# Round 4: Tenor: "Salut... "Faust: Nicolai Gedda and Alfredo Kraus



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon, who knows tenors much more than me, suggested this pairing.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Neither of these singers is among my favorite tenors, but I respect them both as singers and artists. Of the two, Kraus gives a performance that holds my interest from first note to last, and I have no hesitation choosing him over the competent but unimaginative Gedda. To my mind, Kraus lacks only a sensually exciting timbre to put him in the upper echelon of the performances we've heard.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I agree with Woodduck. Kraus, even in his younger days, had a rather dry timbre, but he was ever the stylist and his technique was excellent, enabling him to sing some of these high lying French roles into his 70s.

Gedda too was known to be a stylish singer, particularly good in French opera, but here he is a bit penny plain. It does sound a little like just another day in the studio. The second statement of _Salut, demeure chaste et pure_ has a little more tenderness than the first, but, all in all, it's technically profficient, but uncommunicative.

Kraus is much more imaginative, his phrasing and sense of style exemplary. Interesting fact about Kraus is that he sang very few roles, but commanded the highest fees for those he did sing. A friend of mine, a staff producer at Covent Garden, said he was the highest paid tenor at the house, and this was at a time when Domingo and Pavarotti were singing there. He sang a lot of French opera (though he does have an accent) and was particularly known for his Faust and Werther. Even late in his career, he could toss of the high Cs in *La Fille du Régiment* with insouciant ease.

Kraus wins this one. Even with his less than plush vocal material, I'd probably place him quite high amongst those we've heard so far.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

I'm not crazy about either of these renditions. Gedda sometimes sounds a bit nasal and whiney, and that's the case here. Kraus does a lot more with less voice, and I don't think that this recording really does his voice justice; I heard him live once, singing Romeo at the Met, and he looked and sounded thirty years younger than he was at the time.

I doubt that this one will be included in the competition, but Sabbattini is one of my favorites, and listen to what he does with the high C:


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

wkasimer said:


> I'm not crazy about either of these renditions. Gedda sometimes sounds a bit nasal and whiney, and that's the case here. Kraus does a lot more with less voice, and I don't think that this recording really does his voice justice; I heard him live once, singing Romeo at the Met, and he looked and sounded thirty years younger than he was at the time.
> 
> I doubt that this one will be included in the competition, but Sabbattini is one of my favorites, and listen to what he does with the high C:


Lordy! That High C!


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

No question here. I have always considered Gedda a fine tenor but somehow lacking in emotional activity whereas Kraus treats the aria with more sensitivity.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Lordy! That High C!


I felt his high C started out a bit harsh which he straightened out so quickly that it almost seemed it didn't belong to the same note (if you catch my drift).
Actually, after listening (and dreaming) to more than 20 "saluds" I now became more interested in everything BUT that high C which most all reach in excellent ways. It's the in-between stuff that attracts me more and that's why di Stefano and Bjorling come closest to my heart in this one. (Alagna's was also quite lovely)


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> I felt his high C started out a bit harsh which he straightened out so quickly that it almost seemed it didn't belong to the same note (if you catch my drift).
> Actually, after listening (and dreaming) to more than 20 "saluds" I now became more interested in everything BUT that high C which most all reach in excellent ways. It's the in-between stuff that attracts me more and that's why di Stefano and Bjorling come closest to my heart in this one. (Alagna's was also quite lovely)


The whole aria is so beautiful, Nina.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

wkasimer said:


> I'm not crazy about either of these renditions. Gedda sometimes sounds a bit nasal and whiney, and that's the case here. Kraus does a lot more with less voice, and I don't think that this recording really does his voice justice; I heard him live once, singing Romeo at the Met, and he looked and sounded thirty years younger than he was at the time.
> 
> I doubt that this one will be included in the competition, but Sabbattini is one of my favorites, and listen to what he does with the high C:


Nice find. A beautifully shaped interpretation, attentive to every word. The diminuendo on the high C is perfectly executed and just long enough not to seem like a stunt. His soft singing is a little lacking in body and intensity, the voice isn't especially individual, and I like a little more portamento in the phrasing, but he makes more of the aria than some.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Faust has been a popular role for Russian tenors. A couple of my favorites:

Leonid Sobinov, who recorded the aria at least twice:






Sergei Lemeshev, who probably recorded it several times:






And then there's Ivan Kozlovsky, who made a complete recording with Mark Reizen as Mephistopheles.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Deleted post *****


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