Pappano's Classical Voices

[soileduk]

Could we persuade Ms Hannigan to present Breakfast?...........Please.

[gurnemanz]

We saw Barbara Hannigan recently in Schönberg's Second Quartet. She was a riveting study in quiet concentration even while sitting there waiting to contribute to the last two movements.

[teamsaint]

Barbara Hannigan. The following clip her performing Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macarbre with Rattle at the Barbican is utterly priceless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmCmrZfybPQ

Thanks for flagging that up.

I was there that night, but in a rather inexpensive seat. It was an electric atmosphere and event, and am really looking forward to a reprise with a better view !!

Quarter of a million hits for a Ligeti piece.
Tells you something.

thanks also to the OP for flagging up the TV show which sounds terrific.

[Ferretfancy]

I was delighted to see Nilsson again; I fear that we shall never hear her like again. I was lucky enough as a teenager to stand in the arena at the Proms and hear her sing the Liebestod and then Act 3 of Gotterdammerung after the interval. What a voice; what stamina. And who today could cut through Solti's orchestra with such ease?

I remember that Prom very well. It was an amazing occasion and afterwards she came out of the Stage Door and jumped into a nice new Mini to be driven away, chased by a sizeable crowd banging on the roof as the driver tried to move1

My other memory of that night was the implacable demeanour of Gotlob Frick as Hagen -really sinister.

[antongould]

I remember that Prom very well. It was an amazing occasion and afterwards she came out of the Stage Door and jumped into a nice new Mini to be driven away, chased by a sizeable crowd banging on the roof as the driver tried to move1

My other memory of that night was the implacable demeanour of Gotlob Frick as Hagen -really sinister.

I envy you ff IMVVHO an amazing voice .....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

An excellent programme - one in the best standards of the BBC of any vintage.

Niggles? Well, whilst Pappano's comments on the singers he was illustrating was illuminating, wouldn't it have been better to have had written text whilst listening to the singers, rather than coping with the counterpoint of his spoken voice?

And ... why didn't the silly beggar mention Gundula Janowitz?

[ardcarp]

...difficult to know where to draw the line, I suppose. Have we forgotten how 'great' our own Eva Turner was?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

...difficult to know where to draw the line, I suppose. Have we forgotten how 'great' our own Eva Turner was?

Yes - and no French sopranos mentioned IIRC. Just shows - there's room for another series!

Choices dependent, too, on archive film availability - so we could see Callas' gripping acting abilities (her distress at Cavarodossi's torture was palpable) even when her vocal powers had fallen off quite painfully since her 1950s recording with de Sabata. If only someone could work some technical jiggery-pokery with the older sound recording and the film visuals!

And isn't Willard Wite's speaking voice quite as gorgeous as ever!

[gurnemanz]

I was delighted to see Nilsson again; I fear that we shall never hear her like again. I was lucky enough as a teenager to stand in the arena at the Proms and hear her sing the Liebestod and then Act 3 of Gotterdammerung after the interval. What a voice; what stamina. And who today could cut through Solti's orchestra with such ease?

Very jealous. Birgit and I also go back quite a long way - if only via a set of Götterdämmerung LPs I borrowed from Croydon public Library in about 1970 and illicitly ripped to reel-to-reel tape. Strangely, I do not seem to have that many CDs with her singing and this thread got my clicking finger going when I happened upon an enticing, low-priced, selection from Archipel. Noticing a rave review and the that it included a few Schubert Lieder and a Hans Hotter bonus I pounced fairly avidly.

[Oliver]

A good buy; Nillson was not just a great Wagner singer. I love her Turandot as well.
Another wonderful memory of that concert was Frick's Hagen not to mention Solti's thrilling conducting. The atmosphere was electric that night. And the arena is the place to hear solo singers at their best in the RAH, before the sound hits the gallery and rebounds back on us.
Sad to say that few Proms have stayed in my memory like those of that season.

[ardcarp]

Again, Papano showed a deep understanding of the operatic tenor voice and its production; and once again there were some clips. One break in logic in the programme though. He began to explain about the heldentenor and Wgner...but then included no Wagner, just John Vickers in Fidelio. Didn't quite follow that. I am glad he included Pears, even if he is quite outside the mould of Italianate voie production.

I do wonder if the series is mis-named. Shoud it not be Papano's Operatic Voices? There is a whole league of tenors out there with very different voices; I mean, we wouldn't want to hear the Matthew Passion narrated by Pavarotti...would we?

[Barbirollians]

Again, Papano showed a deep understanding of the operatic tenor voice and its production; and once again there were some clips. One break in logic in the programme though. He began to explain about the heldentenor and Wgner...but then included no Wagner, just John Vickers in Fidelio. Didn't quite follow that. I am glad he included Pears, even if he is quite outside the mould of Italianate voie production.

I do wonder if the series is mis-named. Shoud it not be Papano's Operatic Voices? There is a whole league of tenors out there with very different voices; I mean, we wouldn't want to hear the Matthew Passion narrated by Pavarotti...would we?

I suppose Pappano is deliberately looking at voices in their mainstream operatic context and we will We are getting mezzos next week and I assume baritones the week after - It seems unlikely we will have much discussion of voices in song or oratorio for that reason and oubtful any countertenors or contraltos either .

[Mary Chambers]

I do wonder if the series is mis-named. Shoud it not be Papano's Operatic Voices? There is a whole league of tenors out there with very different voices; I mean, we wouldn't want to hear the Matthew Passion narrated by Pavarotti...would we?

No! I don't think he'd be too good with Schubert, either. The title should definitely be different. It's all opera so far.

I'm about half way through the programme, and feeling I never want to hear another sobbing Italian tenor, even using the mute button at times. Longing to hear something even slightly subtle. I no more care if a tenor can hit nine high Cs than I care if a ballerina can do a hundred fouettés. I like to think singing is an art, not a feat of vocal acrobatics.

[aeolium]

I agree that it seems to be all about opera, and I thought in the first programme there was rather an over-emphasis on the Italian C19 operatic repertoire, especially Verdi and Puccini. Although there were some examples of singing from C20 opera, AP could have explored the different type of soprano voice needed e.g. for Pierrot Lunaire or Lulu (Anja Silja a superb exponent in both works imv).

[Mary Chambers]

I enjoyed Fritz Wunderlich and the Pears excerpt, though the problem with basing an aria on E natural, like The Great Bear and Pleiades, is that most tenors other than Pears have enormous trouble with it.

How I longed to hear Peter Schreier, or Ian Bostridge (Pappano has done recordings with him) - or indeed anyone singing Bach, Schubert or even Messiah. All the same, most of what Pappano says makes perfect sense, and I know he knows the other sort of tenor exists. The programme is just too limited.