Jon Vickers

[Mandryka]

He's my favourite heldentenor. So I thought I'd start a thread about him.

Just put down anything you want to say.

I'll start by mentioning a recent discovary; a bootleg DVD of his Glyndebourne Poppea. It's got just satisfactory sound and pictures, but you can see what a powerful Nerone he was. Vickers prowls the stage like a tiger.

[knight66]

One of my favourite singers; I have a lot of his discs. He felt his most successful role was Parsifal. He was aggrieved that no one had recorded the role commercially with him. At long last live performances have been officially released. Here is one.



He is, as always, committed and poetic. It was an unusual voice, not beautiful, but his intelligence and acting ability drew me to appreciate his work. I am not sure about him in Monteverdi or Handel though. He pushed the envelope. Some music was less amenable to that hyper expressive approach. But he was never dull, ever.

Mike

[Mandryka]

He felt his most successful role was Parsifal.

I guess his religious convictions must have attracted him to Parsifal.

Such a shame that that Parsifal disc doesn't  have better sound.

No other performance I know is so dramatic in Act 2, when he kisses Kundry. And marvelous what he does with the final note of his final phrase " Öffnet den Schrein!", the way it fades away.

Vickers was remarkable for showing so clearly the evolution of Parifal's character -- from the bouncy Siegfried-like boy of Act 1, through the loss of innocence in Act 2,  to the Redeemer of Act 3.


I have a DVD of him in Parsifal too, made for Canadian TV

[Tsaraslondon]

I seem to remember that it was his religious convictions that made him pull out of a Tannhauser at Covent Garden. I can't remember the exact problem, but it had something to do with Tannhauser's plea for redemption being rejected by the Pope.
He was certainly a great singer/actor. he started his career in Italian opera, singing Don Carlo and Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera at Covent Garden, as well as Giasone to Callas's Medea, both at Covent Garden and in Dallas, and at her last performances in the role at La Scala and Epidaurus. Callas was a huge admirer, as he was of her, and wanted him to sing Pollione to her Norma. He wouldn't sing it because of the (unwritten) top C in Pollione's Act I aria, and when he eventually sang the role (magnificently), with Caballe in Orange, he did not attempt the note.  His first recital disc was a collection of popular Italian opera arias, under the baton of Tullio Serafin, and is well worth seeking out. The timbre, though unusual in this repertoire, is very beautiful, and he sings with all his customary care and intelligence. It is a beautiful disc.
Later, of course, he went on to sing the heldentenor repertoire, and for many years was, arguably, the greatest Wagnerian tenor in the world. Apart from that Dallas Medea, I have him in recordings of Fidelio, Tristan und Isolde, Die Walkure, Les Troyens and Otello. It is often thought that Karajan prefered artists he could mould into shape and who would bow to his will, but Vickers came to him already fully formed, as it were, and had a very strong will and temperament. This did not prevent them working together successfully on many occasions.
Like many great singers, Vickers 's voice is immediately recognisable and his singing can be unconventionally idiosyncratic. His soft singing has often been compared to crooning, but I know of no other tenor who brings you quite as close to Tristan's pain in Act III as he does. It is sung with such conviction that it is almost unbearable to listen to, indeed I remember at least one critic saying that it was actually too painful and that he never wanted to listen to it again. If my reaction is less extreme, it is certainly one of those performance that leaps of the disc, art completely concealing art.

[Wendell_E]

Callas was a huge admirer, as he was of her, and wanted him to sing Pollione to her Norma. He wouldn't sing it because of the (unwritten) top C in Pollione's Act I aria

Is it really unwritten?  I've seen two different editions of the score, and they both have it, with no lower alternative.  And if it is unwritten, I don't see why Vickers would have a problem singing the passage come scritto.

[Mandryka]

His first recital disc was a collection of popular Italian opera arias, under the baton of Tullio Serafin, and is well worth seeking out. The timbre, though unusual in this repertoire, is very beautiful, and he sings with all his customary care and intelligence. It is a beautiful disc.

There are lots of recital discs -- I am particularly fond of this one. He starts to joke with audience after one of the first songs and then the performance takes off. He's clearly never going to be an intimate, confidential lieder singer -- he's always going be to outward and extrovert for some people -- but hell, I live his Dichterliebe.

I also used to rate the first Winterreisse he did -- the one with Parsons. It's never been on CD (Though there are a few songs from it on the 75th Birthday Tribute disc). The second Winterreisse is for Vickers freaks only, I think.

[Tsaraslondon]

Is it really unwritten?  I've seen two different editions of the score, and they both have it, with no lower alternative.  And if it is unwritten, I don't see why Vickers would have a problem singing the passage come scritto.

Maybe I'm wrong. I read the story in the Vickers biography by Jeannie Williams. His admiration for Callas, and hers for him, is, however, well documented.

[bricon]

Vickers' Grimes is a towering achievement. His portrayal really opened up the role from the one that was set down by Peter Pears and paved the way for a myriad of (valid) interpretations for this most complex of operatic characters.

Britten disliked Vickers' portrayal of Peter Grimes intensely – sometimes even geniuses (like Britten) get it wrong.

   






Although I'm not generally a fan of Vickers in the Italian repertoire, I do think his Otello recording – conducted by Serafin – is one of the best (and most interesting) recordings available.

[Tsaraslondon]

Vickers' Grimes is a towering achievement. His portrayal really opened up the role from the one that was set down by Peter Pears and paved the way for a myriad of (valid) interpretations for this most complex of operatic characters.

I used to have his Grimes on LP, but when I came to replace LPs with CD, I bowed to the opinion of the Penguin Guide and bought the Pears version. For all that Pears was the original Grimes, I never found him as convincing in the role as Vickers, however. I keep meaning to get the Vickers version again, both on LP and DVD. Your post is a timely reminder.

[Sean]

You can see some of a Vickers' performance on Youtube- even though I bought the superb Pears version, the Vickers interpretation is really amazing, both very thoughtful yet with no sense of deliberation.

[Mandryka]

You can see some of a Vickers' performance on Youtube- even though I bought the superb Pears version, the Vickers interpretation is really amazing, both very thoughtful yet with no sense of deliberation.

I think Vicker's Grimes is essential to know. But it does have some weeknesses I think. For me he's not so convincing in the final act.

Langridge is good in Grimes too -- better than Vickers in the final act, IMO.

Also Vickers can sometimes croon a little. I think that's a real problem he has. And you hear it in Grimes at a crucial moment: when he sings "Who, who, who, who can turn skies back and begin again?"

I'm not a fan of Peter Pears in this role -- though the film is worth seeing for the way they handle the interludes.

(I also think he croons in Siegmund's Spring Song for Karajan.)

[Superhorn]

   I've admired Vickers' artistry for many years on recordings, but unfortunately never had the opportunity to attend one of his live performances.
  There is an excellent biography of Vickers by Jeannie Williams called "Jon Vickers-A Hero's Life. I don't know if it's still in print, but it's well worth looking for.  It reveals Vickers to be a difficult man if a fascinating personality, and a thinking man's tenor. He was certainly not your run of the mill opera singer, and decidedly eccentric, not unlike his countryman Glenn Gould.

[Sean]

The voice has a silvery and somewhat lightweight quality- his Tristan with Karajan is slightly understated, but of course with Grimes it fits particularly well.

[Anne]

In the Klemperer version of Fidelio there is no better tenor than Vickers IMO.  His singing grabs me in the heart every time.  Just thinking about his singing in that performance could make the tears come.

[zamyrabyrd]

You can see some of a Vickers' performance on Youtube- even though I bought the superb Pears version, the Vickers interpretation is really amazing, both very thoughtful yet with no sense of deliberation.

Just ignore his "Song of the Earth" on youtube, a rather embarrassing blip. Looking at the music, he even seems unpreprared. Other than that, there is an excellent short interview with him in the "Great Singers of the 20th Century" where Florestan heartbreakingly calls for the "Engel, Leonora".

ZB

[springrite]

Britten disliked Vickers' portrayal of Peter Grimes intensely – sometimes even geniuses (like Britten) get it wrong.

It's not so much Britten getting it wrong. Considering Britten's special relationship with Pear, one can understand the personal bias.

[Mandryka]

It's not so much Britten getting it wrong. Considering Britten's special relationship with Pear, one can understand the personal bias.

I believe Vickers was a bit of a boor and maybe homophobic -- this may have caused some tension between him and the Alderburgh crowd (as it did for MacKerras)

He also changed the libretto slightly for the recording with Davies -- I'm not sure why. just small changes I think, but changes nevertheless.

The voice has a silvery and somewhat lightweight quality- his Tristan with Karajan is slightly understated, but of course with Grimes it fits particularly well.

Hey Sean

Who's your prefered Tristan?

[Tsaraslondon]

- his Tristan with Karajan is slightly understated,

How anyone can find his Act III understated is beyond me! Nobody, and I mean nobody, evinces as much pain as he does in that last act. As I stated in my post above, one critic found it so unbearably painful that he couldn't face listening to it again. He doesn't overact, or over sing, of course, but you feel that he feels and understands every note, every expression, every last gasp. Like Callas, he makes you believe what he is singing. It is in this way that opera ceases to be the artificial form of entertainment that it often is and mirrors real life. There may be problems with the Karajan Tristan und Isolde, but Vickers is surely not one of them.

[Tsaraslondon]

In the Klemperer version of Fidelio there is no better tenor than Vickers IMO.  His singing grabs me in the heart every time.  Just thinking about his singing in that performance could make the tears come.

I agree with you, though I find him, if anything, even  more moving in the Karajan version, which, contrary to most people, I find a more generally satisfactory performance. Some have said they can hear the strain Leonora put on Dernesch's voice, but I am sure they are being wise after the fact (that she subsequently became a mezzo); her Komm Hoffnung is absolutely radiant, and the climax of the aria totally thrilling. The rest of the cast are pretty good too, and it includes a lovely Marzelline from Helen Donath, a fatherly (and beautifully sung) account of Rocco from Karl Ridderbusch, and a suitably snarling and evil Pizzaro in Zoltan Keleman. Jose van Dam, no less, plays the small, but important, role of Fernando. Karajan's pacing of the score is masterful, and, for me, he infuses even more drama into the key moments than  Klemperer.

[Mandryka]

Have any of you people managed to get any real pleasure from Vickers' Tristan DVD? Great performance and I like the production, but the poor sound and pictures spoils it for me.