Placi, rehearsing Tamerlano-role #127- in MadridSome days ago, BBC Music magazine, published a list of the 20 Greatest tenors ever. Top of the list was Placido Domingo who according to the 16 british critics is the Greatest of 'em all.
And what has been Domingo's reaction to this?
The legendary tenor said that when he first saw the list he blushed and that "in the list there are people that are not, and there ain't people that are!" (no son todos los que están, ni están todos los que son). Meaning that not all tenors on the list should be there and that many are out of the list (Parsi totally agrees, Pears? But not Del Monaco? ohhhh c'moooon...)
Placido goes on saying that on the list should also be present Di Stefano, Del Monaco, Carreras, Fleta. And that Jaume Aragall is one of the greatest voices 'cause of his vocal beauty.
And regarding the best best best Placido says "without doubt, Caruso. The vocal quality and what he did set him on the top of the list".
And what has been Domingo's reaction to this?
The legendary tenor said that when he first saw the list he blushed and that "in the list there are people that are not, and there ain't people that are!" (no son todos los que están, ni están todos los que son). Meaning that not all tenors on the list should be there and that many are out of the list (Parsi totally agrees, Pears? But not Del Monaco? ohhhh c'moooon...)
Placido goes on saying that on the list should also be present Di Stefano, Del Monaco, Carreras, Fleta. And that Jaume Aragall is one of the greatest voices 'cause of his vocal beauty.
And regarding the best best best Placido says "without doubt, Caruso. The vocal quality and what he did set him on the top of the list".
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9 comments:
Good for Placi and he is right. But for such an egocentrist/egomaniacal as him to try to come off as humble strikes me as deeply insincere.
Viva Placi, tiene un corage y unas ganas de hacer opera que poca gente tiene, y ademas lo hace seriamente y marcando estilo.
If egocentrist and egomaniac means complete in every aspect of a singer's personality, then I could only say that I'm glad that Domingo is so, contrary to either grotesquely loud ones e.g Del Monaco or mindnumbingly dull ones like Corelli. I suggest going for the combination of voice+interpretation=Domingo than pretentiously indulging into pseudo-masculinity pretending to come out as the "true" nature of a tenor. Even if Domingo were megalomaniac, he would have every single right to be so, because he deserves it.In every bit...
The only one word that comes off in the most natural of ways is "congratulations." Congratulations to a man who is by far the best of all tenors in terms of timbre, vocal resources , stage presence and histrionic craftsmanship. His completeand consummate personality, both artistic and humane, is not to be compared with the likes of any hybrid of today's operatic star system. Terms like egomaniac and egocentrist only pave the way to an oxymoron since Domingo has been voted as one in a list of 100 geniuses. Ingeniouty and an egomaniac nature just don't match.
Hey guys!write a nickname or something....
Domingo the best tenor ever?LOL The most overrated ?Maybe.Do you think Domingo had a good voice?Ha ha ha That's funny .His voice was a small one even if he tried to pushed it and darken it in order to sound like those those dramatic ,baritonal tenors you make a mock of them.Domingo's voice was always pushed, throaty,nasal, colorless and ugly.
This is the same singer for which sections of Forza were transposed that also were never transposed before, as far as anyone knows. Let him do his baritone part in The Merry Widow or Tamerlano. But leave Otello,Radames, Manrico ,and Pasifal along. He used to sang transposed half a step down arias and almost always cracked on certain high notes such as the Bb in the "Ora per sempre addio"or the 2 high B's in "di quella pira'' DelMonaco, suffering from end stage renal disease & undergoing bi-weekly dialysis sang Otello up to 1974 & did not transpose the role.Roles such as Manrico,Otello,Radames,Canio are meant to be sung by powerfull masculate tenors such as del Monaco or Corelli .Listen to Tamagno the creator of Otello .He had a huge voice with powerful high notes just like del Monaco.Domingo's interpretations are great?Why?He never had a big thrilling voice ideal for heavy dramatic roles.He never had a pianissimo ,he can't alter the color of his voice,he always sounds the same no matter what he sings.Always pushed,always boring.Domingo is a grotesque he is neither a tenor nor a bariton.He tries to sound like a dramatic tenor but he sounds like Kermit the frog.
His status in
today's world of opera of "sacred cow" is overrated and undeserved. We have had enough reading here about his wonderful 40 years of career, about his achievements, his sexiness, his "burnished" voice, his good looks, etc., etc.
No one here is criticizing his 40 years of career or whatever "merits" he may have.
For God's sake, we're talking here about singing and GOOD singing at
that. A tenor who is not capable to honor Verdi, or Puccini, or Giordano; a
tenor who undertakes Mozart and has to struggle with the middle tessitura of
Idomeneo; a tenor who sings Fedora and is taxed by a simple arietta which only
goes up to a high A.. For God's sake, people out there, any singer, and in
this case a tenor of the so-called stature and caliber of Domingo, is supposed
to sing the notes, not struggle with them. Is mentioning all these FACTS a
show of disrespect for Mr. Domingo? What about the disrespect that HE shows
for his audiences for singing in such lamentable condition?
Why is it that Mr Domingo had to be imposed every telecast season, year after
year to no end. Why can't we experience a decent tenor in a telecast of Forza, of Carmen, of Fedora? There are many out there,in the case you don't know, many with much better voices than the "sacred cow" who are never offered a chance to prove themselves.
Unfortunately, there is only one answer and one bottomline for the above
question: MONEY. Be it as it is, Domingo was a money machine for the Met,
for the Three Tenor impresarios, for the recording industry. He had a nice stage presence ,was kind to his fans ,was quite handsome ,very ambitious ,always willing to give interviews, doing everything in order to get publicity and money,don't forget his first top selling album was a pop one .He was a member of the three tenors who bastardized opera in order to make money .He would never deny any role offered to him even if he knew he couldn't justice it that's why big theaters and recording companies always promoted him .That's why great tenors such as Bonisolli and Martinuci where overshadowed by him . This is not resentment, this is speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.We live in an era where money rules all walks of life. Opera is no different.Domingo has been singing for 40 years. It is high time that others out there with, I repeat, much more excellent voices than his, receive some kind of exposure.
He was a singer that had the vocal resources to become one of the
all-time great lyric tenors. However, I feel he went the wrong way. The voice
has never been large. His constricted technique only cuts the volume potential
even more. . The voice
simply lacks the *presence* that these other voices had in this most dramatic
of Italian roles. Ergo, any *expressive* singing he does fails to make it into
the house...
Along with the lack of volume there's the lack of vocal expressiveness, the
kind of expressiveness that a *classic* technique - the kind exhibited by
Caruso, Ponselle, Corelli, Bergonzi,Gedda, Pavarotti, Tebaldi,Nilsson, Tucker, Merrill,Christoff etc.
displayed to an audience on an almost nightly basis: free vocal production
throughout the range; ability to sing piano to forte and vice versa in all
ranges of the voice with little *perceived* effort; the ability to modulate
the declamation of the voice, thereby exhibiting true legato and true
*throwing* of the voice with equal ease and abandon; ability to project
languages from the stage into the house as a steady stream of vocal utterance,
without smudged phrase beginnings or exploded phrase endings. One could go on
and on, and most would say I already have. I can't remember who
stated: "there are two sides to every musician - the technician and the
interpreter: the interpreter is always governed by what the technician can
achieve."
I, for one, wonder who on Earth needs 3 complete recordings of
Otello sung by Domingo? Or three complete Trovatore's? Or God only knows how
many Carmens? I don't think I'd need Caruso that many times over in any role,
let alone Domingo. Is there
NO ONE on this planet capable of singing these roles besides the usual
suspects, or is it simply a matter of a self-fulfilling prophecy: "get me
Domingo or no one will buy it." Well, how does one know that if there's
nothing else available to buy?
Tutta invidia, Radames ;)
My answer to Radames : your statement has no sense for every word you are writing...
Open your heart, listen to the beauty of the Plácido Domingo's voice, to his extraordinary musicality and you will be the happiest person on earth because he is magic to add so many wonderful emotions with his unique presence as singer and actor on the stage.
With him, we are sure to get more than a voice singing "notes" but a great voice giving all the best to deliver more than just the music...
He is the real dream for any composer to use his exceptional talent to sing any kind of music to approach perfection, and his very long career is getting tribute from all the intelligent critics.
You are just "boring" by writing so many ridiculous comment...
I am sad for you to do not have the good luck to be touched by the Domingo's UNIQUE artistry !
*******Micheline V.
Interpretation, my dear, is nothing if you don't have the "instrument" to make your ideas alive. You must be first prefect with technique and then to make it work the way you desire.Domingo never had a good instrument that's why he was always boring
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