# MEZZO/CONTRALTO TOURNAMENT (Quarterfinal 3): Podles vs Mantelli



## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Ewa Podles, Poland, 1952- (defeated Simionato 10-7)

https://www.talkclassical.com/71105-mezzo-contralto-tournament-round.html






Eugenia Mantelli, Italy, 1860-1926 (defeated Horne 9-6)

https://www.talkclassical.com/71225-mezzo-contralto-tournament-round.html






'Una voce poco fa' from Rossini's _Il barbiere di Siviglia_.

Who's singing did you prefer and why?


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Both are wonderful in different ways. I would rather hear Mantelli in the part onstage as she is fabulous and sounds like right voice for the character. For my part, which is listening while driving, I am all the way for Podles. She was young here and for her relatively younger sounding but obviously the voice of a not so delicate older woman, but she has one of the most spectacular voices of my lifetime and I love the bravura performance with astonishing high notes and no shirking of the low notes like Mantelli did. She can't act, but if you hear her live the size, beauty and remarkable flexibility of her huge voice delivered with a totally distinctive sound is amazing. Hearing a contralto soar up to C6 is thrilling! Ewa gets my vote for what I am looking for.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Well I don't think I'd pick either of these as a first choice in this aria. Podles sounds altogether too imposing, a Tancredi or an Arsace rather than a Rosina, and there is no charm or coquetishness here, though she gets round the notes well enough. Mantelli is more in character, but, as in the Cenerentola, she takes upward derivatives, which I don't like and then opts for a lower derivative at the end. I must make a choice, I suppose, so I'm going to go with Mantelli, simply because she _sounds_ more like a Rosina, though not a particularly playful one.

I can think of any anount of singers (sopranos and mezzos) who give a better account of this aria; Callas (though probably not the live La Scala version), De Los Angeles (both sopranos who sing it in the mezzo key), Supervia, DiDonato, Berganza and Baltsa to name just a few.


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Of course neither is my choice but with the ones given no question on this one. I actually dislike Mantelli. Her tempos are rushed or off the musical path but Podles is hard to beat on this one. She's got guts in her singing.


----------



## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Eugenia's recording / video is all together unacceptable. Her voice is completely unsuitable for this area, which has been sang from mythical divas at the past. Ewa's performance, is OK, but her voice also doesn't suit to this area.* I voted for Ewa *but with cold heart. Thanks Bonetan for the videos and the friends for the good comments.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Well I don't think I'd pick either of these as a first choice in this aria. Podles sounds altogether too imposing, a Tancredi or an Arsace rather than a Rosina, and there is no charm or coquetishness here, though she gets round the notes well enough. Mantelli is more in character, but, as in the Cenerentola, she takes upward derivatives, which I don't like and then opts for a lower derivative at the end. I must make a choice, I suppose, so I'm going to go with Mantelli, simply because she _sounds_ more like a Rosina, though not a particularly playful one.
> 
> I can think of any anount of singers (sopranos and mezzos) who give a better account of this aria; Callas (though probably not the live La Scala version), De Los Angeles (both sopranos who sing it in the mezzo key), Supervia, DiDonato, Berganza and Baltsa to name just a few.


Normally I am not a fan of later Callas, but her video version of this aria in concert is really something and she acted it so well. It is one of the best out there and some of her best singing from that period. It lay so low that it didn't really go into the part of her voice that became problematic after the mid 50's.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

You won't believe how good this is: 



. No one mentioned this singer bu I am older than some of you. My opera mentor who ran the biggest classical record store back in the 80's in Seattle put this on a cassette for me. A young Christa Ludwig singing Rosina in German, which they used to do, and she ends in a high C. It is my very favorite Una voce poca fa.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> You won't believe how good this is:
> 
> 
> 
> . No one mentioned this singer bu I am older than some of you. My opera mentor who ran the biggest classical record store back in the 80's in Seattle put this on a cassette for me. A young Christa Ludwig singing Rosina in German, which they used to do, and she ends in a high C. It is my very favorite Una voce poca fa.


Well she's definitely more in character than either of the two ladies under consideration here, and I like this version a lot better than either, but I wouldn't necessarily prefer her too some of the other versions I listed. I know you like the ending, but I have a feeling Rossini himself might have thought all those extra fireworks were a bit excessive. I assume you know the story of a soprano singing it for him (I think it was Patti) and over decorating it to such an extent that, after she had finished, he asked he who had written it.

Still, brava, Christa. I just wish it had been in Italian. I always feel the same about the many recordings Fritz Wunderlich made. He had a gloriously golden, headily beautiful tenor that was perfect for the Italian lyric repertoire, but almost all his recordings are in German.


----------



## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Neither fits the cavatina in question, I actually dislike both attempts: Podles takes some time to reach the full sound on quite many notes (not sure what's the problem here - was she recording it without proper warm-up?) and Mantelli is just too rushed and not particularly paying attention to actual words and the meaning behind them. I'll skip voting in this round.


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Giving the win to Mantelli. Isn't Rosina supposed to be like 16? Podles sounds like an old medicine woman performing a ritual to curse the men of an enemy tribe after they raped her daughter. Don't get me wrong, I find characters like that *infinitely* more interesting than smiling ingenues with a bit of spice, but it doesn't fit the role in the slightest.


----------

