# Round 1: Te Deum. Gobbi, Macneil, Hvorostovsky



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)




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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

This is quite impossible for me on several counts. 
First: One is a film, one is a video and the other is a concert version which makes it difficult to compare unlike performances. I'd rather only hear them on a cd for a fair comparison of voices.
I am an out and out Hvorotovsky lover (in more ways than one). Emotional tears well up at the sight of him but his concert version misses the mark because I require visually having my Scarpias in costume, acting their evil live or on video, otherwise it misses the mark for me.
Which brings me to another died-in-the-wool favorite of mine, Gobbi, who, in this film seems so stiff and postured that I could not establish any depth of feelings for his performance. He seemed more involved in chewing the scenery.
The funniest part is that I am normally not a devotee of Macneill and yet his rendering comes closest to what I expect of a Scarpia. I have seen videos of Gobbi's Scarpia that were so fabulous that I am sure I would have chosen him had there been anything but the one offered here.
So purely by default I must give the crown to MacNeil who did a fine job in the video.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

In your opinion should I only present videos from actual operas?I like to do all videos if I include one. Some more recent artists are only available on video form. Dimitry only had the concert version. I do like to add variety. Perhaps you could just listen and not look like one member does.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Vocally, Gobbi is an easy win for me. He has the very sound of evil in his voice. I hear his lust for Tosca in a way I don't quite with either MacNeil or Hvorostovsky. I assume this was a TV appearance rather than a film and I admit his acting is a bit over the top. Distance would have no doubt added enchantment. Even so, he rivets you with his sheer presence, both vocally and physically. Also note how his gestures are perfectly timed with the music. Gobbi just simply is Scarpia for me.

MacNeil gives a good performance too, and it no doubt helps that this is from a stage production but he takes a few strange breaths and he doesn't have Gobbi's demonic power. Neither does Hvorostovsky, who is hampered by it being in a concert setting. His voice also seemed a bit soft grained for the role. 

TV performances were still in their infancy when Gobbi's was taped (I'm guessing this predates the famous Act II with Callas) and I have no doubt Gobbi would have turned in a much more subtle performance at a later date, as indeed he does in that 1964 Act II and as he does on disc. It's Gobbi for me.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

What a great scene this is! It’s effective no matter how it’s presented.
My Scarpia has always been Gobbi, though, and I find it hard to see anyone else in the role.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Strangely my go-to Scarpia is and always has been Gobbi but being trained in the theater arts I cannot allow what I consider to be an insincere gesture prone performance get first place. He is far and away above all of them almost anywhere I've ever seen him but honesty prevails me to say "not here".


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Tito Gobbi not only conveys the inexplicably pure evil of what may be opera's least sympathetic villain, but he also outsings the competition, his tough, compact instrument etching the musical line with tonal solidity and intensity throughout. Hvorostovsky is just too lightweight, having to give full volume and more, his vibrato distorted. In the struggle he can't get the character into his voice at all. MacNeil is much more suitable by nature, projecting both music and character, but clearly past his vocal prime. Earlier on he might have given Gobbi more of a run for his money - or maybe (probably) not...

As always I listened to these before satisfying my curiosity about Gobbi's acting. I took it in as if I were in a balcony at La Scala, not behind the magnifying lens of a TV camera, and I found it perfectly attuned to the music and the character. I liked the moment of superstious fear he allowed this moral monster of a police chief, an Italian Catholic born and bred in spite of all.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Tito Gobbi not only conveys the inexplicably pure evil of what may be opera's least sympathetic villain, but he also outsings the competition, his tough, compact instrument etching the musical line with tonal solidity and intensity throughout. Hvorostovsky is just too lightweight, having to give full volume and more, his vibrato distorted. In the struggle he can't get the character into his voice at all. MacNeil is much more suitable by nature, projecting both music and character, but clearly past his vocal prime. Earlier on he might have given Gobbi more of a run for his money - or maybe (probably) not...
> 
> As always I listened to these before satisfying my curiosity about Gobbi's acting. I took it in as if I were in a balcony at La Scala, not behind the magnifying lens of a TV camera, and I found it perfectly attuned to the music and the character. I liked the moment of superstious fear he allowed this moral monster of a police chief, an Italian Catholic born and bred in spite of all.


You forgot to vote, but I assume your vote would have gone to Gobbi.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

After many years listening to second act with Callas and Gobbi I was almost sure whom I would vote. But here Gobbi's singing seems too brusque (I hope I use correct words), as if he is crying out slogans. Good acting is welcomed, but singing shouldn't be sacrificed. 
Khvorostovsky, unfortunately not heard live, is good too, a younger Scarpia. But here I prefer Scarpia as an old lecher - MacNeil.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

I found all of these renditions somewhat flawed vocally. MacNeil is clearly past his best, meaning that he wobbles. As noted by Woodduck, Hvorostovsky really doesn't have enough voice to ride over the orchestration. I've never been a huge fan of Gobbi's rather dry production, but this is one role where the "Gobbi snarl" works, so he got my vote.

Still, I prefer the criminally underrated Matteo Manuguerra to any of these. Just the right combination of elegance, machismo, and menace:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Tsaraslondon said:


> You forgot to vote, but I assume your vote would have gone to Gobbi.


Thanks for the reminder. That's what's likely to happen at 1:00 AM.


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