Sandrine Piau

[Harry]

Emma Kirkby and Suzie LeBlanc have similar small voices, yet it is enough to be heard.
I was in several concerts, and they were perfectly audible, but no question of being blown away......

[Tsaraslondon]

Emma Kirkby and Suzie LeBlanc have similar small voices, yet it is enough to be heard.
I was in several concerts, and they were perfectly audible, but no question of being blown away......

Well of course one can be blown away, as you put it, in ways other than by sheer volume. Janet Baker did not have a particularly large voice, but she blew me away on several occasions. But, I would have certainly thought that being audible was a prerequisite of any performer.

[Don]

I really find this bizarre.  I certainly enjoy recordings, and it is certainly true that the making of classical music recordings is in some sense an art in itself.  However I have never heard a recording that could come close the the majesty of a symphony orchestra in a good hall.  How can you imagine that your loudspeakers, which in the end amount to a few pieces of rubberized cardboard glued to loops of wire, can reproduce the subtlety of hearing the direct sound from a hundred individual musical instruments, all playing together in a room with superb acoustics?  And although it is perhaps easier to concentrate in your dank basement, cloistered with your extremely expensive stereo system, there is a certain sense of event in hearing a live concert, where anything can happen.  I can't could how many Karajan recordings I've listened to over the years, but the sum total of them isn't the equal of hearing Karajan conduct Bruckner 8 at Carnegie Hall with the Vienna Philharmonic.

To each his own.  By the way, I don't listen to music in a dank basement; I don't even have a basement.

[Anne]

I cannot enjoy a concert as much as CD's, the reason being that I am always so excited to be at the concert and knowing the concert is a one-take deal, that I can't concentrate on the music.  I want to capture it all in my memory but end up with nothing due to my excitement.

[Siedler]

Doesn't the Barbican have bad acoustics, by the way?

[PerfectWagnerite]

I cannot enjoy a concert as much as CD's, the reason being that I am always so excited to be at the concert and knowing the concert is a one-take deal, that I can't concentrate on the music.  I want to capture it all in my memory but end up with nothing due to my excitement.

Oh boy...I am the opposite. I have this nasty habit of falling asleep at concerts but I tend to stay awake for CDs. There was one time I slept through most of the Verdi Requiem (Dies Irae bass drum and all). I get excited about concerts too but mostly after the piece starts it's all ho-hum.

[Don]

I cannot enjoy a concert as much as CD's, the reason being that I am always so excited to be at the concert and knowing the concert is a one-take deal, that I can't concentrate on the music.  I want to capture it all in my memory but end up with nothing due to my excitement.

I'm glad that Anne brought up the one-take nature of a concert.  This makes the concert quite a costly affair.

[Anne]

I'm glad that Anne brought up the one-take nature of a concert.  This makes the concert quite a costly affair.

I have often thought organizers of concerts should take one's name and address and record the concert.  Then send the CD when they have it ready.  It would make a nice souvenir (and then I could really listen to it  ).

[Anne]

Oh boy...I am the opposite. I have this nasty habit of falling asleep at concerts but I tend to stay awake for Cd's. There was one time I slept through most of the Verdi Requiem (Dies Irae bass drum and all). I get excited about concerts too but mostly after the piece starts it's all ho-hum.

Thanks for sharing.  Your sleeping through the Verdi Requiem is as bad as my sleeping through the 4th movement of Beethoven's ninth one summer in Chicago when Eschenbach conducted it.  His phrasing of the 1st movement was so unlike Bohm's and other conductors like him that I became disgusted after being so thrilled to be there and having driven (hubby) 7 hours just to get there.  The wind was out of my sails and I fell asleep.  I am still embarrassed about that.

I apologize to the other posters for going OT.

[Mozart]

This one is very nice.

Q

*double post

[Mozart]

This one is very nice.

Q

I just got this one and I'm pretty impressed. Vivaldi wrote some difficult vocal music I actually wouldn't have guessed the 1st aria is Vivaldi. I usually don't like women with short hair (on their head anyway), but her voice is great Buy this one!

[Que]

I usually don't like women with short hair (on their head anyway), but her voice is great

LOL

[Tsaraslondon]

Doesn't the Barbican have bad acoustics, by the way?

They are not the best, but, as I noted before, voices don't usually have any problem being heard, and, in fact, usually sound well there.

[knight66]

I think we need to accept that now a days, singers have two distinct careers. Recordings and live. We can't go back in time and if we like the results from the CDs; I would be cautious about slinging singers into the bin who can't do quite the same during live performances.

I am not talking about Kathrine Jenkins and her ilk who are basically half trained and could not get round a difficult Mozart aria even in the studio. But the case that sparked the discussion seems to fall into a different category. Piau is trained, has insights, has a pleasing voice. But if she cannot be heard properly live, then it is her concerts I would stay away from, not her CDs.

I went to a Prom several years ago to hear Andreas Scholl, almost inaudible, a mere thread of undernourished sound. The Albert Hall is clearly not his venue; but he has a good body of recordings where he seems to hit the mark.

I agree it is best to have singers able to perform satisfactorily anywhere. I also heard Baker do that quiet projection of her voice across considerable distance; it was a remarkable and memorable sound. A technique more singers need to learn, especially the ones who are challenged in the volume department.

Mike

[king ubu]

Has anyone heard the new Mozart arias disc?

[asin]B00MGVPZQ0[/asin]
L'ho perduta, me meschina (from Le Nozze di Figaro)
Non mi dir (from Don Giovanni)
Geme la tortorella (from La finta giardiniera)
Pallid'ombre (from Mitridate, re di Ponto)
Deh vieni, non tardar (from Le nozze di Figaro)
Crudeli, oh dio! (from La Finta Giardiniera)
Se il padre perdei (from Idomeneo)
Fra i pensier più funesti (from Lucio Silla)
L'amerò, sarò costante (from Il re pastore)

Sandrine Piau (soprano)
Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Ivor Bolton


contents, courtesy of presto's, who also conducted an interview about this:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/interview/1136/Sandrine-Piau-Desperate-Heroines

[Drasko]

Has anyone heard the new Mozart arias disc?

It's current 'disc of the week' on CD Review on BBC3. You can hear four arias, about 20 minutes worth, here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mb1ny
starts about 2 hours 50 minutes into the programme.

[king ubu]

It's current 'disc of the week' on CD Review on BBC3. You can hear four arias, about 20 minutes worth, here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mb1ny
starts about 2 hours 50 minutes into the programme.

Thanks! Beautiful voice (as alyways), but fails to really grab me, I'm afraid.