Just realized I never responded to last week's post and now it's time for this week's post.
When you posted last week I did a quick playlist of the versions I have (that are not part of a full performance recording); a mix from Schipa to Kauffman.. I love comparing and contrasting artists interpretations. I think this aria one of the difficult ones ... that c-sharp to high a-sharp leap and the following pianissimo are hard. Some tenors attack that a-sharp, or blast it, or its shape doesn't fit with their prior phrasing (thinking of di Stefano and Hadley here). For my money the three best efforts of my eight are, in my preferred order, Tito Schipa, Richard Crooks, and Michael Spyres (Kaufmann a close 4th). Full disclosure, the other four are Franco Corelli, Jerry Hadley, Nicolai Gedda, and Giuseppe de Stefano. Schipa's is the best a-sharp. And Crooks with the pianissimo that follows is swoon-worthy! Old School, I'll admit, but I like Old School. Kaufmann has a really terrific line, for a modern singer, nicely connected, though not the legato from Schipa's and Crook's era. Spyres is pretty close to them in both approach and his French. Completely subjective thinking for my part (other folks would probably disagree with my choices for their own reasons), but that's the fun of being a fan of this great art form.
Thank you. I would never have found this on my own!
Yay!!
Just realized I never responded to last week's post and now it's time for this week's post.
When you posted last week I did a quick playlist of the versions I have (that are not part of a full performance recording); a mix from Schipa to Kauffman.. I love comparing and contrasting artists interpretations. I think this aria one of the difficult ones ... that c-sharp to high a-sharp leap and the following pianissimo are hard. Some tenors attack that a-sharp, or blast it, or its shape doesn't fit with their prior phrasing (thinking of di Stefano and Hadley here). For my money the three best efforts of my eight are, in my preferred order, Tito Schipa, Richard Crooks, and Michael Spyres (Kaufmann a close 4th). Full disclosure, the other four are Franco Corelli, Jerry Hadley, Nicolai Gedda, and Giuseppe de Stefano. Schipa's is the best a-sharp. And Crooks with the pianissimo that follows is swoon-worthy! Old School, I'll admit, but I like Old School. Kaufmann has a really terrific line, for a modern singer, nicely connected, though not the legato from Schipa's and Crook's era. Spyres is pretty close to them in both approach and his French. Completely subjective thinking for my part (other folks would probably disagree with my choices for their own reasons), but that's the fun of being a fan of this great art form.
Speaking of Schipa, I just featured him in today post! ;-)