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ernani
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« on: 01:18:33, 17-03-2007 » |
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Have just been listening to a CD of live recordings of this wonderful artist. In terms of current critical reception, is he the most underrated tenor of the 20th century, I wonder? Or if not, what other tenor might be?
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #1 on: 01:38:26, 17-03-2007 » |
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Responses to singers are a personal thing but this is a potentially very interesting thread. I'd like to throw in the name Neil Schicoff. Certainly some tenors are overrated.
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #2 on: 01:39:39, 17-03-2007 » |
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Sorry, Shicoff. (It's gone 1.30am and I'm a little tired and emotional.)
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ernani
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« Reply #3 on: 02:09:11, 17-03-2007 » |
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Responses to singers are a personal thing but this is a potentially very interesting thread. I'd like to throw in the name Neil Schicoff. Certainly some tenors are overrated.
Of course. Presumably there can be nothing else but a 'personal' response to any singer, but for one, I'm always interested in how others respond to great voices and why. Shicoff is a good case in point. I've never heard him live. I love his Luigi in Papanno's Tabarro and he has always struck me as a very intense singer (I know he's had his problems), who doesn't stick to a small repetoire ( Idomeneo in Salzburg for example). To my mind, that's to his credit. Gedda certainly sung an amazingly wide range of roles. What tenor today could sing the roles he has sung as well as he has? From Puritani, to Lohengrin, to Elisir to Ballo to Onegin! |
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« Last Edit: 02:12:11, 17-03-2007 by ernani »
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George Garnett
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« Reply #4 on: 08:56:22, 17-03-2007 » |
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I don't know if Gedda's reputation has declined since his death (Ernani's reference to current reputation) but it certainly rode very high in his lifetime. He was one of those very few classical performers who were superbly good but whose name was also very widely known (in the select company of people like Menuhin, Domingo, Barbirolli). I only heard him right at the end of his career in Benvenuto Cellini but his voice was amazing, even then. Golden, not silver, if I've understood what people mean by those terms. (Actually, rather inappropriate for that particular role now I come to think of it. Never occurred to me before  ) I haven't heard anyone else sing the role nearly as well. He was also one of those tenors who can just pour out the top notes as if it is a perfectly natural and exuberant thing to do without you having to worry that he might burst a blood vessel or start a nose bleed at any moment. Lovely singer. |
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Soundwave
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« Reply #5 on: 11:25:02, 17-03-2007 » |
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For me, Gedda, a modest sort of man, was a superb stylist with a superb range. To hear him sing the high F in the final scene of Puritani was amazing. It's on record and is something no other tenor of our times has attempted. His style extended to Viennese operetta and I can think of nobody else who has sung that genre so perfectly and stylishly particularly in Die Czardasfurstin and Eine Nacht in Venedig. There are lessons there that should be studied by all young tenors today. Whether he is underrated or not I cannot say. He certainly should not be.
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Ho! I may be old yet I am still lusty
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Swan_Knight
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« Reply #6 on: 13:03:14, 17-03-2007 » |
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Gedda is still alive, George.
I'm not sure he is underrated....the problem seems to be that his abilities as a linguist are sometimes allowed to overshadow his (more relevant!) achievements as a tenor. Whenever I read anything about him, there's always more about the facility with languages than there is about the voice.
Admittedly, he did flourish in a time blessed with great tenors (certainly in comparison to nowadays), which may not have helped him. However, those high profile, epoch-making recordings with Karajan, etc. would seem to give the lie to at least some of that.
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...so flatterten lachend die Locken....
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ernani
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« Reply #7 on: 14:51:33, 17-03-2007 » |
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Good to see you over here SK! Yes, I take your point, but I suppose what I really mean is underrated in terms of how tenors tend to be feted today. For example, I heard Alagna at the start of his career as Rodolfo and he was wonderful. But I've also cringed at what's happened to him since. Do he or his 'people' not have a sense that what he has done (in relative terms) compared to someone like Gedda is paltry? SW's point about Gedda's modesty is a case in point here. It seems that tenors today are promoted well in advance of their achivements (Salvatore Licitra, anyone?! Watching him sing a high note does certainly make one fear for his blood pressure George, and he's a Bergonzi pupil  ). The 'Gedda generation' on the other hand (Kraus, Bergonzi, Raimondi etc) took time to build substantial careers in a way that few seem able or willing to do today. |
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« Last Edit: 14:59:45, 17-03-2007 by ernani »
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George Garnett
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« Reply #8 on: 15:03:38, 17-03-2007 » |
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Gedda is still alive, George. Whoops! I do beg his pardon. But delighted to hear it obviously. |
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reiner_torheit
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« Reply #9 on: 15:08:37, 17-03-2007 » |
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Although other tenors were the undisputed kings of certain chunks (Verdian, Wagnerian) of the repertoire, Gedda spanned them all magnificently, aided by his exceptional musicality (he plays the piano very well too), his legendary facility with languages, and a huge love of what he does. It must surely be a lasting tribute to the man that in a reader's poll of "Bolshoi" magazine (the magazine of the Bolshoi Theatre) he emerged as the "best Lensky of all time". If Gedda is underrated, then listeners are missing-out on something special. In addition to that astounding moment in PURITANI, I'd add his extraordinary performance in PEARL FISHERS... he makes lyrical music out of an aria that sent better men into a cold sweat, and the final pianissimo top note is effortlessly dropped in without a hint of falsetto. Here's a taster of Gedda in the French repertoire - not Bizet, but Gounod here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9Jna9hX5Xw4Oh, and my undying respect for Shicoff too - LA JUIVE was an astonishing achievement. |
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They say travel broadens the mind - but in many cases travel has made the mind not exactly broader, but thicker.
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reiner_torheit
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« Reply #11 on: 15:33:42, 17-03-2007 » |
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Hi Soundwave! Your link takes me to a lovely work - [and now the right one!! ;-) ] Here's at least one clip of Gedda in Le Postillon http://youtube.com/watch?v=9Jna9hX5Xw4 - if you close your eyes to the magnificently silly video, the singing's very nice :-) Since we've already mentioned him, here's Shicoff in LA JUIVE. It may not be music everyone would consider of the finest calibre, but when immaculately played and sung, it's well worth our attention:  sound/video cliphttp://youtube.com/watch?v=kXyreJYCzTQPS one reason why Gedda had immaculate Russian - his father was Russian :-) "Gedda" is his mother's surname. In his earlier appearances in Russia (of which there were many!), he appeared under his paternal surname, as "Nikolai Ustinov" - some of those recordings credit him under this surname, and fans of rare recordings, bootlegs etc might usefully check for "Ustinov" when searching :-) |
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« Last Edit: 15:44:49, 17-03-2007 by reiner_torheit »
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They say travel broadens the mind - but in many cases travel has made the mind not exactly broader, but thicker.
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #12 on: 16:01:45, 17-03-2007 » |
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I've always been curious to hear Ernst Kozub, who was supposedly the tenor originally chosen to sing Siegfried in the Solti Ring, but who was replaced by the ever-reliable Windgassen when he failed to learn the part. He recorded the role of Erik in The Flying Dutchman but I've never been able to get hold of it. I cannot believe that he blew a part like that, or did he secretly fear that he either wasn't ready or capable?
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Swan_Knight
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« Reply #13 on: 16:25:35, 17-03-2007 » |
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Little seems to be known about Kozub, Tony.
He can be heard on the (still available) Klemperer recording of 'Hollander'. I can't say his voice made all that much impression on me when I listened a few months back.
He died, at no great age, in 1971.
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...so flatterten lachend die Locken....
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MabelJane
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« Reply #14 on: 15:42:58, 18-03-2007 » |
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Thanks so much for that, Soundwave. I was discussing this song with another poster a few weeks ago over on the R4 MC boards so I've sent him the link. Don't understand the message after yours - your link's perfect! His Postillion link took me to the Faust... Nicolai Gedda is not only a fine singer, he's a lovely man too. My dad was in the ROH chorus for many years and said that Gedda was not only friendly with the choristers but also accompanied them on the bus for rehearsals in the opera centre, entertaining them with anecdotes, whereas most principals would of course travel by taxi. I recently bought Gedda's autobiography My Life and Art for him. |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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