# SOPRANO TOURNAMENT: (By Request): Freni vs Norena



## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Mirella Freni, Italy, 1935-2020






Eide Norena, Norway, 1884-1968






Who's singing did you prefer and why?


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Freni.
She really allows this piece to develop both musically and dramatically to a shattering climax.
Norena has the instrument to deliver all the right notes but it fails to move me the way Freni does. I have never heard Norena before, I believe, her voice is quite impressive.
But Puccini is all about the dramatic side, so Freni takes the crown.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Surprise surprise! Freni was one of my top 5 favorite sopranos when I first started my opera passion. 
But I just felt that she didn't seem to have the poignance that Eide had. There was such sensitivity in her interpretation that it was an easy choice for me even though I'd never heard of her before today.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I found Freni's voice a turn-off. Go Norena!!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

For me this was very very close. Both had great interpretations with emotional deliveries. As astonishingly beautiful as Freni's voice is ( who I must confess I am not very familiar with) I found Norena ( who I had never heard of) to have a type of resonance in her voice that completely captivated me and won me over. It was one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

This is a toughie!

Freni has the more beautiful voice to my ear and I love her line in this aria, there are moments, though where her phrasing doesn't quite work for me.

Norena has a superb voice, not quite as smooth as Freni's, but quite individual and attractive. I prefer Norena's phrasing. In the end I plumped for Freni due to her more emotive approach and Norena's Italian isn't as good (her pronouncing single Rs as if they were doubles annoys me).

N.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Mirella is super big love for me. She is PERFECT as a singer, as a woman, as a teacher (despite she was VERY hart with her students) as everything. A real DIVA. She wins the competitions with the Frau Norena (she is unknown to me to be honest). A reason is that the Frau Norena about 0.33 of the video she struggles and for my ears goes out of tune. (maybe, and this is very possible, is the sound quality, or the speakers of my Laptop.)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I've been fond of Norena since I first heard her sing "Care selve" and was moved by that to buy an LP of her. Her voice has a special plangency, and her manner is always clear, natural and unaffected. Freni is just fine, but not particularly distinctive or memorable.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The Conte said:


> This is a toughie!
> 
> Freni has the more beautiful voice to my ear and I love her line in this aria, there are moments, though where her phrasing doesn't quite work for me.
> 
> ...


A lot of non-Italians can't pronounce the single "r" and use the double "r" which I find difficult to take. 
In the film "_Swept Away_" (_Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzuro mare d'agosto_) the high society lady played my Mariangela Melato used the double "r" to indicate her status).


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I like Norena in other arias, but I, too, find her sounding strained in some of the higher notes. I think Freni plays the quintessential Puccinian "little woman" to perfection and sounds freer of voice in this excerpt.

Her diminutive stature helped visually in the theater (Terry McEwen brought her many times to San Francisco in roles she wanted to try out that stretched her vocally (*Manon Lescaut*, Tatyana in *Yevgeny Onegin*, for instance). She found she had the ballast needed to fulfill the roles she tried.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

MAS said:


> I like Norena in other arias, but I, too, find her sounding strained in some of the higher notes. I think Freni plays the quintessential Puccinian "little woman" to perfection and sounds freer of voice in this excerpt.
> 
> Her diminutive stature helped visually in the theater (Terry McEwen brought her many times to San Francisco in roles she wanted to try out that stretched her vocally (*Manon Lescaut*, Tatyana in *Yevgeny Onegin*, for instance). She found she had the ballast needed to fulfill the roles she tried.


How wonderful that you got to see her in those roles! I have recordings of her in both of those (and not the famous ones, interestingly enough). I wasn't that interested in her until a few years ago and I love the warmth she brought to Puccini and other roles she suited. (I'm not a fan of her Tosca, though.)

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I agree with Woodduck. Freni had a lovely voice but, like Woodduck, I hear nothing particularly distinctive or memorable about her performance, which is how I often feel about her. The voice is lovely (and I think I'd probaby be able to identify her in a blind test) but her performances rarely implant themselves on the memory.

Norena was new to me and I found her performance much more interesting, a couple of moments of odd phrasing notwithstanding. I vote for Norena.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The Conte said:


> How wonderful that you got to see her in those roles! I have recordings of her in both of those (and not the famous ones, interestingly enough). I wasn't that interested in her until a few years ago and I love the warmth she brought to Puccini and other roles she suited. (I'm not a fan of her Tosca, though.)
> 
> N.


Funnily enough, I wasn't and still not interested in the light lyric soprano roles like the ones she sang for most of her career and, like you, became more interested when she took on the heavier roles, though I think she never really became a _spinto_.

Freni just wasn't suited to *Tosca*, looking rather like a little girl in her mother's finery. Somehow, though, she did very well in the *Manon Lescaut*, which I always thought was a heavier role than Tosca. She was lovely as Tatyana, and seemed very believable as the young girl.

She then returned to _Mimi_ a little later, with her childhood pal Luciano. She sounded amazingly well then, too. But I was never really a big fan, alas!


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Some wonderful phrasing from Norena. I like her "io chiudo stanca gli occhi" 0:50, and her "prima di quest'aurora" at 1:31, where she draws out the "staaaaaa aurora". She's constantly shifting registers, and shaping the phrases in an individual way. Very interesting interpretation, and I found it very moving. Freni always had a solid voice, and gave some really wonderful performances. I think she does fine here, but Norena is much more moving, imo.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

MAS said:


> Funnily enough, I wasn't and still not interested in the light lyric soprano roles like the ones she sang for most of her career and, like you, became more interested when she took on the heavier roles, though I think she never really became a _spinto_.
> 
> Freni just wasn't suited to *Tosca*, looking rather like a little girl in her mother's finery. Somehow, though, she did very well in the *Manon Lescaut*, which I always thought was a heavier role than Tosca. She was lovely as Tatyana, and seemed very believable as the young girl.
> 
> She then returned to _Mimi_ a little later, with her childhood pal Luciano. She sounded amazingly well then, too. But I was never really a big fan, alas!


I used to feel the same way about her as Woodduck and Tsarras and I haven't quite taken to her Adina or Susanna (there are too many good singers in those roles to compare her to). I love her as Mimi (Boheme isn't a favourite of mine, but the Callas, De los Angeles and Freni recordings all have such superb pairings in the two main roles they are essential IMO). She's the Liu in my favourite overall Turandot (live with Corelli and Nilsson) and I like her late Puccini recordings despite the slating of them by all and sundry. She and Pavarotti were a dream team for me, so their Manon Lescaut and Butterfly are further musts.

Have you heard the live Eugene Onegin from Vienna? I find it overall far more convincing than her studio version of the role. She would never be first choice in any of her roles, but I'm still a fan.

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> I used to feel the same way about her as Woodduck and Tsarras and I haven't quite taken to her Adina or Susanna (there are too many good singers in those roles to compare her to).
> 
> N.


Conversely I really like her Susanna. She is absolutely charming in the Ponnelle film.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The Conte said:


> Have you heard the live Eugene Onegin from Vienna? I find it overall far more convincing than her studio version of the role. She would never be first choice in any of her roles, but I'm still a fan.
> 
> N.


I have not seen or heard her in Eugene Onegin from Vienna, just the San Francisco performances.

I think of her as the ideal Mimi, having seen her in the role several times, live or on video (plus the Karajan blockbuster). There's also the Zeffirelli film with Raimondi (?) that is moving.


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