# Round One:D'amor sull'ali rosee. Caballe, Milanov, Farrell



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Let me know if 3 is too many for this contest. I have a lot of contestants.




Leonora: Montserrat Caballé Azuzcena: Irina Arkhipova Manrico: Ludovico Spiess Il Conte di Luna: Peter Glossop Ferrando: Nicola Zaccaria Orchestre National de l'ORTF Director: Reynald Giovaninetti Théâtre Antique d'Orange 23 de julio de 1972





*Zinka Milanov: D'amor sull'ali rosee...Miserere (1945). LIVE*






Il trovatore, Act IV: "D'amor sull'ali rosee vanne" · Eileen Farrell · Giuseppe Verdi · Max Rudolf · Columbia Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Heritage: Eileen Farrell


----------



## tsquare07 (Sep 22, 2018)

I can't watch the Eileen Farrell clip. It says "video unavailable". Not sure if it's because of where i am in the world or not.

But i vote for Milanov. Better control of the voice (legato & steadiness of pitch) and she handles the climax up to Bflat better. Howerver, I don't like the way both singers just throw out pianissimi (or the way they transition from full voice to pianissimo) in certain places. It feels more like for display than for dramatic purposes. And it sounds a little bit sloppy musically.


----------



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Caballe did some of her best work at the Choregies d’Orange; the 1974 *Norma*, the *Don Carlo *with Aragall and Bumbry. However, in this *Trovatore*, she indulges herself too much: imprecise trills, overuse of her admittedly gorgeous _pianissimi, _a meandering _cadenza_, all in a rather shapeless aria.

Milanov is, at least, more disciplined than Caballe and has her own famous _pianissimi, _but a bit on the stodgy side, and I think leaves at least one phrase out at the _le pene _variants and her trills are somewhat imprecise as well and she indulges in a couple of aspirates. Her high notes are lovely and varied in dynamics. The _cadenza _is well shaped and delivered, the last note getting a _messa di voce. _

Farrell’s Verdi is not one of her strengths. She has all that is necessary, but I found her somewhat impersonal; she hardly seems to impart longing, her high notes are chilly and inexpressive, her trills somewhat swallowed, and her _cadenza _perfunctory.

Milanov by default.


----------



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

tsquare07 said:


> I can't watch the Eileen Farrell clip. It says "video unavailable". Not sure if it's because of where i am in the world or not.


Seattleoperafan is posting in the U.S. Sometimes Europe and its environs can’t see it. It might be copyright issues.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

There's a lack of simplicity and naturalness in Caballe's work that puts me off a bit. I'm continually aware of the singer as a performer playing with dynamics to make a vocal effect. That effect can be very expressive, but I would prefer not to be always thinking "listen to what she's doing now." Her dark, dramatic accents in the "Miserere" (which is beyond the scope of the contest, since we don't get Farrell's) are strong and straightforward and please me more than the manipulations of the line in the aria.

We get a cleaner line from Milanov, but not a more expressive one. She engages shamelessly in aspirating, something I don't often notice in sopranos. I find her perfectly idiomatic but conventional, less interesting than the more mannered Caballe.

Farrell sings with such beauty of tone and line that I want to like her more than I do. She is not inexpressive, but she doesn't quite convey Leonora's unhappy state of mind, sounding quite promising at the start but losing intensity instead of building it. Her detachment of the high notes and disinclination to use her pianissimo when they are repeated - along with a bit more rubato - is disappointing.

I'm genuinely at a loss here. I'm tempted to echo MAS - "Milanov by default" - but the world doesn't need my vote.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> There's a lack of simplicity and naturalness in Caballe's work that puts me off a bit. I'm continually aware of the singer as a performer playing with dynamics to make a vocal effect. That effect can be very expressive, but I would prefer not to be always thinking "listen to what she's doing now." Her dark, dramatic accents in the "Miserere" (which is beyond the scope of the contest, since we don't get Farrell's) are strong and straightforward and please me more than the manipulations of the line in the aria.
> 
> We get a cleaner line from Milanov, but not a more expressive one. She engages shamelessly in aspirating, something I don't often notice in sopranos. I find her perfectly idiomatic but conventional, less interesting than the more mannered Caballe.
> 
> ...


I've got some interesting contestants. This is I think one of the most difficult arias.. on the same level as Casta Diva. It is hard to pull all of the elements off at the same time. I think you will end up liking someone besides Callas


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

For once I didn't find Caballé's pianissimi overdone here and in fact hers was the only version that kept my interest. The voice is incredibly beautiful and it has exactly the right _tinta _for the music. Her trills were a lot better here than they usually are.
Milanov, as always, bored me to tears and Farrell was surprisingy dull too. I didn't feel she had much to say about the music at all. The voice is beautiful, more beautiful I think than Milanov's but she didn't communicate very much. 

I have no trouble preferring Caballé here.

PS I'm in the UK and the Farrell clip was visible to me.


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Oh dear! What to do, what to do? This is my favorite soprano aria and I feel I know every single solitary inch of it.
These 3 are not among my top 3 but I know who has to get it in this group even though I suspect her showing off a bit with her extra fine trills and superior diminuendos. Montsy gets my vote. You know who I am waiting for. Curious to see who her adversaries will be.


----------



## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I love Milanov's Leonora although this isn't quite her greatest. Her Leonora was well respected, Ponselle said it was the equal of any she'd heard, including her own and I think it one of her best roles along with Verdi's other Leonora and Gioconda.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Op.123 said:


> I love Milanov's Leonora although this isn't quite her greatest. Her Leonora was well respected, Ponselle said it was the equal of any she'd heard, including her own and I think it one of her best roles along with Verdi's other Leonora and Gioconda.


🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰


----------

