# Round Two : Pleurez mes yeux: Bumbry, Gheorghiu, Caballe



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I would like to set the stage for our video contest for this great aria. Bumbry was requested but was already on my list. A poster said they doubted Gheorghiu could do justice to this aria. DOUBT NOT! Lastly and most importantly about Caballe: this listener found the main part of the aria to DRAG!!!BUT, the end of the aria is the most exciting new moment in opera to me in over a decade. Caballe pulls all the stops out. Only the end of of her L'Orange Casta Diva was this insanely inspired . It will be interesting to see what you say to her version. I have a suggestion. Private messaging is so simple in this forum. I would prefer if you have a suggestion for a contest candidate I am putting together that you just send me a private message rather than putting it out in public on the forum or putting a video clip. I am going to use a Youtube clip already listed, 
but people will have already heard it.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Easy peasy one for me.
#1 - the runaway Gheorghiu. That voice is mesmerizing.
#2 - Bumbry - also excellent and a bit lighter in sound
#3 - Caballe - too hammy for me


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Bumbry has just the right sort of voice for this, but sounds bored (as if she is stuck in class on a sunny day learning the difference between "effect" and "affect" when she would rather be out in the sun playing football with the boys)! This is what I remember from her studio recording of the complete opera. I'd take Joan's 'wrong voice', but right interpretation over this one any day.

Gheorghiu (great Callas imitator that she is) is going to be great, but will the voice have enough welly in it to convince? It helps that we have the orchestral introduction and recit setting things up (whereas Bumbry's was cut off and we went straight into the aria). The Gheorghiu is full of temperament and feeling as expected.

Caballe has the potential to win this, but it could also be an off night/an aria she feels the need to over-stylize. At least the conducting sets the right mood. Harumpfh! Caballe is all wrong for this one. It's too slow and brooding and the voice carves a grand line, but that's not what this aria is about.

Gheorghiu's rendition is a mood, she gets my vote.

N.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Oh oh oh. I listened to the three versions but I still had _that one_ playing in my head simultaneously... What should I do?

Bumbry is lovely and the voice is just right, but she is singing a concert piece so opportunity is lost. Slightly deeper vibrato than I would prefer and unsteadiness in the final note but the voice balance is very good from top to bottom. There are other recordings available and I am sure it would be worthwhile to compare different takes later on.

Gheorghiu is of course a lighter voice but she gives the aria her best and the artistry skill helps too. At least a moving performance even if she does not have those darker undertones so effective in Callas' singing.

Caballe is so past her prime in this video - a valiant effort but I'd rather not compare her to other contestants.
I'm taking a break and another listen to #1 and #2 before I cast my final vote.

P.S. By the way, this performance by Angela Gheorghiu is maybe even more impressive - 




P.P.S. I'm going to award Angela for sum of her efforts. My vote has been cast.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Nobody seems to like Caballe's dramatic ending like I did. Interesting.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Nobody seems to like Caballe's dramatic ending like I did. Interesting.


She audibly and visually prepares to take this dramatic note - as if she sees it as an obstacle she have to get through. Can't help it but this alone breaks the deal for me. I wouldn't say 55 is too late for this aria (for most modern sopranos it probably is) but let's say it wasn't her best day (and French repertoire wasn't her forte, in my humble opinion)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Bumbry has surprisingly little to say in this expressive music, and her vibrato is more annoying here than it is in some other repertoire. Caballe is past her prime, sounds ungainly, and exaggerates. It's too bad Gheorghiu is so poorly miked, as her performance seems superb in every way. This was easy.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Bumbry has surprisingly little to say in this expressive music, and her vibrato is more annoying here than it is in some other repertoire. Caballe is past her prime, sounds ungainly, and exaggerates. It's too bad Gheorghiu is so poorly miked, as her performance seems superb in every way. This was easy.


I substituted a Gheorghiu video that has better sound. I wish I could spell her name without looking.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I really hate the way Caballe separates her high notes from the phrase they’re attached to - I suppose for vocal comfort. It spoils the line, takes one out of the performance. A pity, really, because she would be ideal, to my ears, if she sang it correctly and ceased to overlay dramatic effects to the aria instead of being inside the music. She normally has good diction, but sacrifices it the vocal line is uncomfortable. 

Bumbry has always been disappointing to me - a superb technique and a solid voice, but the tone is not attractive. She sounds very butch and agressive to me. Here she has good diction, but she just sings the notes and seems to follow the dynamic directions.

Gheorghiu’s slender tone works against her, she is audibly over-parted, but she is game and gives the best performance of the three. 

The model for this aria for me is Callas - even in her infirm voice, she is miles ahead of all that I’ve heard.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I wish I could spell her name without looking.


It comes with practice.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

What is in the score for this aria - I hear some singing a higher line in the last phrase (after the high B (?) and it just sounds wrong to me; Sutherland does it as well as Gheorghiu and La Bumbry.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> I really hate the way Caballe separates her high notes from the phrase they're attached to - I suppose for vocal comfort. It spoils the line, takes one out of the performance. A pity, really, because she would be ideal, to my ears, if she sang it correctly and ceased to overlay dramatic effects to the aria instead of being inside the music. She normally has good diction, but sacrifices it the vocal line is uncomfortable.
> 
> Bumbry has always been disappointing to me - a superb technique and a solid voice, but the tone is not attractive. She sounds very butch and agressive to me. Here she has good diction, but she just sings the notes and seems to follow the dynamic directions.
> 
> ...


The only role I really like Bumbry in is Amneris, and she was one of the very best in that role.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I am not sure if I should post my next round as two of the contestants were in a post by someone else in the first round, so you might have heard them already. Now Vivalagentenuova has already critiqued one of my favorite contestants I had lined up so I really don't think I should even bother. I think we will just scrape this and go to the final vote.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

I'm not listening to many other performances knowing you have other voting rounds in store. I'd say don't scrap it


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Azol said:


> I'm not listening to many other performances knowing you have other voting rounds in store. I'd say don't scrap it


Thanks for enjoying and participating in the contest.


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