# Rate the piece above you



## danslenoir (Nov 24, 2010)

Shamelessly pinched from another subforum on here, but it would be nice to have an opera-centric version

The rules are simple: rate the YouTube clip above you out of 10 with some feedback, then post your own. Obviously singing will be main criteria, however if its a live clip feel free to incorporate the production, costumes, acting e.t.c. into your score.

I'll start with this...


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Some too loud explosions. I guess she wanted to sing more dramatically than it's used to but she restrained in coloratura parts and didn't ruin them which could happen if she had sung them more like the rest of aria. 8/10


----------



## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Alas, Natalie Dessay couldn't hold a candle for the young Lucia Popp under Klemperer in an odd recording, where Maestro K decided to drop all the spoken dialogue. It also featured Gundula Janowitz as Pamina. Delicious! So far, I have waited for someone to even equal her - to no avail. I don't understand why Damrau is so acclaimed, either.

Otherwise I just love Dessay's La Fille du Regiment and La Sonnambula.

I'm afraid this would be 8/10, 10 being the late Popp.


----------



## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

I'm afraid I cannot embed YouTube-videos in my messages. Help, anyone!


----------



## danslenoir (Nov 24, 2010)

Herkku said:


> I'm afraid I cannot embed YouTube-videos in my messages. Help, anyone!


On the reply screen click the little YouTube button a little bit above and to the left of the smilies, then copy and paste the URL of the YouTube clip between the tags that appear in the text box after you press the YouTube button.

I'm afraid Aramis beat you to rating my clip though, so you'll need to rate his instead


----------



## JSK (Dec 31, 2008)

Aramis said:


>


8/10
Very enjoyable aria with some bel canto influence. Is that Moniuszko?


----------



## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

This is for Aramis and Miecznika. So, this is Moniuzko! A nice melodious aria in polonaise rhytm. A good barytone, too. 7/10.


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Herkku said:


> Cecilia Bartoli


8/10, very enjoyable but I'm not completely thrilled.

Here is an oldie that I find extraordinary in terms of a sense of the musical phrase:


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

For the Il Templario, 9/10, excellent singing with lots of musicality, very beautiful orchestral accompaniment, thanks for posting, it's an opera that I don't know and it makes me want to get acquainted with it.

Edit - done, I bought the CDs, $25.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> Is that Moniuszko?


Yes, more precisely: aria "Kto mych dziewek serce które..." from second act of Haunted Manor


----------



## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Since got lost trying to guess who should answer to the di Stefano message, I'll do it. Les Pêcheurs des Perles aria is of course beautiful. It's just that I don't like historical recordings that much. I know that it cannot be very old, because he sang with Callas and died only two years ago, but it sounds like something from the beginning of the last century. Also, I like the more modern style of not streching the rubato to its limits.


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Herkku said:


> Since got lost trying to guess who should answer to the di Stefano message, I'll do it. Les Pêcheurs des Perles aria is of course beautiful. It's just that I don't like historical recordings that much. I know that it cannot be very old, because he sang with Callas and died only two years ago, but it sounds like something from the beginning of the last century. Also, I like the more modern style of not streching the rubato to its limits.


Hey, you didn't rate it out of 10!


----------



## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Yes, I got carried away thinking what to post next. I would say 6/10. Sorry about the negligence.


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Herkku said:


> Yes, I got carried away thinking what to post next. I would say 6/10. Sorry about the negligence.


Just a 6/10 for poor Di Stefano?


----------



## JSK (Dec 31, 2008)

Almaviva said:


> For the Il Templario, 9/10, excellent singing with lots of musicality, very beautiful orchestral accompaniment, thanks for posting, it's an opera that I don't know and it makes me want to get acquainted with it.


It's well worth it. It's a great purchase if you are interested in bel canto. There are a few more excerpts on youtube as well. In some ways I find Il Templario more consistently entertaining than Nicolai's more famous work, The Merry Wives of Windsor.


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

JSK said:


> In some ways I find Il Templario more consistently entertaining than Nicolai's more famous work, The Merry Wives of Windsor.


Yep, that's what I read in the reviews. And yes, I love belcanto, so, I'll probably be very satisfied with this purchase. I don't know his _Merry Wives of Windsor _either. How does it compare to _Falstaff_?


----------



## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

I had no knowledge of Nicolai having composed something like bel canto! Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor I am familiar with. It's so totally German, quite funny, probably much easier to come to terms with than Falstaff. There used to be a DG recording on LP with Mathis, Schwartz, Donath, Moll, Weikl, Schreier (a dream team!) and the happy news is that is available on CD by Berlin Classics. Highly recommended!


----------



## danslenoir (Nov 24, 2010)

Herkku said:


> Since got lost trying to guess who should answer to the di Stefano message, I'll do it. Les Pêcheurs des Perles aria is of course beautiful. It's just that I don't like historical recordings that much. I know that it cannot be very old, because he sang with Callas and died only two years ago, but it sounds like something from the beginning of the last century. Also, I like the more modern style of not streching the rubato to its limits.


Didn't particularly like the aria (thought it did grow on me second and third time round)

Gedda makes what he does in this sound effortless though, superb singing, does it get much better?

9/10


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

danslenoir said:


> Di Quella Pira


Gee. What about 0 out of 10? No kidding, I didn't like it all, didn't like his voice, nor his vibratto, nor his phrasing...

I'm curious to see what you guys will think of this:


----------



## danslenoir (Nov 24, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Gee. What about 0 out of 10? No kidding, I didn't like it all, didn't like his voice, nor his vibratto, nor his phrasing...
> 
> I'm curious to see what you guys will think of this:


Hey, wait your turn! 

I have seen that video you posted before and refuse to watch it again.

Her eyes are extremely scary.


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

danslenoir said:


> Hey, wait your turn!
> 
> I have seen that video you posted before and refuse to watch it again.
> 
> Her eyes are extremely scary.


It was my turn, no? I rated your Di Quella Pira, then I proposed the next one.
LOL, quite some eyes... but she is beautiful.


----------



## danslenoir (Nov 24, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> It was my turn, no? I rated your Di Quella Pira, then I proposed the next one.
> LOL, quite some eyes... but she is beautiful.


A moment of blindness on my part. Apologies :tiphat:

Does she always do that or is she just trying to get into character?


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

danslenoir said:


> A moment of blindness on my part. Apologies :tiphat:
> 
> Does she always do that or is she just trying to get into character?


I think it's the latter. Surprising I don't like her stage performances of The Magic Flute that much, but I thought that she was particularly good in this recital performance.


----------



## danslenoir (Nov 24, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Gee. What about 0 out of 10? No kidding, I didn't like it all, didn't like his voice, nor his vibratto, nor his phrasing...
> 
> I'm curious to see what you guys will think of this:


Seeing as no one else has rated it yet, I will.

7/10 - she does a decent enough job with this. Was tempted to deduct marks for the eyes but didn't 

I stumbled on this gem earlier






"Vivrà!... contende il giubilo"

4:15 to the end.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I had some hard time with Hvorostovsky singing in Italian but I think it's passing now. Funny thing, at 4:10 I thought "uhm, what's that, has tenor entered into performance?" (I wasn't watching, just listening). . 8/10


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Aramis said:


> I had some hard time with Hvorostovsky singing in Italian but I think it's passing now. Funny thing, at 4:10 I thought "uhm, what's that, has tenor entered into performance?" (I wasn't watching, just listening). . 8/10


Outstanding. 10 out of 10!!! Thanks for posting it!!!


----------



## JSK (Dec 31, 2008)

Almaviva said:


> Yep, that's what I read in the reviews. And yes, I love belcanto, so, I'll probably be very satisfied with this purchase. I don't know his _Merry Wives of Windsor _either. How does it compare to _Falstaff_?


I do not know how it compares to Falstaff, though it is definitely a far "lighter" composition as far as I can understand. A few of the scenes and several of the tunes are quite memorable, in my opinion, but I am biased having played violin for this opera.

Nicolai's opera is supposedly the most successful German comic opera of the first half of the 19th century, but I think it does not have extraordinarily strong competition (Flotow's Martha, anyone?). I nevertheless would consider Nicolai's work, though not particularly innovative, unique due to its blend of Italian and German stylistic elements.

I've never heard a recording of Merry Wives which I'm completely satisfied with, but none that I'm aware of are bad. You can hear a decent historical recording on opera today via a free stream:

http://www.operatoday.com/content/2009/10/nicolai_die_lus.php


----------



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

JSK said:


> I do not know how it compares to Falstaff, though it is definitely a far "lighter" composition as far as I can understand. A few of the scenes and several of the tunes are quite memorable, in my opinion, but I am biased having played violin for this opera.
> 
> Nicolai's opera is supposedly the most successful German comic opera of the first half of the 19th century, but I think it does not have extraordinarily strong competition (Flotow's Martha, anyone?). I nevertheless would consider Nicolai's work, though not particularly innovative, unique due to its blend of Italian and German stylistic elements.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I have received it, and I got Martha as well so I'll be diving into these two soon.


----------



## Gualtier Malde (Nov 14, 2010)

JSK said:


> Nicolai's opera is supposedly the most successful German comic opera of the first half of the 19th century, but I think it does not have extraordinarily strong competition (Flotow's Martha, anyone?).


There's Lortzing, his most successful opera is Zar und Zimmermann. Among many other gems, this has the hilarious humorous bass aria _O sancta justitia_ (a bit like _A un dottore_ in style and mood, and every bit as good), the wonderful "rehearsal" with the choir, and the famous Holzschuhtanz. Lortzing's Wildschutz is also excellent. Unfortunately, he isn't performed much these days internationally.

I made a timid attempt to support Zar und Zimmermann in the 100 top operas thread, but (predictably) failed miserably.

Here's the hilarious "rehearsal" (the real fun starts at about 4:00, unfortunately grotesquely over-acted here by Sotin, too clownish):






and _O sancta justitia_:


----------



## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Gualtier Malde said:


> and _O sancta justitia_:


Wasn't familiar with the opera or composer, but this is great! 9/10, deducting a point for no subtitles  Will definitely be tracking down the full opera.

My submission:




Can't get enough of Handel opera lately. (Try and look past the poor a/v quality if you please)


----------



## Gualtier Malde (Nov 14, 2010)

rgz said:


> Wasn't familiar with the opera or composer, but this is great! 9/10, deducting a point for no subtitles  Will definitely be tracking down the full opera.


Glad to hear that you like it too. Sorry you couldn't follow the text, and there's in fact so much wit and humor in the lyrics that I get dizzy contemplating what you would have awarded with subtitles (15/10?). The short spoken part is a thank you to the orchestra for supplying the low note (in the bassoon) he didn't hit. If you can read German:

http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Lor...ibretti/Zar+und+Zimmermann/1.+Akt/6.+Auftritt

Lortzing is definitely worth your time and money if you like good old-fashioned lighthearted fun, Zar und Zimmermann and Wildschutz are his best efforts in my opinion.


----------

