Tsaraslondon said:
Michael Spyres in Les Troyens and Benjamin Bernheim in Faust could both stand comparison with some of the great lyric tenors of the past
I can't agree here. They both have overly light voices with little depth. The sound they produce doesn't sound really offensive most of the time, it just doesn't take off to the next level like the great French tenors of past like Thill, Franz, Jobin, Ansseau and D'Arkor.
Just as an example, I haven't heard any singing from either of these gentlemen that approaches something like this. Not just the flexibility, but the absolutely firm and ringing top notes, the rich, true darkness all throughout the register. D'Arkor's voice is perfectly registrated, so that he doesn't even have to do anything really to be expressive. The sheer sound is expressive. When he does things it sounds totally natural and not affected.
Likewise I find DiDonato to be underdeveloped with a strong tendency towards nasality and caprino. Of course there were singers of the past with these problems, but I don't find her singing to be anywhere on par with the great mezzos of the past, of which there were many.
Which is how I think of it. To my mind, the most important thing is, Are there truly great singers? As I see it, there are none at all today. There are various shades of okay and more or less inoffensive singers, but there are no great singers. In the past, especially before 1960, there were tons of great singers, there being more the further back you go. I don't prove this by a few examples of direct comparison, but by having listened to hundreds of singers past and present, and listening in detail to thousands of recordings, taking notes, comparing specific passages, looking for particular sounds and faults etc.. And of course, by just generally reflecting on which recordings left me amazed or moved. They are overwhelmingly from the 1930s and earlier.
I think examples are good to illustrate specific points. For example, the Zancanaro-Amato comparison illustrates as has been noted the difference between to good singers, one of whom rises to a level of excellence because of certain features of the voice. Now, Amato had his problems. He ended up with vocal problems, probably due to registration issues that at certain points in his career brought on vibrato issues. But when he was on, he was at a level we haven't had for a long time. You can also hear how relying on darkening instead of core and coordination occasionally catches up with Zancanaro, whose voice sometimes hollows out, bringing an effortful effect and an overly apparent vibrato. Now, that's being rather nit-pickey. Zancanaro is pretty good in the greater scheme. But just as there's a big difference between a pretty good opera like
Herodiade and
Tristan or
Fanciulla, there's a big difference between these two singers. And if the canon were nothing but
Herodiade and worse, would it be satisfying?
wkasimer said:
Unfortunately, over the past century, audiences have grown used to singers who make a lot of noise, and sound effortful doing so. I can't remember the last time I heard a Brunnhilde who didn't sound like she was in extremis at the beginning of Act 2 of Walkure, or at the end of Siegfried, or during virtually all of Gotterdammerung. I suspect that if Frida Leider showed up in 2020, most audience members would dismiss her as "too light".
Indeed, and I think it's even true that people now think that a singer is
supposed to sound effortful when the music is difficult. I mean, you hear comments that a singer who to my mind is struggling and gasping to cope with the music, which is all I hear, is so involved in the character and drawing this deep portrait. I can only conclude that they interpret the singer's struggles as expression.
So what is great expressive singing? It is singing that is natural and free sounding; that has power and clarity (core or squillo produced by the chest voice) present throughout; that has softness and darkness present or available (coordination with the head voice or falsetto); that has a consistent and pleasing vibrato; and that uses the free and spontaneous manipulation of these qualities to convey the musical and dramatic effects created by the score and libretto. That to me is the standard of
great singing. That doesn't mean all singing that doesn't measure up to that is bad or worthless. Rather, all singing should measured according to that standard. To me, the singers who demonstrate the pinnacle of that standard in each voice type are, from lowest to highest:
Bass
Mardones and Plancon
Baritone
Battistini and Ruffo
Dramatic Tenor
Caruso, Zanelli, Jadlowker, Volker, and Melchior
Lyric Tenor
Gigli, Schipa, D'Arkor, Piccaver and Malipiero
Contralto
Kirkby-Lunn, Onegin, Matzenauer
Dramatic Soprano
Flagstad, Destinn, Traubel, Leider
Lyric Soprano
Norena, Sayao, young Tebaldi, Rethberg
Coloratura Soprano
Tetrazzini, Kurz, Melba
Obviously this isn't anywhere near comprehensive, just illustrative.