Saturday, May 15, 2010
Opera Broadcast 5/15
Well how was that for a great recording of Lohengrin! James King as Lohengrin was fantastic! He was I think the greatest heldentenor of his generation. The "heroic" tenor is such a rare animal in the opera world. Domingo tried to sing the heldentenor repertory but he just never had the solid mid-range extension though the passaggio (Passaggio is a term used in classical singing to describe the pitch ranges in which vocal registration events occur) and into the upper range. Domingo was always a pure dramatic spinto. James McCracken was another true heldentenor as was Ramon Vinay in the 1950s. I am afraid that our wunderkind de jour Jonas Kauffman is trying to be a heldenteonr but his roots as a pure light lyric tenor are not translating well with his "new" voice. He re-trained in Germany and is rapidly moving into Wagnarian territory. His Cavaradosi at the MET this past season was to my ears way off the mark. Just because you can sing the notes and very loudly at that, does not mean that you are capturing the correct vocal style for the opera and what the composer intended esp. in the world of verisimo opera. I wish him well but I predict what will happen to his voice will be similar to the vocal disaster that befell Rolando Villazon. I predicted his crash and burn almost to the month...which makes me very sad. He is a very talented singer and could still have a career but he needs to find a new voice teacher... and fast!! Search Youtube for Villazon's cracked notes and crash and burn at the MET to hear what I am talking about. Next week we have a bel canto gem Bellini's I Puritani with Pavarotti and Sutherland. Check it out and please leave me your thoughts. Ciao for now...
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