Who are your favorite bass/baritone performers/roles?

[Anne]

Fischer-Diescau (forgot how to spell it)    , baritone, as he sings the part of Iago in Barbirolli's Otello with James McCracken as Otello.  This cd was an import.  I learned Otello from it and will always be grateful to F-D for making every single note of his part memorable.  It's amazing how other singers don't do that.  This is a very worthwhile performance if anyone can find the CD again.

[Brünnhilde ewig]

Glad Martti Talvela was mentioned - Thanks, Jochanaan.   

We don't have him with us any more, but there is Matti Salminen and my enthusiastic admiration for him has increased since I watched his König Marke in the Barenboim/Chéreau Tristan und Isolde.

One should get acquainted with the young, attractive Swede Peter Mattei; wonderful voice and great actor rolled all in one good-looking baritone. Try his Eugene Onegin in the 2007 Salzburg Festival production conducted by Daniel Barenboim. He was a sensation!

[Brünnhilde ewig]

That's the DVD cover:

[zamyrabyrd]

Tito Gobbi probably deserves his own thread. Serafin was reputed to have said he witnessed three miracles in opera: Caruso, Ponselle and Gobbi.

I was searching up a good "Provenza il Mar" from Traviata for an example and found gold:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2nLS5gvQDY&feature=related
The fine nuances are quite incredible, reminiscent of the trouble Callas took for detail.

Ballo in Maschera "Eri Tu" It doesn't get better or grnader than this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoynkP9SETA&feature=related

Rigoletto "Cortigiani vil razza dannata" Magnetic acting in a panoply of emotions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAGkOMtdS-0&feature=related

The slickest Don Giovanni
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94QZgk2V3nA&feature=related

[val]

Hans Hotter.

Mark Reizen.

Boris Christoff.

Ivan Petrov.

Ezio Pinza.

Tito Gobbi.

Tita Ruffo.

Friedrich Schorr.

[Wendell_E]

Tito Gobbi probably deserves his own thread. Serafin was reputed to have said he witnessed three miracles in opera: Caruso, Ponselle and Gobbi.

I love Gobbi, but Serafin's three miracles were Caruso, Poselle and baritone Titta Ruffo.

[zamyrabyrd]

I love Gobbi, but Serafin's three miracles were Caruso, Poselle and baritone Titta Ruffo.

Thanks for the correction.

[knight66]

Try this; Christoff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl08vMHuHbQ

He seems rather jovial here, but had a reputation for being exceptionally difficult to work with. He was brother-in-law to Tito Gobbi and some of their work together has been preserved, Don Carlos and Boccanegra. Both strong willed, it was not an easy relationship. But the important thing is the legacy of great acting/singing that each has left.

I like the way he suddenly snaps out of it the instant the recording is 'done'.

Here is an aria that was out of his stage repertoire: what Don would have dared to come up against this Leporello.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHK16PCsr6Q

Mike

[matti]

Hynninen. What do you guys think about him. I like his singing, but I also notice his shortcomings in enunciation. He is still active at almost 70, but even when this video was recorded, he was already past his prime, for instance the pianissimos in the middle register are less than perfect. His hayday was in the 70's, but nobody outside Finland knew about him when he was at his very best vocally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qb8P-l8t3s&feature=PlayList&p=8E067054B5C6DAB0&index=9

[johnshade]

KURT MOLL

Magic Flute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_IaJDqz2Zo

Rosenkavalier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kW4I0EFYoI

[Tsaraslondon]

Already on many people's lists, but Gobbi is definitely at the top of mine. His performances Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi are as good an example as any of his range. I know no other baritone, who feels so acutely Michele's pain in the former opera, or Schicchi's wicked sense of fun in the latter. All his singing has such face. Just listening, we are able to see each fleeting change of expression. His greatest creation is perhaps his Rigoletto. I find it almost impossible to listen to that moment when he realises he has been duped and his daughter has been abducted, without a lump in the throat.

Of basses I enjoy the work of Christoff and Ghiaurov and also Van Dam, who hardly ever puts in a bad performance, but one bass whose work I aprreciate a great deal, and who is often overlooked is Nicola Zaccaria, the Greek bass who sang many times with Callas, both on record and in the theatre. He may not be the most characterful of singers, but he was a true basso cantabile and turns in exceptionally good performances in so many bel canto operas (Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Oroveso in Norma, Rodolfo in La Sonnambula). He also gets the Callas/Karajan Il Trovatore off to a cracking good start, and puts in a subtly understated comical performance as Basilio, alongside Callas and Gobbi , in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. I enjoy his work enormously and feel he has been somewhat underrated.