# Round 1: Bass. Ah! Tutto m'arride il mio sangue. Tozzi, Zaccaria, Pasero



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Luisa Miller


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

I listened to Tozzi then Pasero then Zaccaria. All three seemed to trust that they had bass sounds and had no need to woof or get cow-y to convince themselves....very clean, attractive sound. I liked Tozzi, sounding very much like a character in a situation more than a bass in an opera. Pasero had a bit more bass darkness in the timbre but also had the vibrato. It didn't bother me in the recitative but as soon as the longer lines of the aria proper started I thought it really interfered.

Aside from having that great picture - I assume Philip - Zaccaria commanded my attention the most. I thought he bit into the words in a way that conveyed emotion while still maintaining the line. Very strong finish!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ScottK said:


> I listened to Tozzi then Pasero then Zaccaria. All three seemed to trust that they had bass sounds and had no need to woof or get cow-y to convince themselves....very clean, attractive sound. I liked Tozzi, sounding very much like a character in a situation more than a bass in an opera. Pasero had a bit more bass darkness in the timbre but also had the vibrato. It didn't bother me in the recitative but as soon as the longer lines of the aria proper started I thought it really interfered.
> 
> Aside from having that great picture - I assume Philip - Zaccaria commanded my attention the most. I thought he bit into the words in a way that conveyed emotion while still maintaining the line. Very strong finish!


I like the fast vibrato that Pasero... and Pinza in the next round... had but I don't know basses like you do. Thanks for your thoughts. Zaccarria was from later so I think had a more modern mid century sound.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Zaccarria was from later so I think had a more modern mid century sound.


i.e.....ain't gonna win this one!!!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ScottK said:


> i.e.....ain't gonna win this one!!!


No argument with you here, but from my limited experience I don't hear basses with a fast vibrato much after WWII, but I don't know basses like some of you do. Isn't that a fair assessment?


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Seattleoperafan said:


> No argument with you here, but from my limited experience I don't hear basses with a fast vibrato much after WWII, but I don't know basses like some of you do. Isn't that a fair assessment?


I think that's probably true for most voice types, not just basses. For example, it's hard to imagine anyone in 2022 sounding anything like Alessandro Bonci.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Seattleoperafan said:


> No argument with you here, but from my limited experience I don't hear basses with a fast vibrato much after WWII, but I don't know basses like some of you do. Isn't that a fair assessment?


No bass expert here. I'm going to guess that as fond as some are of older singing, they wouldn't sneer at the Christoff, Ghiaurov, Siepi, Tozzi, Talvela, Moll decades.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I would say that these basses fall into the “serviceable” category. I’m most familiar with Zaccaria, as he’s been included in some of Callas’s recordings. Tozzi I know from some RCA recordings and from the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. I’m least familiar with Pasero, but I can’t say he ranks above the other two. 

I’ll abstain from voting on this round.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> I would say that these basses fall into the "serviceable" category. I'm most familiar with Zaccaria, as he's been included in some of Callas's recordings. Tozzi I know from some RCA recordings and from the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. I'm least familiar with Pasero, but I can't say he ranks above the other two.
> 
> I'll abstain from voting on this round.


Pasero was one of the star basses at LaScala during their glory days between the wars and sang at the Met for 4 years.. He was the bass on a number of major recordings.This is what wikipedia saysasero was widely regarded as having one of the finest basso voices of his era, ranking on a par with those of his acclaimed compatriots Fernando Autori, Nazzareno De Angelis and Ezio Pinza. Indeed, the voice of Pasero closely resembled that of Pinza in terms of its range, size and exceedingly vibrant tonal qualities. I love his voice but I love Joan Sutherland so my taste is questionable. If no one else likes him I will purge him from future contests.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

This was excruciatingly tough for me. I kept going back and forth till the guy in the next room shouted, "Enough!"
After listening to the first I then heard the second and said "there's the one!" Then I got to the 3rd and said, "uh oh! there's the one."
Then I listened to the last 2 ad infinitum. I discovered in listening that the one who sounded more involved and moving to me was Zaccaria although I seemed to prefer the voice of Passero, which left me in a real quandary.
I finally decided that I liked the smoothness of Zaccaria so I shall now go up at put my checkmark next to his name (but not without much trepidation).


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

ScottK said:


> i.e.....ain't gonna win this one!!!


Don't be so sure!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> This was excruciatingly tough for me. I kept going back and forth till the guy in the next room shouted, "Enough!"
> After listening to the first I then heard the second and said "there's the one!" Then I got to the 3rd and said, "uh oh! there's the one."
> Then I listened to the last 2 ad infinitum. I discovered in listening that the one who sounded more involved and moving to me was Zaccaria although I seemed to prefer the voice of Passero, which left me in a real quandary.
> I finally decided that I liked the smoothness of Zaccaria so I shall now go up at put my checkmark next to his name (but not without much trepidation).


If the choice is hard I feel I did my job well. Thanks for how involved you are in your choice!!!!!!


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Pasero was one of the star basses at LaScala during their glory days between the wars and sang at the Met for 4 years.. He was the bass on a number of major recordings.This is what wikipedia saysasero was widely regarded as having one of the finest basso voices of his era, ranking on a par with those of his acclaimed compatriots Fernando Autori, Nazzareno De Angelis and Ezio Pinza. Indeed, the voice of Pasero closely resembled that of Pinza in terms of its range, size and exceedingly vibrant tonal qualities. I love his voice but I love Joan Sutherland so my taste is questionable. If no one else likes him I will purge him from future contests.


We've already discussed this privately but I'm a big fan of Pasero! His was a major voice and career. There hasn't been a bass voice on this level in the last 50+ years imo. I find his singing to be very clean and consistent.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Bonetan said:


> We've already discussed this privately but I'm a big fan of Pasero! His was a major voice and career. There hasn't been a bass voice on this level in the last 50+ years imo. I find his singing to be very clean and consistent.


He was my personal greatest discovery in doing my research for the men's contests. I greatly value your opinion.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Pasero was one of the star basses at LaScala during their glory days between the wars and sang at the Met for 4 years.. He was the bass on a number of major recordings.This is what wikipedia saysasero was widely regarded as having one of the finest basso voices of his era, ranking on a par with those of his acclaimed compatriots Fernando Autori, Nazzareno De Angelis and Ezio Pinza. Indeed, the voice of Pasero closely resembled that of Pinza in terms of its range, size and exceedingly vibrant tonal qualities. I love his voice but I love Joan Sutherland so my taste is questionable. If no one else likes him I will purge him from future contests.[/QUOTE
> 
> Very subjective subject :lol: there are others I prefer.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> Seattleoperafan said:
> 
> 
> > Pasero was one of the star basses at LaScala during their glory days between the wars and sang at the Met for 4 years.. He was the bass on a number of major recordings.This is what wikipedia saysasero was widely regarded as having one of the finest basso voices of his era, ranking on a par with those of his acclaimed compatriots Fernando Autori, Nazzareno De Angelis and Ezio Pinza. Indeed, the voice of Pasero closely resembled that of Pinza in terms of its range, size and exceedingly vibrant tonal qualities. I love his voice but I love Joan Sutherland so my taste is questionable. If no one else likes him I will purge him from future contests.[/QUOTE
> ...


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> MAS said:
> 
> 
> > This is all subjective. You didn't seem very familiar with him and I imagine others aren't either so I thought I'd give a little bio on him and about how important he was in his day as a bass. I knew nothing about him before my recent research for this contest. His sound is from another era.
> ...


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Seattleoperafan said:
> 
> 
> > Oh please don't purge him. I am a true lover of bass voices and would adore nothing better than to hear him sing Gremin's aria from _Eugene Onegin_ but in research I have found nothing.
> ...


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

My basic test for basses performing music in the italian bel canto tradition is that I must not at any point think of hippopotami dancing in tutus and pointe shoes. Giorgio Tozzi, fine singer that he was, did not quite succeed in keeping my mind off of obese bodies attempting graceful pirouettes and arabesques. I'm sure no one else here would care to apply this test, so my advice to all is "Don't think of a hippopotamus."

I find these singers posted in ascending order of vocal magnificence, with Tozzi's production slightly sluggish, Zaccaria's quicker and more intense, and Pasero's something like awesome in its sonority and vibrancy. You can hear Pasero's virtues immediately in his first phrases: the quick, free vibrato, the dark tone with just the right balance between openness and cover, and the easy, seamless legato. I'm going to give the prize to Zaccaria for the intensity of his interpretation (not that Pasero's is really lacking), with the added note that his poor recording inevitably conceals a vocal timbre richer and more vibrant than it sounds here. No surprise that he was La Scala's principal basso during the Callas era. Pasero occupied a similar important niche at that house a generation earlier, and sang Wagner's major bass roles as well as Italian opera. I imagine he did so superbly, and I'm glad Seattleoperafan plans to give us more of him.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> My basic test for basses performing music in the italian bel canto tradition is that I must not at any point think of hippopotami dancing in tutus and pointe shoes. Giorgio Tozzi, fine singer that he was, did not quite succeed in keeping my mind off of obese bodies attempting graceful pirouettes and arabesques. I'm sure no one else here would care to apply this test, so my advice to all is "Don't think of a hippopotamus."


...................:lol::lol::lol:


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Of the three, I'd say Tozzi had the roughest delivery, so I discounted him immediately.

Zaccaria I know quite well (Greek, not Italian, by the way) as he appears on so many Callas recordings. He is equally fine in comedy and tragedy. The voice was evidently a fine one, firm and with a good legato, but perhaps a little lacking in personality.

Pasero is from a slightly earlier generation and he too is a fine example of the Italian _basso cantate_ and I find it very hard to choose between him and Zaccaria. Ultimately I found Zaccaria's response to the music slightly more personal, so I'm going for him.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I have elected not to do a second round of this aria as I wasn't pleased with the selections I had to choose from. Nevertheless, in the past 3 days I have added about 20 entries to my bass selections including some Wagner.


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