# Single Round: Soprano. Embroidery in Childhood. Brewer, Fleming, Goerke



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

See notes below .No way to vote for Goerke so skip her. Not liked anyway. Sorry


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

This aria is fairly new to me. I find it incredibly beautiful. Let me know if it is new to you. I never have heard the opera.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Interesting choice of repertoire. Britten's high-floating melismas reveal clearly whether or not a soprano has the goods. Renee Fleming has the goods. This excerpt sounds as if it's from a performance of the opera, which is a pleasant surprise given that the role seems to suit her well. 

Christine Brewer sings this very nicely; she cares for words, and captures the desired mood of nostalgia. It's mainly a little strain at the top that puts her behind Fleming.

Goerke's voice has become heavy and clumsy. She can't float and shape the phrases as required. Too much dramatic sopranoing, no doubt; she's apparently been Elektra-cuted.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Excellent choice. I love Peter Grimes and really love this aria. 

Goerke sounds rather harsh and forceful to me, which makes this a two horse race.

Brewer and Fleming are both very good indeed, though, as Wooduck has noted, Brewer has a hint of strain in some of the higher melismas, which is completely absent from Fleming’s rendition. I have her singing this on a very fine recital disc and it stands out amongst the other fine performances there, so it’s good to hear that she is equally good on stage. If I have a criticism, it’s that, as so often, her diction could be better. Brewer isn’t perfect, but we hear more of the words. However I suspect we’d have to go back to the likes of Joan Cross, the creator of the role of Ellen, to hear really clear diction. 

Nevertheless I’m giving the palm to Fleming’s gorgeous singing. I’ll be interested to find out who else is going to be included.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

By the way, Brewer’s name occurs twice in the above poll. Goerke’s does not. Is the vote above for Brewer or Goerke?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I could find no fault with Brewer. Her rendition was simple, sweet and plaintive but Fleming took the crown in this one and I only wished that Patricia Racette's was up there in place of Goerke despite the beginnings of a little tremolo. Hers was, to me, outstanding, but I must admit part of my enthusiasm was unfair because I was viewing her and she was simply incredible in her show of grief. Her chest tones were also superior.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> By the way, Brewer's name occurs twice in the above poll. Goerke's does not. Is the vote above for Brewer or Goerke?


No way to vote for Goerke so skip her. Not liked anyway. Sorry


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> No way to vote for Goerke so skip her. Not liked anyway. Sorry


Could Racette be added in her place or is it just too late now?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Could Racette be added in her place or is it just too late now?


Too late. Here it is.Votes in posts will be counted. Vibrato concerned me.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

l mess up sometimes lol


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Excellent choice. I love Peter Grimes and really love this aria.
> 
> Goerke sounds rather harsh and forceful to me, which makes this a two horse race.
> 
> ...


Almost all videos from senior recitals. Check out post on Racette


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Almost all videos from senior recitals. Check out post on Racette


I didn't much like the Racette version. Too much vibrato for the piece. She doesn't beging to compare with either Fleming or Brewer.

I've PM'd you about Heather Harper, by the way.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Too late. Here it is.Votes in posts will be counted. Vibrato concerned me.


This Met performance was broadcast in 2008. Tenor Anthony Dean Griffey sang Grimes. Racette was 43 here. Obviously the wobble was already fairly well advanced, making some pitches indistinguishable. I didn't know that the problem started so early, and so I'm not surprised that her Maddalena was dreadful in the Met's 2014 production of _Andrea Chenier,_ and that I had to turn off the _Butterfly_ broadcast the following season. Yet, despite this, Racette still intones and shapes Ellen Orford's aria more sympathetically than Goerke. Signs of the times...


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Surprise! We are going to have an additional round of this beautiful and unusual aria. Tsaraslondon is very familiar with this Opera from Covent Garden and has created a really good playlist. He knows this material much better than me.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

I remember hearing this many many years ago in a masterclass run by Peter Pears. A young lass sang it most beautifully but I can’t remember her name. The winner here seems to be Renée Fleming


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

I assume that the bottom Brewer was Goerke.

I saw Grimes once and didn't get it and really don't get Britten. For this song - which is a wonderful, colorful choice SOF !!! - I listened to the first two and thought they were serious singers committed to the music. Fleming's more focused sound sounded more expressive. But Goerke was the only one who sounded like she was singing a song. She didn't seem to present details at the same rate as Fleming but I didn't think that mattered as much as the fact that Goerke was the only one that presented it as a piece of music I could relate to!


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