# Round 2:Bass. Ella giammai m'amo. Tavela, Hines, Kipnis



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)




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## Parsifal98 (Apr 29, 2020)

For those bothered by the German version, Kipnis also recorded it in Italian, albeit later in his career.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

In addition to the version posted by Parsifal98, Kipnis also recorded it in Italian early in his career, in 1923:


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Martti Talvela, not Tavela, is a huge guy - for his debut in San Francisco he was *Boris Godunov* - in his death scene, he pitched forward from the dais and gave us a fright, it was like a tower falling. In the same season, he also sang Filippo II.

I haven't heard the others but Kipnis here doesn't sound like a bass to me. It's possible he just has a lighter voice.

Thanks, #Parsifal98 for the Italian version! It helps, though there is slight deterioration in the voice. His diction is a bit exaggerated, but still germane. He does weird things with aspirates.

Jerome Hines is a legendary name to those who listen to the Metropolitan Opera Saturday broadcasts. I haven't heard him in this role, but he does pretty well. Ultimately, it's between Talvela and Hines.

I voted for Talvela for sentimental reasons. He apparently died quite young, dancing at his daughter's wedding.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

wkasimer said:


> In addition to the version posted by Parsifal98, Kipnis also recorded it in Italian early in his career, in 1923:


I changed it. I hope that is ok as few had voted.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> Martti Talvela, not Tavela, is a huge guy - in his debut in San Francisco he was *Boris Godunov* - in his death scene, he pitched forward from the dais and gave us a fright, it was like a tower falling. In the same season, he also sang Filippo II.
> 
> I haven't heard the others but Kipnis here doesn't sound like a bass to me. It's possible he just has a lighter voice.
> 
> ...


We can't have a contest from me without a name error LOL Sorry. Thanks for the memories. I changed to the Italian version by Kipnis when he was young, but it won't change your vote.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> We can't have a contest from me without a name error LOL Sorry. Thanks for the memories. I changed to the Italian version by Kipnis when he was young, but it won't change your vote.


wkasimer had already posted the young Kipnis version when I voted. I chose Talvela over the others.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Talvela was the great basso I got to hear alot and the sound I have in my ear is not exactly like this...he sounds all cleaned up here! I miss the rough spots, that would have been hindrances in a singer with less voice and less stage savvy in him. Talvela's art was never smooth but it grabbed you and he was beloved! This version sounds great but not terribly distinctive and surprisingly extroverted for this great soliloquy.

Kipnis fast tempos and the cut take him out of the running for me.

Hines sounds terrific. Again, rather extroverted but he has an audience in front of him. You'd have to be quite confident that your brooding was potent to not do a little extra with 4,000 (I'm assuming the Met) staring and listening. And he does get a little over the top here and there. For me he fits the "if only the sound were a little more distinctive" group because the sound is wonderful and he gives it his all, but I always thought Tozzi and Talvela and Ghiaurov had more individual sounds. But on this day, he's my winner!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I wonder what determined the choice of so fast a tempo in Kipnis's recording? That and the shallow recorded sound do an injustice to one of the greatest basses we've known. Under better conditions he would probably be entirely competitive with the other two gents, both of whom sing superbly and give moving performances.

I came to the Met broadcasts in the '70s, too late to hear much of Jerome Hines or to catch him in his prime. Martti Talvela I know better from a number of recordings; my first was his King Marke in the 1966 Bayreuth _Tristan_ under Bohm, and he struck me then, as he does now, as an ideal Marke and the one most likely to give pleasure at that point in the opera, where most basses fail to make the king's somber lamentations entirely welcome after the heated ecstasies of the preceding love duet.

Talvela's black marble voice is fully in evidence here as well, deep, clear, incisive and sympathetic, and the sheer sound of it, on top of an expressive interpretation, make him my favorite of the singers we've heard in this scene up to now.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Good old Martti Talvela ran away with the honors on this one. Not too overly dramatic like Hines and Kipnis was too bland for me.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The great Kipnis doesn't really justify his reputation here. The aria is taken ludicrously fast, and cut, probably to take into account the limits of 78" sides, but it puts him out of the running.

Hines is too extrovert for me. I get none of Felipe's desolation, resignation or deep inward sadness. If anything he sounds angry, which doesn't really accord with Verdi's mournful orchestration.

Talvela, the Finn, with his black voice has melancholy in the very sound he makes. It's also a much more thoughtful interpretation and he's a very easy winner for me.


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