# First Round: La Mama Morta. Pacetti and Muzio



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Since this was requested today




 La mamma morta (Andrea Chenier) 

Lebendige Vergangenheit - Iva Pacetti





Andrea Chénier: La mamma morta · Claudia Muzio Dreamticket to Andrea Chénier ℗ 2011 Preiser Records


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Pacetti is good, her voice up to the demands of the music, but the tone feels slightly too noble for this role and doesn't completely involve me. Muzio must have been at the end of her career here, the voice has thinned out a bit and doesn't have the body of some other recordings, but she doesn't sound bad. There are some moments where I find her a little too obvious in her point-making but overall found her performance quite compelling and the raw, yet not elderly, sound of her voice at this stage adds something to the character. Muzio it is but it was nice to hear Pacetti's rendition.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Since this was requested today
> 
> 
> 
> ...


They are both very good. I don't want to waste time on deciding whom I like better and want to have fun reading other people's comments already. So pass.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I am so in love with the voice of Claudia Muzio. She has such a depth of soul and sadness about her when she sings. Her chest tones are among the best I've ever heard and her high notes are exquisite.
There is no question that I grant her the golden cup.
Pacetti's voice is not one that attracts my ear. She sings well and involves herself in her performance but somehow the voice just doesn't pass muster.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Pacetti is second rate compared to Muzio, though Pacetti’s voice is pretty.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> Pacetti is second rate compared to Muzio, though Pacetti’s voice is pretty.


I saw Pacettti was highly recommended and I try to bring in new artists. I put in Radvanovsky to please someone but took her out and replaced her.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Op.123 said:


> Pacetti is good, her voice up to the demands of the music, but the tone feels slightly too noble for this role and doesn't completely involve me. Muzio must have been at the end of her career here, the voice has thinned out a bit and doesn't have the body of some other recordings, but she doesn't sound bad. There are some moments where I find her a little too obvious in her point-making but overall found her performance quite compelling and the raw, yet not elderly, sound of her voice at this stage adds something to the character. Muzio it is but it was nice to hear Pacetti's rendition.


I always f*** u* Muzio by getting her too late or something. In the future like I do with Callas I am going to get suggestions from someone who knows her career well, as I certainly don't.. Sorry for this time.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I saw Pacettti was highly recommended and I try to bring in new artists. I put in Radvanovsky to please someone but took her out and replaced her.


I didn't vote and might yet pick Pacetti, if I get into sufficiently contrarian mood. Her singing resembles the imprint version of the aria I have in my head. Muzios voice acting is slightly uncanny to me, possibly a little exagerated. She gains the biggest advantage at the last word, "l' amor", which she sings beautifully, while Pacetti sounds a little unpleasant at precisely that moment. But overall, I relax and enjoy the aria better when Pacetti sings it. Although Muzio has a very nice and unusual voice. Now you know why exactly I passed the voting. But it can still change.

OK, I did it.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I always f*** u* Muzio by getting her too late or something. In the future like I do with Callas I am going to get suggestions from someone who knows her career well, as I certainly don't.. Sorry for this time.


I don't know if there is another recording by her earlier in her career. Her best known recordings are mostly later ones.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Pacetti is highly competent and knows how this music should go. I'd be delighted to hear such a performance today, but Muzio is in a different vocal class despite this being a late recording that finds her top a bit stressed. More's the pity, and the surprise, that she takes the final notes up an octave rather than use her wonderful chest tones. I've heard no one else do this, and it certainly proves that Giordano knew his business. I'll award her first prize, but grudgingly, wishing that Pacetti's voice had just a bit more luster. Perhaps it did in life.


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## ewilkros (8 mo ago)

Op.123 said:


> I don't know if there is another recording by [Muzio] earlier in her career...


There is, an Edison from 1920, with final bars as written. She made a huge amount of acoustic recordings--she recorded well, for a soprano, by the acoustic process--but except for two sides for HMV at the start of her career they were all vertical-cuts, for Pathé or Edison, and so they were kind of off-the-radar for 78 collectors in recent memory. There were always a few LP transfers around, though.






Ward Marston did superb transfers of, I believe, the whole Muzio output, including an unpublished side or two, on three Romophone 2-CD sets, one for Pathé's, one for Edisons, and one for the 1911 HMV's and 1934-35 [Euro-]Columbia's, with Muzio's bits from the 1931 SF Tosca Act I, the latter well cleaned up by 1990's standards. They are long out-of-print, but "Very Good" copies can generally be had for less than $10 a disc. Given Edison's attraction to off-the-beaten-track, the Edison set includes lots of verismo goodies and so is especially attractive. All highly recommended to anyone who is not repulsed on general principle to acoustic recordings that haven't been gussied up in the transfer:



Spoiler: link to US Amazon listing



https://www.amazon.com/s?k=muzio+romophone&i=popular&crid=16HJQ2UTRUT2&sprefix=muzio+romophone,popular,297&ref=nb_sb_noss


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## ewilkros (8 mo ago)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I always f*** u* Muzio by getting her too late or something.


If you want electrical recordings, as you probably would, then it's the end-of-her-life [Euro-]Columbia's or nothing. Big gap when she should have been at her best, between her acoustics and electricals, basically 1924-1934.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Pacetti is ok, but the voice isn't particularly individual and she is easily outclassed by Muzio. I don't like the upward ending she takes, but, even in though this is quite late for Muzio, I much prefer her.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ewilkros said:


> There is, an Edison from 1920, with final bars as written. She made a huge amount of acoustic recordings--she recorded well, for a soprano, by the acoustic process--but except for two sides for HMV at the start of her career they were all vertical-cuts, for Pathé or Edison, and so they were kind of off-the-radar for 78 collectors in recent memory. There were always a few LP transfers around, though.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'll come to you if I have Muzio in a future contest. Thanks for this. I know she is like an early Callas for some people and have always enjoyed what I've heard of her but I certainly don't know anywhere close to what you know.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I'll come to you if I have Muzio in a future contest. Thanks for this. I know she is like an early Callas for some people and have always enjoyed what I've heard of her but I certainly don't know anywhere close to what you know.


I actually prefer Muzio first, Callas second. 
(Thank heavens it isn't snowing. I can feel the snowballs pummeling my skull.)


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> I actually prefer Muzio first, Callas second.
> (Thank heavens it isn't snowing. I can feel the snowballs pummeling my skull.)


You are not nearly as heretical as me, lady 😜


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

I enjoyed Pacetti's rendition. Then I listened to Muzio's, and was reminded again why I'm so obsessed with her (the restraining orders are still in effect). So much gravity, yet so expressive. No disrespect to Pacetti, but I have to go with Claudia.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I'm late to the party, but it's time to dive into the Mamma morta contest.

Pre-listening prediction. Muzio will be my favourite here.

I don't know Pacetti very well and only from these contests. Let's give her a go!

Pacetti is really drawing me in and keeping me interested. The chest voice is totally integrated with the rest of the voice and is very much a feature and not a bug! I wonder how she will sound in the higher parts of the aria later on. The technique here is amazing. It's a truly organic, complete voice (by that I mean that the top and bottom of the voice are of equal power and worth, NOT that the voice projects - which it does as well, of course). This is wonderful singing. My one criticism is that there could be more feeling and word painting.

Now onto Muzio. The sound is superb, is this from the famous Columbia recording session?

Oh, goodness! I'm just three notes in, but there's a reason this singer was called 'La divina'!

Divine! Only two lines in and we have a winner! This is the complete package! Technique, beautiful voice production, interpretation with varying dynamics and tonal colours, expression of the highest order, artistry and passion and feeling. Do I really need to listen to the other rounds?

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I always f*** u* Muzio by getting her too late or something. In the future like I do with Callas I am going to get suggestions from someone who knows her career well, as I certainly don't.. Sorry for this time.


You didn't f*** u* anything! Muzio recorded quite a lot in the earlier part of her career and then made no recordings for quite some time before the series of recordings for Columbia when she was dying and Lauri-Volpi raised funds to pay for the recording sessions because he was one of the few who realised the talent that the world was in the process of losing. While her voice was obviously fresher in those early recordings, it is her 1930s Columbias that the cognoscenti consider her best work. It's true that her expressive breaths were just as much a necessity due to her poor health as they were a result of a deep emotional connection with the music, but so what, isn't making a virtue out of necessary short-comings an example of great artistry? 

Others can say what they like about Muzio at this point in her career (and as this is TC, they _certainly_ will), I think she is possibly better than Callas in this recording.

Also, thanks for the Pacetti, it was superbly sung and well worth hearing. Please don't rule out singers just because they don't do well in one round/piece. It may be due to who they are up against or the aria not being their thing.

N.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> You didn't f*** u* anything! Muzio recorded quite a lot in the earlier part of her career and then made no recordings for quite some time before the series of recordings for Columbia when she was dying and Lauri-Volpi raised funds to pay for the recording sessions because he was one of the few who realised the talent that the world was in the process of losing. While her voice was obviously fresher in those early recordings, it is her 1930s Columbias that the cognoscenti consider her best work. It's true that her expressive breaths were just as much a necessity due to her poor health as they were a result of a deep emotional connection with the music, but so what, isn't making a virtue out of necessary short-comings an example of great artistry?
> 
> Others can say what they like about Muzio at this point in her career (and as this is TC, they _certainly_ will), I think she is possibly better than Callas in this recording.
> 
> ...


Bless you. I knew she was fabulous but I knew none of the backstory!!


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Two very good singers, but Muzio is more colorful and with with more blood and guts. I'm giving her my vote.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

I must confess I'm not fond of verismo. Though French Revolution, biography of an exemplary romantic poet and opera are meant for each other. Of course, I listen to this operas, but my choice depends on who is singing. It's not very interesting style, at least for me, the plot is shabby and full of disgusting supporting characters, too much even for an opera. 
These two ladies are worth to listen to the whole oeuvre to the end. Pacetti was good, I could guess how she would sound in the theater. But what Muzio did is incomparable, I don't care how old she was and how failed was this performance compared to her level in the prime, if she could sing it like THIS.


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