Thread: Operatic Basses of Past and Present

Hi!
I couldn't find any threads concerning the best basses of the past and present (if there is one, so help me God, as I hate lookin like a n00b). My favorites are Boris Christoff, Kurt Moll, Ezio Pinza, and of course, Feodor Chaliapin.

Originally Posted by MarkJackson

Hi!
I couldn't find any threads concerning the best basses of the past and present (if there is one, so help me God, as I hate lookin like a n00b). My favorites are Boris Christoff, Kurt Moll, Ezio Pinza, and of course, Feodor Chaliapin.

Hello Mark & welcome (back) to the forum.

A man after my own heart - I love talking about my favourite fach. And no there isn't a thread dedicated/devoted to basses & I don't know why there isn't because there should be. We have a gorgeous baritones thread & discussion on basses have been slotted in there, so they haven't really been neglected.

I love Samuel Ramey and of the current crop I really like John Relyea. One very new guy who will be one to watch is Grigory Soloviov. He's still a baby in basso terms but I was mesmerised by his Polypheme in Festival d'Aix-en-Provence's Acis & Galatea.

Even though I'm primarily a tenor enthusiast, there are plenty of basses among my favorite singers. Here are some who come to mind:
Kurt Moll
Gwynne Howell
Franz Crass
Stephen Milling
Sam Ramey
Josef Greindl
Peter Meven
Karl Ridderbusch
Paul Plishka

The Bass voice is my favorite and at the top of my list is Alexander Kipnis. Not far behind him are Gottlob Frick, Martti Talvela and Jerome Hines. A few others I like are Eric Halfvarson, Aage Haugland and Robert Lloyd.

One of my favourite operas is Massenet's Don Quichotte which he wrote for Feodor Chaliapin.

I have several CDs including an Italian version but I'm disappointed with the only DVD.



There's a wonderful film called The Adventures of Don Quixote with Chaliapin in the title role which was recorded in both English and French. A little gem.

These are the basses considered the greatest although I am sure some people will feel their favourites have been left out' But there are not many who could really be desribed as great.
Pol Plancon 1854-1914. France. "One of the greatest masters of vocal technique that ever trod the stage. What a golden age singer should be, he was."

Feodor Chaliapin 1873-1938. Russia. The great singing actor in opera and song. he was not a cavernous bass and his voice veered towards bass-baritone.

Leff Sibiriakoff 1869-1942. Russia. Superb deep sound, but not so hot on interpretation. Still untouched as a technician.

Marcel Journet 1867-1933. France. A great range and fluency of technique.

Tancredi Pasero 1893-1983. Italy. These two were contemporaries, Pinza went to the NY Met. Pasero stayed in Italy.
Ezio Pinza 1892-1957. Italy. Pinza was probably the first bass to get filmstar treatment, but with his personality and looks it wasn't surprising. Pasero had the steadiest voice imaginable, it just floated along and easily encompassed the lowest of notes.I suppose his vibrato will not please some people, but this is what gave him so much control.

Alexander Kipnis 1891-1978. Russia. " A miracle among singers, grandly sonorous down to the depths--low B Flat,A,G.His German was perfect as he was based in Germany. He joined the Met in 1940 probably too late to hear the best of his voice on American recordings. His repertoire covered German,Russian and Italian opera. He was also a very great lieder singer.

Friederich Schorr 1888-1953. Hungary. A distinguished Wagnerian bass he sang regularly at the Berlin and Vienna State Operas and Bayreuth.He joined the Met in 1924.

Mark Reizen 1895-1992. Russia. A voice that was deep,firm and authorative he appeared at the Bolshoi for thirty years.

Gottlob Frick 1908-1994. Germany. An inky black bass . He sang Verdi roles in German and was highly regarded in Mozart and Wagner.

Hans Hotter 1909-2003. Germany. Bass, Bass- Baritone. Very distinguished Wagnerian and a great lieder singer.

Boris Christoff 1914-1992. Bulgaria. Noted for his powerful voice and the intensity of his musical and dramatic skill.his repertoire covered Italian, French and Russian opera and Russian song.

Others that are worth a mention :

Georg Hann 1897-1950. Austria. A thoroughly trained bass voice, his repertoire included Mozart, Beethoven, Smetana,Richard Strauss, Wagner.Lortzing. A great character and an amusing actor.

Kim Borg 1919. Finland. Dark timbered powerful bass, good in Italian,German,Russian opera and oratorio and song'

Nicola Rossi-Lemeni.1920-1993. Mother Russian ,father Italian so bi-lingual. Worldwide activity on stage and in concert covering the Italian and Russian repertoire.He was married to Virginia Zeani.

Sadly, of the past, Laszlo Polgar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqdf7H3DK80

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug-r6...eature=related

I guess I'm alone in loving Donald McIntyre.

McIntyre as Wotan in the Chéreau production of Der Ring, conducted by Boulez:

thanks for the clip. i love Chereau's ring. have the cds and dvd.
McIntyre is a great actor as well as singer. i love his performances.
he did a great Meistersinger dvd as well.

and remember "don't eat the yellow snow"
GB F.ZAPPA

Sadly there only seem to be a couple of DVDs with McIntyre, which is a shame because I think he has amazing stage presence and a great voice. I don't have any CDs with him either.

Last week I saw a performance of Attila by Finnish bass Mika Kares. I'd not heard of him before & was very impressed.

Originally Posted by Crudblud

Sadly there only seem to be a couple of DVDs with McIntyre, which is a shame because I think he has amazing stage presence and a great voice. I don't have any CDs with him either.

Sadly there are many excellent basses who are under recognized by the record companies.

Originally Posted by GoneBaroque

Sadly there are many excellent basses who are under recognized by the record companies.

And then you don't mention who the poor guys are!

I'm an opera neophyte, but one of my favourites is Rene Pape.



Then there's Samuel Ramey, Kurt Moll, Nikolai Ghiaurov, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Gottlob Frick. Though I have listened to very little of them. Should listen more to decide whether to like them more or less as I do now.

Another of my favorites: the Italian bass Giorgio Tadeo, a noted Mozart interpreter in the '60s and '70s. Here he sings Sarastro's aria, "In diesen heil'gen Hallen" from Die Zauberflöte