# Round 2: Tenor. A Te O Cara: di Stefano, Pavarotti, Camarena



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)




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## Aerobat (Dec 31, 2018)

Hmmmm.

I was expecting to be blown away be Di Stefano. But, but, but.... something in his performance left me cold. I couldn't say what, although the recording doesn't do him any favours. There are moments when he shines, and moments when he seems to lack a certain je ne sais quoi. 

This leaves the other two, and right now I feel that I may have to listen to both, more than once, to really be able to say which I prefer.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I didn’t expect Di Stefano to be as sensitive as he is here, nor to like Camarena’s more bel canto rendition as much as I do. No, the proverbial “bull in a china shop” turns out out to be the tenor for whom I thought I would vote, Pavarotti. He varies his emissions very slightly, maintaining a stentorian _forte _almost throughout and he sometimes sounds strained on top, which was another surprise. His voice, though, is so beautiful and firm.

Camarena sounds like a lover speaking his love, intimately, for your ears only, though the high C# is , of course a showy bit as a concession to the original Arturo, Rubini. No tenor sounds entirely comfortable with that note - it’s quite entirely unnatural. Thank God no one attempted a high F!

Di Stefano is the worst sounding, as he doesn’t cover it and takes it roughly as is his wont. He takes several _diminuendi _here and there, which are nice.

Arturo’s ladies are, Maria Callas for di Stefano; Arleen Auger for Pavarotti, and Diana Damrau for Camarena. I noticed Damrau (accidentally?) does a very nice _messa di voce _on the sustained note at “a te” at the end of the aria, though the note wavers a bit, the sound is lovely.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

My Pippo has let me down. So gently putting him aside, I am now dealing with the Pav and Cam. Camarena's voice is pure sweetness and gentleness (like he is in person), and normally not being a Pav fan, (my mate will kill me if he reads this), it surprises even me to say that he got me this time. He did a beautiful job and his high note was clearly the one to beat -- he was truly the "king of the high 'C's".


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I was fully expecting to give this one to Pavarotti but having listened to all three (Camarena much better here than in the first video SOF posted) I'm not so sure. Pavarotti's favourite tenor, Di Stefano is in much better here than in the studio set with Callas, his voice much freer, with even the top D ringing out more easily. The sound on this live recording isn't great, but Di Stefano sings with much more sensitivity than Pavarotti, who sings at a pretty relentless forte throughout.

If the comparison was with the first video SOF posted for Camarena then I'd definitely be voting for Di Stefano, but I really liked Camarena's performance here. He sings sweetly and ardently and his top notes are easier than Pippo's, so I eventually come down in favour of his performance.

A word about the sopranos. Callas is her iniimitable self on the Di Stefano recording, Arleen Auger is on the Pavarotti and Diana Damrau is with Camarena. I was struck by how much more vibrato she had than Callas and Auger and I found her voice much less attractive than either of them.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Thanks to Mas who alerted me to a better Camarena performance early on and I was able to change it. I heard him once and he has a beautiful voice. I can't remember if it was Gilgi or di Stefano but about one of them it was said that they were best in the 40's before they made most of their recordings. Does anyone know who this would have been about? Judging by the photo I assumed this was early in Pav's career. Early on his voice was so beautiful.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I can't remember if it was Gilgi or di Stefano but about one of them it was said that they were best in the 40's before they made most of their recordings. Does anyone know who this would have been about?


I mentioned that about Di Stefano a few days ago. I find him hard to listen to after about 1955. I also like Gigli's early recordings best, but those date from before 1930.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I can't decide whether i dislike this aria a little or a lot. It's a sweet, sweet melody that needs the utmost in tenderness and suavity, and the tenor absolutely must have a fine and flexible mix of head and chest voice - voix mixte - or the thing's likely to sound relentless and tiresome in its constantly repeated figures. I imagine Rubini was ravishing in it. Nobody in this company - and nobody singing today - is as ravishing as I need to hear, but Camarena does give us some variety of expression. Pavarotti is monotonous and loud, and Di Stefano, who tries harder to do something with the piece, does his usual thing, attacking almost every note from below, even the ones where you'd never expect it. I can't decide whether I dislike him a little or a lot....


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I can't decide whether i dislike this aria a little or a lot. It's a sweet, sweet melody that needs the utmost in tenderness and suavity, and the tenor absolutely must have a fine and flexible mix of head and chest voice - voix mixte - or the thing's likely to sound relentless and tiresome in its constantly repeated figures. I imagine Rubini was ravishing in it. Nobody in this company - and nobody singing today - is as ravishing as I need to hear, but Camarena does give us some variety of expression. Pavarotti is monotonous and loud, and Di Stefano, who tries harder to do something with the piece, does his usual thing, attacking almost every note from below, even the ones where you'd never expect it. I can't decide whether I dislike him a little or a lot....


I apologize but I have another round to go. Oops!!! Thanks for answering my question.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> I can't decide whether i dislike this aria a little or a lot. It's a sweet, sweet melody…


I hear you, but even if I don’t like it, I can’t stop having that melody endlessly in my mind! #3&&#%@


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

MAS said:


> I didn’t expect Di Stefano to be as sensitive as he is here, nor to like Camarena’s more bel canto rendition as much as I do. No, the proverbial “bull in a china shop” turns out out to be the tenor for whom I thought I would vote, Pavarotti. He varies his emissions very slightly, maintaining a stentorian _forte _almost throughout and he sometimes sounds strained on top, which was another surprise. His voice, though, is so beautiful and firm.
> 
> Camarena sounds like a lover speaking his love, intimately, for your ears only, though the high C# is , of course a showy bit as a concession to the original Arturo, Rubini. No tenor sounds entirely comfortable with that note - it’s quite entirely unnatural. Thank God no one attempted a high F!
> 
> ...


*P.S. A word about aspirates*

Di Stefano, surprisingly, does quite a few phrases without them, but uses remarkably few of them in passages that have divisions and to launch his _acuti._ Camarena uses them sparingly, but he does use them. Pavarotti is remarkably elegant in that he does not use any in any of the long phrases with the gentle _coloratura. _But he does use them, but only to help him launch his high notes.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Deleted deleted deleted


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

MAS said:


> I hear you, but even if I don’t like it, I can’t stop having that melody endlessly in my mind! #3&&#%@


These contests often leave me with earworms. Everything has its cost...

EDIT: Does anyone else frequently slip an apostraphe into the possessive "its," and have to go back and remove it? I drive myself a little crazy doing that. I also often type "music" as "muisc." Somehow the fingers want to work that way.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> These contests often leave me with earworms. Everything has its cost...
> 
> EDIT: Does anyone else frequently slip an apostraphe into the possessive "its," and have to go back and remove it?


Spellcheck does it for me every time and I have to correct it.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

It is driving me crazy. A te o cara is going around my brain like mad.
But then, they all do. At least it isn't punk rock.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Another thing about this melody: why did Bellini put the first word, "a," meaning "to," on an accented beat? Sing it in translation, "to you, darling (dearest, sweetheart, whatever)" and you can feel how wrong it sounds to emphasize "to." Is this less awkward to Italian ears?


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## Yes Luciano (Feb 23, 2018)

nina foresti said:


> My Pippo has let me down. So gently putting him aside, I am now dealing with the Pav and Cam. Camarena's voice is pure sweetness and gentleness (like he is in person), and normally not being a Pav fan, (my mate will kill me if he reads this), it surprises even me to say that he got me this time. He did a beautiful job and his high note was clearly the one to beat -- he was truly the "king of the high 'C's".


Pav is at his best in the Bonynge Puritani recording…..a little more nuanced and the high note just as good or better.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Yes Luciano said:


> Pav is at his best in the Bonynge Puritani recording…..a little more nuanced and the high note just as good or better.


I was hoping for that recording but Youtube is remiss on details like conductors etc.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I was hoping for that recording but Youtube is remiss on details like conductors etc.


Perhaps if you included it in your search parameters.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Woodduck said:


> These contests often leave me with earworms. Everything has its cost...
> 
> EDIT: Does anyone else frequently slip an apostraphe into the possessive "its," and have to go back and remove it? I drive myself a little crazy doing that. I also often type "music" as "muisc." Somehow the fingers want to work that way.


It's brains and evil T9, not fingers.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

The were two funny things I couldn't stop looking at: that dog on Camarena's coat and Damrau's facial expressions. And her attempt to sniff a foil flower.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

ColdGenius said:


> The were two funny things I couldn't stop looking at: that dog on Camarena's coat and Damrau's facial expressions. And her attempt to sniff a foil flower.


Suspension of disbelief is important; opera was not meant to be seen in closeups! The prop master might have sprayed scent in the foil! 😂😂


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Then it's all right she doesn't sneeze. 
Indeed, I like Damrau. But sometimes she is excessive.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

ColdGenius said:


> Then it's all right she doesn't sneeze.
> Indeed, I like Damrau. But sometimes she is excessive.


I like the intimate smile she gives him when he kneels beside her.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Luckily Divina released this so the sound isn't quite so bad. In this case Pippo is better in this live performance than in the studio recording. I puritani for me is an opera that I mostly listen to individual arias only.


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