Who are your favorite bass/baritone performers/roles?

secondwind · May 07, 2009, 07:16:36 PM

Help! My new instrument (a bass clarinet) is channeling someone--maybe a bass/baritone singer or maybe one of the great roles. . . I need to know who so I know what to call it/him! I should point out that I have had a number of instruments in the past, and I have never felt any need to know their "names", but this one has a distinct personality. It seduced me the day we met, caused me to throw caution to the winds and bring it home with me, promised me that we'll make beautiful music together forever, etc., etc. Who is it? Those of you who are knowledgeable about these things must know! Who has a voice with that much power, and a force of personality that persuasive? Thanks in advance.

DavidRoss · May 07, 2009, 07:31:24 PM

Quote from: secondwind on May 07, 2009, 07:16:36 PM
Help! My new instrument (a bass clarinet) is channeling someone--maybe a bass/baritone singer or maybe one of the great roles. . . I need to know who so I know what to call it/him! I should point out that I have had a number of instruments in the past, and I have never felt any need to know their "names", but this one has a distinct personality. It seduced me the day we met, caused me to throw caution to the winds and bring it home with me, promised me that we'll make beautiful music together forever, etc., etc. Who is it? Those of you who are knowledgeable about these things must know! Who has a voice with that much power, and a force of personality that persuasive? Thanks in advance.

Bass clarinet? Sounds like Kevin Mahogany to me.

secondwind · May 07, 2009, 07:58:17 PM

Quote from: DavidRoss on May 07, 2009, 07:31:24 PM
Bass clarinet? Sounds like Kevin Mahogany to me.

Thanks for the tip. Kevin Mahogany. . . how have I missed this guy? I just listened to a couple of tunes on YouTube (Please Send Me Someone to Love and If I'm Lucky)--great voice! And very seductive. He's got the velvety low range, but he can take it up high, too. I thought I was dealing with an opera singer, but maybe I've got a jazzman. That's a whole new world. It could explain why some aspects of our relationship have been a bit strained, though.

hornteacher · May 08, 2009, 04:27:02 PM

Bryn Terfel

DavidRoss · May 08, 2009, 06:13:59 PM

Quote from: secondwind on May 07, 2009, 07:58:17 PM
Thanks for the tip. Kevin Mahogany. . . how have I missed this guy? I just listened to a couple of tunes on YouTube (Please Send Me Someone to Love and If I'm Lucky)--great voice! And very seductive. He's got the velvety low range, but he can take it up high, too. I thought I was dealing with an opera singer, but maybe I've got a jazzman. That's a whole new world. It could explain why some aspects of our relationship have been a bit strained, though.

You're right--jazz singer. The men don't get nearly as much press as the ladies.

secondwind · May 09, 2009, 04:47:13 AM

Quote from: hornteacher on May 08, 2009, 04:27:02 PM
Bryn Terfel

Terfel is one of my favorites, too. I first saw him on some television documentary and fell madly in love with his voice and his spirit. I got a couple of his CDs, and eventually I saw him at the Met in The Tales of Hoffmann some years ago. So he meets the "love at first sound" test. . .

mahler10th · May 09, 2009, 06:02:29 AM

Boris Christoff. A frightening and wonderous tone.

secondwind · May 09, 2009, 09:30:50 PM

Quote from: John on May 09, 2009, 06:02:29 AM
Boris Christoff. A frightening and wonderous tone.

Thanks for introducing me to this extraordinary singer. I've been listening to some recordings online, and I am amazed at the emotional range he achieves. If this is who my instrument is or wants to be channeling, it's going to have a lot to live up to.

Anne · May 09, 2009, 10:39:57 PM

One of my favorite bass roles is that of the king in Verdi's Don Carlo when he sings, "She does not love me." I love it when Sam Ramey sings. I also like Ramey in the La Scala performance on DVD of Verdi's Attila.

The new erato · May 10, 2009, 12:39:48 AM

Hans Hotter.

Que · May 10, 2009, 02:10:07 AM

Quote from: erato on May 10, 2009, 12:39:48 AM
Hans Hotter.

Yes.

And Tito Gobbi.

Q

secondwind · May 10, 2009, 05:05:01 PM

Thanks to all for the leads. I have a lot of studying to do--Sam Ramey, Hans Hotter, and Tito Gobbi. In the Small World Department, I have just learned that Boris Christoff and Tito Gobbi were brothers-in-law.

Brian · May 10, 2009, 06:37:09 PM

Samuel Ramey, definitely. Thomas Quasthoff.

But if you really want a great bass voice ... Paul Robeson is unique.

http://www.youtube.com/v/9gtJkeXAMt0

http://www.youtube.com/v/7j5CieXP7L8

secondwind · May 10, 2009, 08:53:33 PM

Quote from: Brian on May 10, 2009, 06:37:09 PM
Samuel Ramey, definitely. Thomas Quasthoff.

But if you really want a great bass voice ... Paul Robeson is unique.

Thomas Quasthoff is added to the research list. Thanks for the YouTube links for the legendary Paul Robeson. Listening to him gave me goosebumps.

DavidRoss · May 11, 2009, 05:21:43 AM

Matthias Goerne

Doesn't sound like a bass clarinet, but my favorite baritone these days.

Xenophanes · May 17, 2009, 09:18:33 AM

Quote from: secondwind on May 07, 2009, 07:16:36 PM
Help! My new instrument (a bass clarinet) is channeling someone--maybe a bass/baritone singer or maybe one of the great roles. . . I need to know who so I know what to call it/him! I should point out that I have had a number of instruments in the past, and I have never felt any need to know their "names", but this one has a distinct personality. It seduced me the day we met, caused me to throw caution to the winds and bring it home with me, promised me that we'll make beautiful music together forever, etc., etc. Who is it? Those of you who are knowledgeable about these things must know! Who has a voice with that much power, and a force of personality that persuasive? Thanks in advance.

My favorite basses would be Ezio Pinza, Jerome Hines, Cesare Siepi, Hans Hotter, and Giorgio Tozzi. Pinza and Siepi are the premier Mozartian basses of the last century, I would guess.

My favorite bass baritones would be George London, George London, George London, and . . . oh yeah, Bryn Terfel is OK, too. You want personality, the try George London! A good oratorio bass baritone is John Shirley-Quirk.

val · May 27, 2009, 11:29:20 PM

I would suggest the bass Mark Reizen, to me the greatest bass of the 20th century. Pinza, Kipnis, Friedrich Schorr, Christoff and Siepi would be my next choice.

Regarding baritones: Tita Ruffo, Stracciari, Hotter, Giuseppe de Luca, Gobbi, van Dam, Fischer-Dieskau.

zamyrabyrd · June 03, 2009, 07:09:33 AM

As a role, Giorgio Germont in Traviata. (As I get older, I have developed more sympathy for the father.)

I liked very much Fischer-Diskau as the Count in Figaro, would even like to find a DVD.

ZB

jochanaan · June 03, 2009, 10:25:09 AM

Interesting, interesting! Are you sure it isn't channeling some of the great bass clarinet parts from Wagner or Shostakovich? Or maybe it has some connection with jazz player Eric Dolphy?

If not, well, there's always the magnificent William Warfield and Martti Talvela, as well as those already named. There was a time when Talvela did a lot of things like Mahler's Eighth Symphony and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis that require solo-ensemble work; I feel it was because he had the power and depth needed to balance the other solo voices. Among many magnificent passages I love his voice in the 1970s Karl Böhm Missa Solemnis, especially the bass solo that begins the Agnus Dei.

secondwind · June 16, 2009, 04:59:03 AM

Hello everyone, and thanks for playing! I have been kept very busy researching the wonderful singers that have been named in these posts. (I thought of providing a tally, like "number of times I was late to work because I had to watch just one more YouTube clip," but the results would have been incriminating.) Thank you all for introducing me to some of your favorite artists. I am much better informed now about the masters of the low notes! I'll probably reactivate my library card so that I can check out some cds and dvds to listen to full performances.

As I was meeting (or in some cases, becoming reacquainted) with singers you all recommended to me, I kept watching for signs that I had found the personality being channeled by my new instrument, and I wondered about the implications if he/it turned out to be one singer or another. If I'm dealing with a Russian, a German, or an Italian, obviously there's going to be a bit of a language barrier, and possibly some cultural issues as well. And then, in terms of personality, I'd have to say that some of these guys seemed pretty. . . intense.

Then one morning, squeezing in just one more YouTube clip before work, I stumbled on this:
(Go ahead, click on it, it'll only take you a minute--or 2:42--you know you want to. . .possible downside: you'll never hear the Toreador song in quite the same way again.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85ezTttDh0I

And there he was! Yes, that's the personality I'm dealing with. Just a nice American boy from the Midwest, so we speak the same language. He's got a magnificent instrument, but he doesn't take it or himself too seriously, and he's willing to be completely goofy for a good cause. I realize, though, that with my bass I'm dealing with the adolescent Sam, not the mature performer, so sometimes his voice still breaks and pops up into the soprano range, but I'm pretty sure a little more time will cure that.

So now Sam and I together will start to explore the great roles. . . .