# Round One: Baritones. La Favorita: Leonora, Viens. Ausensi and Cambon



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I tried to introduce you to Charles Cambon last contest and Youtube messed me up and I had to delete the contest. Hopefully these will work. Both of these are new baritones t I discovered for you .I hope you will like them including Cambon.




Manuel Ausensi, La Favorita. G. Donizetti. Vien Leonora (aria and Cabaletta 




La favorite: Léonore, Viens · Charles Cambon, Florian Weiss


----------



## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Both are very good but I found Ausensi more moving.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Ausensi does more with the music, although he's less vocally assured when moderating the volume than when singing out. His brief moment of coloratura, with its rapid scale ascending an octave, is very well done. Cambon just sings out at one volume, take it or leave it, and his upward scale, surprisingly for such a well-functioning voice, is a disappointing smear. Aussensi isn't a first-rank baritone, but he's at least able to show that he's interested in the music. I'm not - particularly - and apparently Cambon isn't either.


----------



## PaulFranz (May 7, 2019)

Ausensi's vibrato is all messed up. Can't vote for him on principle.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

PaulFranz said:


> Ausensi's vibrato is all messed up. Can't vote for him on principle.


I apparently have zero taste in voices because I heard no wobble, his vibrato was not excessive, and seemed very normal regular vibrato to me and was consistent throughout the range. I of course am not a vocalist and no nothing about proper vocal production, just what sounds right to my obviously amateur ears. I guess I am completely ignorant as to what to listen for in picking out baritone voices. I should stick to sopranos I guess.


----------



## PaulFranz (May 7, 2019)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I apparently have zero taste in voices because I heard no wobble, his vibrato was not excessive, and seemed very normal regular vibrato to me and was consistent throughout the range. I of course am not a vocalist and no nothing about proper vocal production, just what sounds right to my obviously amateur ears. I guess I am completely ignorant as to what to listen for in picking out baritone voices. I should stick to sopranos I guess.


You can slow down the video and count the average fluctuations per second. It's noticeably slower than his older compatriots like della Torre and Segura Talien. It just slowed down more as he aged. He had an unsteady voice compared to the best baritones back then.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

PaulFranz said:


> You can slow down the video and count the average fluctuations per second. It's noticeably slower than his older compatriots like della Torre and Segura Talien. It just slowed down more as he aged. He had an unsteady voice compared to the best baritones back then.


This is out of the depths for me. You are much much much more advanced in what you listen for than this poor listener. Thanks for your explanation. I used to speed up and slow down my old turntable for fun but have never done this to a Youtube video. I like singers with differing types of vibrato from prime Callas to Cigna and Sills and only know when it starts to be obviously wobbly like late Marton or Jones or too slow like old Milnes. I thought people would like Cambon more as when I looked back after discovering him I found him on one of your great baritone lists but will pull him from future contests.


----------



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I tried to introduce you to Charles Cambon last contest and Youtube messed me up and I had to delete the contest. Hopefully these will work. Both of these are new baritones t I discovered for you .I hope you will like them including Cambon.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I cannot put my finger on it, but something was amiss with the recording of Aussensi, possibly it was not his fault, but that of sound engineers. I was not happy with neither loud nor quite volume and could not immerse myself in the aria. I tried for the second time, but stopped earlier. 

Charles Cambon, luckily, was quite moving. My poor baritone of a king, Leonora does not deserve you, I am the right one for you ;-) I have a feeling, this aria can be even more appealing, although I don't know it that well. But Cambon did enough to get me involved.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BBSVK said:


> I cannot put my finger on it, but something was amiss with the recording of Aussensi, possibly it was not his fault, but that of sound engineers. I was not happy with neither loud nor quite volume and could not immerse myself in the aria. I tried for the second time, but stopped earlier.
> 
> Charles Cambon, luckily, was quite moving. My poor baritone of a king, Leonora does not deserve you, I am the right one for you ;-) I have a feeling, this aria can be even more appealing, although I don't know it that well. But Cambon did enough to get me involved.


I can't listen loud to Youtube when preparing these unless I drag out my headphones as I have an 80 year old neighbor with the hearing of a 6 year old. Perhaps I missed something important. Thanks for what you said about Cambon.


----------

