[Seattleoperafan]

Congrats of knocking out 3 final rounds so quickly with some surprising results. I looked at the French version of this aria but it was all more modern singers and i am doing two big ones with the Italian version today.

Don Carlo: Tu che la vanita · Krassimira Stoyanova Verdi: Arias

Don Carlo, Act IV, Scene 1: Tu che le vanità ... Francia, nobile suol · Sonya Yoncheva · Giuseppe Verdi · Massimo Zanetti · Münchner Rundfunkorchester

 

[Op.123]

Both of these were fairly unpleasant to listen to so I gave them a minute or two each. Stoyanov has a fuller tone and a fuller chest register but her voice is still rather thin and there‘s not even an attempt at girare when going above the stave making the sound harsh. She‘s also a bit wobbly, especially in the upper half of her voice. Yoncheva has the exact same problem but twice as bad so I’ll vote for Stoyanova but with zero enthusiasm.

 

[Seattleoperafan]

Both of these were fairly unpleasant to listen to so I gave them a minute or two each. Stoyanov has a fuller tone and a fuller chest register but her voice is still rather thin and there‘s not even an attempt at girare when going above the stave making the sound harsh. She‘s also a bit wobbly, especially in the upper half of her voice. Yoncheva has the exact same problem but twice as bad so I’ll vote for Stoyanova but with zero enthusiasm.

I see people talking about these here so I try to please. Yoncheva wobbles like a woman close to 60. I have some really good contestants for the rest of the rounds. You are sweeter than me but I kind of enjoy reading people getting bitchy about singers except for you know who I don't know why and I wish someone would tell me but a different crop of singers sing this role than your typical Aida or Amelia.

 

[Op.123]

I see people talking about these here so I try to please. Yoncheva wobbles like a woman close to 60. I have some really good contestants for the rest of the rounds. You are sweeter than me but I kind of enjoy reading people getting bitchy about singers except for you know who I don't know why and I wish someone would tell me but a different crop of singers sing this role than your typical Aida or Amelia.

It's a little bit of a lighter role, a well developed lyric can get through it fine if they're sensible even though ideally you'd want a bit more weight. I like Janowitz as Elisabetta very much, surprisingly, as well as Eleanor Steber. Aida and Amelia are both more firmly in the dramatic repertoire though a sensible spinto can be just as effective. Elisabetta is also not really the most interesting of roles, I would say there are three or four other roles in that opera with better music, not that hers is bad, but it's not really the vehicle for a star singer.

 

[Seattleoperafan]

It's a little bit of a lighter role, a well developed lyric can get through it fine if they're sensible even though ideally you'd want a bit more weight. I like Janowitz as Elisabetta very much, surprisingly, as well as Eleanor Steber. Aida and Amelia are both more firmly in the dramatic repertoire though a sensible spinto can be just as effective. Elisabetta is also not really the most interesting of roles, I would say there are three or four other roles in that opera with better music, not that hers is bad, but it's not really the vehicle for a star singer.

Ever the fount of knowledge. That is certainly what the French singers looked like- not heavy Verdi singers. This aria is really beautiful as is the intro.

 

[Op.123]

Ever the fount of knowledge. That is certainly what the French singers looked like- not heavy Verdi singers. This aria is really beautiful as is the intro.

I think there were plenty of large voiced from singers back then but I get where you're coming from. The French school was the first to die. There are some wonderful recordings of Italian rep into the 70s, some wonderful Wagner in the 60s but there's not a great deal of great recordings of French rep past the 40s/early 50s.

 

[Seattleoperafan]

I think there were plenty of large voiced from singers back then but I get where you're coming from. The French school was the first to die. There are some wonderful recordings of Italian rep into the 70s, some wonderful Wagner in the 60s but there's not a great deal of great recordings of French rep past the 40s/early 50s.

I saw zero older French stuff. I think the French version is a new interest. We did the French version 20 years ago.

 

[MAS]

Impressions:
Screamy top, wide vibrato-laden tone for Stoyanova throughout the range - is this late-career? Would probably sound OK in the house - the microphone exaggerates a singer’s faults. At least she has a lower register.

Yoncheva; this should’ve been just within her reach. She sounds as if she’s pushed her voice past her boundaries too early. Her registers sound out of whack. Even in quiet passages she sounds stressed, the emission tremulous, wobbly even without pushing.

Stoyanova, only by default.

 

[Woodduck]

Stoyanova is pallid in timbre, the vibrato getting wobbly up high. There's some attempt at interpretation, but the dramatic gestures expose the smallness of the voice. Yoncheva is a ruin. At times the tone sounds trapped in her mouth, altering her vowels, and the wobble starts in midrange.

Such a great aria. What a pity.

 

[PaulFranz]

I saw zero older French stuff. I think the French version is a new interest. We did the French version 20 years ago.

I'm not sure what the problem is here...you're talking about older singers, but Yoncheva is here, and Yoncheva sang this in French, too, as did Ricciarelli (1985) and Mattila, and Germaine Bonnet back in 1961.

 

[BBSVK]

I don't see, why this virtuous, non-dark character should have such a dark chest voice. So I am not choosing Stoyanova, but I hope to hear her once in a darker role.

(If Elisabeth actually is dark, I appologise. This is one of the operas that were too long for me to sit through, and I didn't return to it fondly and analyse it, like I do with some other operas).

I am sentimental about Yoncheva. She was at my opera awakening No 2. And I like her here.

 

[Seattleoperafan]

I'm not sure what the problem is here...you're talking about older singers, but Yoncheva is here, and Yoncheva sang this in French, too, as did Ricciarelli (1985) and Mattila, and Germaine Bonnet back in 1961.

Oh, Paul, I am sorry. This crowd likes singers from my youth and before by and large and Bonnet did not show up for me when I searched. Gens did, but she hasn't done well in contests here. . If you want a French version, I can do it. I am not as familiar with the singers I was seeing but I can put something together. The singers I saw weren't exciting me to do a contest as there were not any A list singers or on the other hand rare finds that I like. I was thinking of the hundreds of other good contests I have waiting in the wings. I pushed this contest to the top as I had seen people positively discussing both singers in today's contest in threads and I thought it would be relevant and possibly a juicy discussion.

 

[ColdGenius]

Oh, Paul, I am sorry. This crowd likes singers from my youth and before by and large and Bonnet did not show up for me when I searched. Gens did, but she hasn't done well in contests here. . If you want a French version, I can do it. I am not as familiar with the singers I was seeing but I can put something together. The singers I saw weren't exciting me to do a contest as there were not any A list singers or on the other hand rare finds that I like. I was thinking of the hundreds of other good contests I have waiting in the wings. I pushed this contest to the top as I had seen people positively discussing both singers in today's contest in threads and I thought it would be relevant and possibly a juicy discussion.

Did Gens sing it? It's interesting.

 

[Seattleoperafan]

Stoyanova is pallid in timbre, the vibrato getting wobbly up high. There's some attempt at interpretation, but the dramatic gestures expose the smallness of the voice. Yoncheva is a ruin. At times the tone sounds trapped in her mouth, altering her vowels, and the wobble starts in midrange.

Such a great aria. What a pity.

I assume you know that just because I post a singer here I am not endorsing them Some of the younger members like these current divas who have been brought up positively in threads lately and I figured there would be some scathing reviews which I often enjoy reading .... except about you know who

 

[Seattleoperafan]

Did Gens sing it? It's interesting.

Yes. I am indifferent to almost all of our current singers with very few exceptions so I am not as skilled at picking them for contests. These two have been discussed a bit of late.. Also, I personally am acquainted with a lot of talented male French singers but Dessay, Pons and Crespen are about the only female French singers I am familiar with. I am sure it is just a neglected part of my education on voices.

 

[Tsaraslondon]

O don't see, why this virtuous, non-dark character should have such a dark chest voice. So I am not choosing Stoyanova, but I hope to hear her once in a darker role.

(If Elisabeth actually is dark, I appologise. This is one of the operas that were too long for me to sit through, and I didn't return to it fondly and analyse it, like I do with some other operas).

I am sentimental about Yoncheva. She was at my opera awakening No 2. And I like her here.

Actually there are two very good reasons. Most sopranos of the past used chest on the words la pace del avel because of the sentiment expressed, and also for the very practical reason that they wouldn't be heard above the orchestra if they didn't.

 

[Seattleoperafan]

Actually there are two very good reasons. Most sopranos of the past used chest on the words la pace del avel because of the sentiment expressed, and also for the very practical reason that they wouldn't be heard above the orchestra if they didn't.

A ray of sunshine to hear from you.

 

[BBSVK]

Actually there are two very good reasons. Most sopranos of the past used chest on the words la pace del avel because of the sentiment expressed, and also for the very practical reason that they wouldn't be heard above the orchestra if they didn't.

Good to know.

I didn't mean only the presence of the chest voice as such, but also it's color. It resembles Huguette Tourangeau to me, whom I actually like as the oh-so-evil Elisabeth in Maria Stuarda, opposite to Joan Sutherland.

 

[Tsaraslondon]

Thi has been a favourite aria of mine ever since I fist heard it in Callas's 1958 recording, "a performance of the utmost delicacy and beauty," according to Lord Harewood in Opera on Record . It doesn't take the singer very high, so it was still within her means then and indeed she kept it in her concert repertoire until the early 1960s. It doesn't often crop up on recital discs, but I have complete recordings with Caballé, Freni and Ricciarelli (in French), all of whom I would prefer to the thin, wavery efforts of these two ladies. It's a long aria and I confess I didn't listen to either of them all the way through.

Sorry. No vote.

 

[Tsaraslondon]

Good to know.

I didn't mean only the presence of the chest voice as such, but also it's color. It resembles Huguette Tourangeau to me, whom I actually like as the oh-so-evil Elisabeth in Maria Stuarda, opposite to Joan Sutherland.

I'm not sure I understand. Are you referring to anyone in particular?