "In questa reggia" together they were both competing with each other to top the high notes and when she got the best of him he supposedly bit her ear.
At intermission, Nilsson called Rudolf Bing into her dressing room and told him she could not go on. She was bitten and thinks she caught rabies.
Of course this was all apochryphal and I doubt it really happened. She did go on and complete the production.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Nilsson is definitely the best, but even she reportedly rested her voice for days before and after performances to minimize the destruction of this voice-destroying aria.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Sloe said:


> You could write the name of the singers to the links.
> Your second link with Birgit Nilsson is wonderful.


Ghena Dimitrova





Birgit Nilsson





Eva Turner


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## LouisMasterMusic (Aug 28, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Guess I'm the only one on this website that is go-go Netrebko. I find her voice matured and ready. The rest of you don't .
> Different ears! Different strokes!


You're not the only one. I really admire her, alongside Renee Fleming and Angela Gheorghiu. And I'm not even referring to this specific video of the Turandot aria.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Guess I'm the only one on this website that is go-go Netrebko. I find her voice matured and ready. The rest of you don't .
> Different ears! Different strokes!


 It definitely is much more of a darkish spinto than it used to be. Still, I am skeptical that she would ever BE Turandot.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> It definitely is much more of *a darkish spinto* than it used to be. Still, I am skeptical that she would ever BE Turandot.


Not even that. To me the voice now sounds like a muddy, husky, forced and artificially-darkened version of the plush and smokey full lyric soprano that used to be. She's not even fit to be a butterfly.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tuoksu said:


> Not even that. To me the voice now sounds like a muddy, husky, forced and artificially-darkened version of the plush and smokey full lyric soprano that used to be. She's not even fit to be a butterfly.


You might be right. I think the real verdict is to be heard from people who have heard her live, as recordings can be deceptive. She is only on my periphery. I am much more into divas from the past. Give me a Sutherland Lucia anyday!!!!!!


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> You might be right. I think the real verdict is to be heard from people who have heard her live, as recordings can be deceptive. She is only on my periphery.* I am much more into divas from the past. Give me a Sutherland Lucia anyday*!!!!!!


Unfortunately even live performances can be deceptive these days. Think about how they made Cecilia Bartoli sound huge at the Met. I find it ludicrous when people say things like "_Anna, now a Dramatic Soprano_" (!!!!) or "Anna is now ready to sing Turandot and Lady Macbeth" as if gaining weight and being a few years older transforms you from a small/medium lyric voice to a full-blown Verdian/Wagnerian while the whole "big voice" thing is something you're born with and has more to do with resonators and breath support rather than age or even timbre, as you can have a huge voice without being overly dark voice (Sutherland and Nilsson etc..) It's just that the natural/artificial darkening of the timbre, coupled with technological chicanery can produce the illusion of a larger voice. But ever wonder why her (and many other singers') gasps are so insufferably audible?

I wish we could hear the greats of past recorded and especially filmed as perfectly as today's singers. I still would take a rattly Ponselle recording over any of Netrebko's glamorous recordings.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tuoksu said:


> Unfortunately even live performances can be deceptive these days. Think about how they made Cecilia Bartoli sound huge at the Met. I find it ludicrous when people say things like "_Anna, now a Dramatic Soprano_" (!!!!) or "Anna is now ready to sing Turandot and Lady Macbeth" as if gaining weight and being a few years older transforms you from a small/medium lyric voice to a full-blown Verdian/Wagnerian while the whole "big voice" thing is something you're born with and has more to do with resonators and breath support rather than age or even timbre, as you can have a huge voice without being overly dark voice (Sutherland and Nilsson etc..) It's just that the natural/artificial darkening of the timbre, coupled with technological chicanery can produce the illusion of a larger voice. But ever wonder why her (and many other singers') gasps are so insufferably audible?
> 
> I wish we could hear the greats of past recorded and especially filmed as perfectly as today's singers. I still would take a rattly Ponselle recording over any of Netrebko's glamorous recordings.


An instance of this really happenend is Christine Goerke who started out as a large Mozart lyric and her voice tripled in size. She may be the greatest Wagnerian soprano today.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> An instance of this really happenend is Christine Goerke who started out as a large Mozart lyric and her voice tripled in size. She may be the greatest Wagnerian soprano today.


I don't see how anyone's voice could possibly triple in size. I heard the same about Nina Stemme starting as a lyric then suddenly becoming Wagnerian. That's kind of fishy tbh. I wish I could believe it, it leaves hope for some of us.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Voices can grow, but probably not triple. Flagstad claimed that her voice grew considerably after she gave birth - hormonal magic, I presume. She sang all sorts of light repertoire during her early Norwegian years, and didn't take on Isolde and Brunnhilde till she was nearly forty.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

I doubt Netrebko's voice grew bigger, more likely your tolerance level grew higher 
Turandot it ain't.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Seattleoperafan said:


> An instance of this really happenend is Christine Goerke who started out as a large Mozart lyric and her voice tripled in size. She may be the greatest Wagnerian soprano today.


Sorry to disagree here, but I heard, live, one of her earliest performances as a Mozartean - a Donna Elvira in Boston with Boston Baroque, in 1997. She might not have been the most polished singer on the stage (the Don and Leporello were Nathan Gunn and Nathan Berg, respectively, but she did possess the largest voice in that performance. It was clear 20 years ago that she would not be a Mozart singer her entire career.

Over the years, I've heard her in a number of broadcasts (including a terrific Walkure Brunnhilde from New Zealand in 2012). I heard her again live as the Dyer's Wife in FRoSch at the Met a few years back, and last year with the BSO as Elektra. Although she has certainly matured as a vocalist, musician, and interpreter, it's really the same voice - she just knows better how to use it.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/...-crisis-a-brnnhilde-is-born.html?mcubz=0&_r=0.
Maybe it was always so big but perhaps she was singing carefully. Robert Shaw told her early in her career she was a dramatic soprano, back when she was singing pretty much only stuff like Mozart..


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/...-crisis-a-brnnhilde-is-born.html?mcubz=0&_r=0.
> Maybe it was always so big but perhaps she was singing carefully. Robert Shaw told her early in her career she was a dramatic soprano, back when she was singing pretty much only stuff like Mozart..


It's a voice you either like or don't like, it's that simple.


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## VitellioScarpia (Aug 27, 2017)

Matured is the subtle way of saying wobbly, or in declining voice? :devil: The upper range sounds like one could throw grapes through the, ahem, "vibrato"...


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

The subject video of Netrebko singing "In questa reggia" is no longer available on YouTube. Having listened to it previously, I cannot lament its demise. 

The good news is, I got to hear Sondra Radvanosky and Joyce Di Donata sing Norma on Monday last at the Met season-opener due to Netrebko's withdrawal (divus interruptus)!

More later on Norma ...

Kind regards,

George


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Barelytenor said:


> The subject video of Netrebko singing "In questa reggia" is no longer available on YouTube. Having listened to it previously, I cannot lament its demise.
> 
> The good news is, I got to hear Sondra Radvanosky and Joyce Di Donata sing Norma on Monday last at the Met season-opener due to Netrebko's withdrawal (divus interruptus)!
> 
> ...


Me too, can't wait. :angel:


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