New sizzling baritone:

[kaergaard]

They don't come any hotter than Erwin Schrott on this new recording. Watch the uTube:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=558529&album_group=19&site_id=OperaAlert

[Harry Powell]

Sizzling and bellowing. As terrible in tango as in opera.

[kaergaard]

Harry: Do you ever have anything good to say about anybody except yourself? 

[Gurn Blanston]

I enjoyed this. I would like to hear him doing something that I am familiar with, but that leaves so little to choose from....   Wonder if he does Schubert. Or maybe Beethoven's "An die ferne Geliebte"... 



----------------
Now playing:
Alexandre Dossin (piano) - Kabalevsky Op 38  24 Preludes for Piano #24 - Allegro feroce

[kaergaard]

Of course he is the brilliant Leporello  in the Don Giovanni at the 2008 Salzburg Festival. It's Mozart anyhow! - Checked but couldn't find a Lieder Recital, only a collection of Opera stuff with one Mozart. Sorry! Give him time, Gurn!

[Harry Powell]

Brilliant? There's nothing brilliant in Schrott's singing. This is one of those false voices the Italians call "ventriloquist". As false and dull as if delivered from the stomach.

Harry: Do you ever have anything good to say about anybody except yourself? 

I have nothing to declare but my genius.

[knight66]

I am starting to wonder whether the singer has to be dead to garner praise from Harry.

I watched through Schrott in the Catalogue Aria and then the Toreador's song. I compared him to earlier singers. He comes out as distinctly cavalier with the note values, he chops the legato and tends to fling notes out. He is flashy and no doubt effective on stage as a stage animal. However, his singing does not stand up well to the competition.

I am with Harry on this one.

Mike

[Florestan]

I am starting to wonder whether the singer has to be dead to garner praise from Harry.

He treats Juan Diego Florez rather sympathetically. 

Toreador's song.

Schrott ruins it if not for anything else then for the horrendous sound he emits after the final "r" in "Toreador, Toreador".  His French is so peculiar that it sounds at times either like Italian or an unkown language. One of the worst performances of this aria I've ever heard.

[Harry Powell]

I am starting to wonder whether the singer has to be dead to garner praise from Harry.

That's not true! Some of them are rather decrepit, but they're still alive.

[Florestan]

That's not true! Some of them are rather decrepit, but they're still alive.

[Harry Powell]

He treats Juan Diego Florez rather sympathetically. 

I have been listening to his "Santo" record. It feels like a shower of caramel and condensed milk.

[knight66]

Within the context; is that good or is it bad?

BTW, it was dead or decrepit singers I compared him to and found him severely wanting. Mind you some of the conducting on the older performances was sedate; to put it nicely.

Mike

[Florestan]

BTW, it was dead or decrepit singers I compared him to and found him severely wanting.

We discussed him recently in the "Legendary Historical Singers" thread. Feel free to share your thoughts.

[Harry Powell]

You may like to open a new Topic for Flórez, or Juandi, as some call him on Spanish boards.

[knight66]

I opened up the old thread. I had forgotten just how old it is. I mentioned Florez in a new post there.

Mike