# Renee Fleming: How Would You Classify Her???????



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

She is my favorite soprano of the current generation. I know she is known as a Mozart/Strauss specialist, but would you call her just a lyric soprano, or would you add some qualifier to that designation. She has both moderate size and flexibility . I saw her in a recital with the Seattle symphony that was all opera arias. She was the most glamorous person I ever saw live and her concert was flawless.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Mozart Requiem Soprano - pretty voice, but her lack of musicality and poor phrasing (live) leaves me cold.

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I can tolerate her in Korngold and as Massenet's Thais, but probably wouldn't be interested if there were better singers in that rep.

N.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> She is my favorite soprano of the current generation. I know she is known as a Mozart/Strauss specialist, but would you call her just a lyric soprano, or would you add some qualifier to that designation. She has both moderate size and flexibility . I saw her in a recital with the Seattle symphony that was all opera arias. She was the most glamorous person I ever saw live and her concert was flawless.


fairly standard lyric soprano imo. not sure what else anyone would call her.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Lyric soprano, except when she's doing jazz or pop.


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## betterthanfine (Oct 17, 2017)

Another fan here. I know many think she's mannered, which she absolutely is, but I just love her singing. I've heard her live several times, most notably her farewell to Covent Garden, on her last evening of singing the Marschallin in Rosenkavalier. Tears were shed.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

high notes: boring
chest voice: captivating


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Mannered she is and she swoops and scoops her notes like she's doing cool jazz, which isn't the least bit necessary and annoys me. 
And she does the worst "e ta-a-ardi" in Traviata I've ever heard. 
She's not a convincing actress either, but dammit, she has _the most gorgeous lyric soprano voice in the business._ It is warm velvet. 
I have yet to hear a voice that stunning ... and very recognizable at the same time. 
I will go as far as to say that she was arguably the most popular living soprano of our time with the masses.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

nina foresti said:


> I will go as far as to say that she was arguably the most popular living soprano of our time with the masses.


Kiri Te Kanawa ??


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Te Kanawa's voice was absolutely gorgeous but was it recognizable? To me it was not.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

But your statement wasn't about being recognizable, it was about mass popularity.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Becca said:


> Kiri Te Kanawa ??


YES!

Or De los Angeles who had lyrical beauty AND warmth. And could act, was musical etc. etc.

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Lyric soprano, except when she's doing jazz or pop.


When isn't she doing jazz or pop!

:devil:

N.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The Conte said:


> When isn't she doing jazz or pop!
> 
> :devil:
> 
> N.


More than a grain of truth. Maybe two grains.

But let's be fair. She did some things beautifully and with a minimum of dawdling, cooing and crooning. I love her album "Night Songs," especially the Rachmaninoff songs, which are simply gorgeous. And some of her work in American and French opera is quite fine, along with some Strauss. It's mainly the ltalian rep that drives me up a wall.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Becca said:


> But your statement wasn't about being recognizable, it was about mass popularity.


Well, is there some kind of poll to see who actually wins the prize? (Or maybe even someone else?)


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

betterthanfine said:


> I've heard her live several times, most notably her farewell to Covent Garden, on her last evening of singing the Marschallin in Rosenkavalier. Tears were shed.


Same, from her last Met performance, in the same role.

I have a ticket for her recital in Berkeley in October; it seems she well be singing a mix of things and I'm sure I'll be happy regardless.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I've always had equivocal feelings about Fleming. I have quite a few of her records, so I do keep going back to her. I don't really like her in Italian opera, but I do in Mozart and Strauss, though even here she sometimes resorts to unstylistic jazzy slides and swoops, which irritate the life out of me.

Her recordings of *Thaïs* and *Rusalka* are excellent, and I have quite a few recital records I enjoy, the _Night Songs_ disc Woodduck mentioned, _I want Magic_, _Strauss Heroines_, _ Great Opera Scenes_. I even quite like her Handel recital, whilst recognising that it's hardly authentic. Most of _Homage_ is good (though not the Italian items) but the _Bel Canto_ disc doesn't work for me. She can get round the notes, but she never sounds completely at home in the repertoire, as Sutherland or Caballé do.

She is a lovely, gracious lady and I had the privelege of working with her back in 2003, when she sang Blanche in a semi-staged production of Previn's *A Streetcar Named Desire* under the composer at the Barbican Centre in London. I had the minor speaking role of the doctor who takes her off to the asylum at the end, as well as a few bits and pieces througout the opera. I also played one of the soldiers she imagined in her Act II soliloquy, as her mind drifts. She had to drape herself over my body at one point and I can tell you it was quite something having that voice singing virtually into my ear. She was a serious and committed performer, without the slightest whiff of prima donna antics about her.

She is in London again this summer, appearing in the UK premiere of a musical called _The Light in the Piazza_, which is playing for a limited season at the Royal Festival Hall.


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## betterthanfine (Oct 17, 2017)

^Her Händel disc is indeed quite impressive, even if, as you say, it's not very authentic. But just listen to an aria like this one from Semele and tell me this is not gorgeous singing:


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

betterthanfine said:


> ^Her Händel disc is indeed quite impressive, even if, as you say, it's not very authentic. But just listen to an aria like this one from Semele and tell me this is not gorgeous singing:


This is, in my opinion, the best performance on the disc, sensuously indolent, as it should be.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

Her Tatiana was simply radiant.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

A wonderful singer who is light years ahead of the unmemorable Kiri Te Kannysing!


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

I would classify her as cute and adorable.  And I like her singing.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

I liked early Renee better when she focused more on French lyric rep rather than singing lots of bel canto and Verdi, even if she has been smarter about this than most singers who sing diverse rep. Currently, I actually appreciate her chest voice more than her soprano range, and I really liked her cross over CD.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> I liked early Renee better when she focused more on French lyric rep rather than singing lots of bel canto and Verdi, even if she has been smarter about this than most singers who sing diverse rep. Currently, I actually appreciate her chest voice more than her soprano range, and I really liked her cross over CD.


Until you got to the last 4 words I must say I agreed pretty much with everything you said. Unfortunately, what you hear as a jazz voice I hear as a phony sound "trying" to be hip.
Can you say Ella, Sarah, Billie?? Now THERE are true and special how-it-should-be-done jazz sounds. 
As for cool jazz, June Christie takes the crown.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

> enee Fleming: How Would You Classify Her???????


We could classify her as Unusual and Wonderful!


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Not particularly a big fan, but this recording is awe-inspiring. Believe me, you owe yourself a full listen.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

I'm glad I saw her a couple years ago, one of the few CM artists who have sold out Weill Hall... but I don't want to hear the tin pan alley stuff...


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