Pappano's Classical Voices

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Lovely to see a proper tribute to Ferrier too from Pappano.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Bartoli's coloratura in Cenerentola - utterly dazzling!

... and wasn't it touching to see Pappano's genuine "lost-for-words" awe when discussing Janet Baker! A really good programme.

[Barbirollians]

... and wasn't it touching to see Pappano's genuine "lost-for-words" awe when discussing Janet Baker! A really good programme.

It is a singers I should have love to have conducted programme isn't it ? I was reminded when he was talking to Baker of what Barbirolli said about her that although Ferrier may have had the greater voice Baker was the greater artist .

One thing that did have me lost for words was how Dido appeared dressed for ancient Carthage whilst her attendants looked as if they had just popped into Romeo and Juliet and were wearing medieval Italian clothes. Great singing though .

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It is a singers I should have love to have conducted programme isn't it ? I was reminded when he was talking to Baker of what Barbirolli said about her that although Ferrier may have had the greater voice Baker was the greater artist .

Yes - that very quotation occurred to me, too, when he said that Baker was "probably (?arguably? - can't recall the exact quotation) the greatest singer this country had ever produced".

One thing that did have me lost for words was how Dido appeared dressed for ancient Carthage whilst her attendants looked as if they had just popped into Romeo and Juliet and were wearing medieval Italian clothes. Great singing though .

- yes; truly great artistry.

[Prommer]

A fabulous programme in progress tonight on basses and baritones: to the folk who have asked for some non-operatic stuff, Pappano has covered Fischer-Dieskau, Robeson and Pinza.

It is 'who Pappano would like to have conducted' but also some of 'who he has conducted'. Both equally interesting...

[Barbirollians]

N

A fabulous programme in progress tonight on basses and baritones: to the folk who have asked for some non-operatic stuff, Pappano has covered Fischer-Dieskau, Robeson and Pinza.

It is 'who Pappano would like to have conducted' but also some of 'who he has conducted'. Both equally interesting...

Some of us are listening to Beethoven 9 !

[gurnemanz]

N

Some of us are listening to Beethoven 9 !

I decided to do Pappano's Basses then Ninth on TV. Whatever the quality of the performance I have now turned the TV off upon discovering that someone has had the appalling idea of having a little talk between movements. I can always do Listen Again.

Good to hear Pappano pronounce Gobbi authentically (Gob-bi with a double consonant and not the usual anglicised, gobby, as in loud and opiniated.)

[wenotsoira]

Ferrier is the one that always sends me into a delirious state. Posibly one of the three greatest singers of all time. I can't speak at all for some time after hearing her. (Probably a good thing many might say ...)

And yes, this has been a tremendous series, discussed with real musical understanding. And that's rare for a conductor!

[Prommer]

Have tuned in to the LBV9 post-Pappano: great performance so far! Or am I just overly taken with Nelsons' Boult-like stick?

[Mary Chambers]

It is a singers I should have love to have conducted programme isn't it ? I was reminded when he was talking to Baker of what Barbirolli said about her that although Ferrier may have had the greater voice Baker was the greater artist .
.

I have known several people who saw both Ferrier and Baker. Without exception they thought Ferrier the greater singer. She seems to have had a unique charisma.

I am always now very puzzled by the fact that the one time I saw Janet Baker live, in recital sometime in the early eighties, I was left unmoved. I wasn't as knowledgeable then as I am now, but although I admired her I was unaffected by her singing. When I listen to recordings now I find her virtually perfect, but I will never forget that strange experience. I do think one needs to see and hear an artist live - recordings aren't really performances in the same way.

[Barbirollians]

I have known several people who saw both Ferrier and Baker. Without exception they thought Ferrier the greater singer. She seems to have had a unique charisma.

I am always now very puzzled by the fact that the one time I saw Janet Baker live, in recital sometime in the early eighties, I was left unmoved. I wasn't as knowledgeable then as I am now, but although I admired her I was unaffected by her singing. When I listen to recordings now I find her virtually perfect, but I will never forget that strange experience. I do think one needs to see and hear an artist live - recordings aren't really performances in the same way.

I suspect in a way that was what Barbirolli was getting at . Baker was obviously much educated and trained musically than Ferrier and her singing is so perfect . It is also a unique once heard never forgotten voice like Ferrier's . I also find many of Baker's records very moving but for an emotional charge Ferrier every time .

The three Ruckert Lieder she recorded are a particular case in point . Baker's recordings are magically sung and very affecting . Ferrier's are devastating especially her Ich Bin...

[aeolium]

I thought the last Pappano programme, on baritones and basses, the best. The section on the bass voices was quite wonderful - I could have had a whole programme on them alone: Chaliapin, Ghiaurov, Christoff, Tomlinson, Robeson (and other glorious voices not mentioned such as Gottlob Frick). The piece on the Russian orthodox tradition was fascinating too, with the voice of the rare octavists. There is something about the bass voice which has an effect on this listener more powerful than any other type of voice, not only because of the qualities which Pappano described, but also because it seems to come from some primeval, subterranean origin. The only pity was that AP did not include footage of someone singing "O Isis und Osiris", perhaps the most celestial music ever given to a bass to sing.

Terrific

[gurnemanz]

The only pity was that AP did not include footage of someone singing "O Isis und Osiris", perhaps the most celestial music ever given to a bass to sing.

Terrific

Tomlinson spontaneously did the start of it as something to sing while Pappano was feeling his chest for vibrations.

[jean]

There is something about the bass voice which has an effect on the listener more powerful than any other type of voice...

My father was a bass. I think that's what my mother fell in love with. She regarded tenors with something like contempt.

I've still got the programme for a Chaliapin concert my father attended.

My parents were particularly taken with the bass John Holmes, who died young I believe. I heard him myself, but I've never been able to find any reference to him.

[Barbirollians]

It is also introduced me to voices I did not really know such as the terrific Simionato.