# BARITONE TOURNAMENT (Bonus Matchup): Maurel vs Battistini vs Gobbi



## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Victor Maurel, France, 1848-1923






Mattia Battistini, Italy, 1856-1928






Tito Gobbi, Italy, 1913-1984






'Era la notte' from Verdi's _Otello_.

Who's singing did you prefer and why?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I am completely gobsmacked by these performances and wonder if they were really in the right order because the second offering sounds exactly like Gobbi and not the 3rd.
So being that my ears in my dotage have abandoned me after all these years of a great talent for recognition of voices, I will choose the second one who sounds most like a Gobbi-like performance but in actuality was Battistini. The voice itself is not a pretty one but the delivery was all-around the most appealing to me.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I know all these recordings and Battistini and Gobbi are both favourites of mine, so I am going to enjoy comparing them.

It's a shame about the sound on the Maurel recording, but at least we have a glimpse of the roles he created. I get the feeling he was past his best, but it's a solid voice and although he sings somewhat matter of factly, there is quite a bit of colouring of the voice in his excerpt. Good, but he has very stiff competition.

Battistini is instantly to be preferred over Maurel due to his better technique, being captured in better vocal estate and delivering the text as if he were speaking it. This is a complete performance and one that I can't imagine being bettered (other than the slight slide at the end).

Gobbi would be my top choice in this role when it comes to complete recordings of the opera and his version is superbly characterised. His voice isn't as resonant as Battistini's despite the superior acoustics, but he makes up for that with his incredibly musical interpretation, which expresses the text perfectly.

This is very difficult, I can't decide between Battistini and Gobbi, it's so close. Thank goodness we are not limited to only having one version in our CD collections.

N.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Otello premiered in 1887, and Maurel recorded this in 1904 at age 56. He's noticeably past his prime, yet the voice still works well except for a bit of strain at the top. From the orchestral accompaniment I'd guess that Battistini's is one of his later recordings, which would put him in his 50s too. The voice is still in good shape and the interpretation quite detailed and engaging. Gobbi's recording finds him in his vocal prime. He sings almost the whole thing _mezza voce_, a reasonable interpretive choice, but I don't find his soft singing particularly attractive. I'll go for Battistini.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Completely agree with Woodduck here. Gobbi knows what to do but his technique seems to me to be to squeeze the sound instead of to create a full bodied piano tone. Battistini's piano is absolutely incredible, and of the three he was the most consistently stylish, characterful, and technically masterful. As usual, the only fault is the weak/watery low notes. Maurel was also good, but this one is a strong W for Battistini.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Much as I like Gobbi on complete recordings (where he creates a complete, three-dimensional character), I almost never prefer him in excerpts like this one, where he seems to be barely singing - at least this avoids the "Gobbi snarl" that can be rather unpleasant.

Maurel was indeed past his best, and is surprisingly bland and foursquare for someone who actually created the role.

It's late Battistini, but he was a consummate singer and artist. Easily the best of the three for me.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Like others here, I find Maurel rather disappointing, considering he created the role, so I eliminated him immediately. Separating Battistini and Gobbi was much harder. My heart wants to vote for Gobbi, as he is probably my favourite baritone, and if we had been voting on one of his later performances (the one from the compete recording under Serafin, or perhaps a 1962 performance under Solti I found on youtube), I would probably have been voting for him, but in consideration of these performances submitted for comparison, I'm going to vote for Battistini, who has both the imagaination and the technique to carry it off.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Battistini wins it with his deep characterization and execution finesse. I fully expected myself to cast vote for Gobbi but the performance is not my favorite one. Maurel sounds rather bland and unimpressive.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I've decided to listen to Gobbi and Battistini again, this time starting with Gobbi.

Gobbi sings with great style and musicianship, but his personification of the role hasn't bedded in at this point in his career. I would like more colours and whilst there is something of the parlato needed for this narration in his version, it lacks an air of authenticity. I understand when his technique is criticised for not producing more rounded and resonant tones, but I think much of that is that he is singing with his natural voice (although it's partly due to him often sacrificing vocal beauty for word painting).

Battistini has the more aesthetically pleasing voice, but that isn't enough to get my vote, having the better technique doesn't mean necessarily _singing_ an aria better overall. However, he wins as he somehow manages to authentically articulate the text as if he were speaking without sacrificing his technique. Authentic? This is the real deal. It's a masterclass in how to marry a very accomplished technique with dramatic interpretation of the highest order.

N.


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