Another remarkable interpretation of the Suor Angelica finale as sung by Catherine Malfitano.

Chiara Taigi is a new discovery for me. The voice is absolutely rich and creamy,with low notes that thrill;the high notes need work,as you will obsewrve.

The last of the great verismo sopranos, Renata Scotto.

A compilation of various sopranos singing the magnificent final scene of Puccini's "Suor Angelica."

This podcast will be followed by some videos of the same scene.      (51 min.)

The singers,in this order, are:

Beverly Sills (her only Trittico), Virginia Zeani, Rosanna Carteri, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Leyla Gencer, Theresa Zylis-Gara, Elizabeth Carron, Christina Gallardo-Domas, and Kristine Opolais (commercial recording.)

Here is a scene (uncut) from a Medea with a brilliant soprano,Chiara Taigi. The glottal attacks and the chest and the middle voice are brilliant. Unfortunately on other Youtube clips the very top of the voice in other material needs much work..but she is really wonderful in many ways.

  NO ONE around here sings like this..a Gencer,Galvany type..but a gorgeus middle voice...i only wish she could work on the top!!!

 A happy birthday to our dear Facebook friend, Nelly Miricioiu, who represents a style of singing mostly absent today. She was born on Mar.31, 1952 in Roumania, which seems to be a country where the 'air" produces some of the most exciting artists(Guess who else!)

On Sept.29, 1965 both Mirella Freni and Gianni Raimondi made their Met debuts in La Boheme,under Fausto Cleva. The tape is a bit distant in sound, but it was a special performance and I know that you will enjoy it. Others in the cast were as follows:

Heidi Krall             Musetta

Calvin Marsh        Marcello

John Macurdy       Colline

Clifford Harvuot    Schaunard

Lorenzo Alvary      Benoit

Andrea Velis          Alcindoro

More superb singing from the great Frida Leider. As I had said, sometimes a great singer "escapes" notice, owing to all there is,but here we have some more excerpts from her repertory.

1. Oberon  "Ozean,du Ungeheuer

2. The Wagner Wesendonck Songs

3. Ariadne  "Est gibt ein Reich"

4. Don Giovanni  "Or sai chi l'onore

5. Schubert: Erlkonig and Auf dem Wasser zu singen

6. Schumann   Widmung

7.Tristan und Isolde   Liebestod

I know you enjoy my pot-pourris and i hope you will appreciate this one as well:

1. Meta Seinemeyer        Tristan und Isolde        "Liebestod"    (so sad,she died at 33.)

2. Cesare Siepi                  L'Italiana in Algeri       "Le femmine d'Italia"

3. Diane Soviero                Risurrezione (Alfano)   "Giunge il treno"

4. Steber/DelMonaco       Fanciulla act two duet (with opened cut, which I love.)

5. Stella/Guelfi                   Aida Nile Duet   (They are superb)

6. Rise Stevens                   Orfeo                   "Che faro"

7. Luisa Tetrazzini              Semiramide       "Bel raggio"

8. Richard Tucker                 Andrea Chenier      "Improvisso"

9. Pavarotti/Millo                 Ballo Love duet

10.Leonard Warren              Forza Cabaletta (He was about to sing this when he died.I will never forget it.)

11. Zinka Milanov                 Forza          "La vergine degli angeli  (1965 concert.)

12.Giuseppe di Stefano       Carmen      "Flower Song"

13. Magda Olivero                Manon Lescaut      "In quelle trine morbide"

14.Titta Ruffo                         Pagliacci Prologue  (a force of nature.)

15. Beverly Sills                     Tabarro aria (her only Trittico)

16.Riccardo Stracciari           Traviata   "Di Provenza "  (Charlie's favorite baritone)

I love this guy!!!! He is one of my five all-time favorite tenors, of those I never saw live. I find the Russian "high vocal placement' so appealing, Here he sings (In Russian) arias from:

Fra Diavolo, Huguenots, Martha, Luisa Miller, Lohengrin, Faust, Mignon, Roussalka (Dargomijsky),

The Demon (Rubenstein), Onegin (act one), May Night (2 arias), Onegin (Kooda,kooda), Pique Dame

Here is some material I fouind interesting about "rivalry."                         (71 Min.)

Lemeshev-mania

Lemeshev’s talent, artistry, acting skills and conspicuous charm very quickly made him a public idol. Almost all his performances during the 1930s and 1940s were accompanied by crowds of fans followed him through the streets, spending days and nights near his house. [1]

While Lemeshev was one of the leading tenors of the Bolshoi Theatre, he was admired by female fans, who were jokingly called "lemeshistki." The theatre lobby was a venue for scuffles between the "lemeshistki" and the "kozlovityanki" (female fans of Lemeshev's rival Ivan Kozlovsky).[2]

Additionally, the film "The Musical Story" (1941) [3] in which he played the main role, brought him the Stalin prize, and even more widespread furore and fame all over the USSR.