Some good contemporary singers

[Sarastro]

unless we can point to current singers we ought to listen to instead

Let's do that: for each name I sew in a link on youtube.

Ekaterina Siurina - heard her live at the Met. She portrayed a very convincing and vulnearble Gilda. The voice itself is juicy.
Joseph Calleja - was the Duke for Siurina.
Maija Kovalevska was a touching Mimi (at LA-Opera)
Massimo Giordano a Rudolf to Kovalevska, again LA-Opera
Klaus Florian Vogt sang Florestan in pair with sensational Anja Kampe (couldn't find her on youtube) again in LA
I didn't go to Carmen - gave the only ticket to my Mom - the opera is so popular so all the tickets were already booked, we couldn't go together - and she was delighted by Viktoria Vizin in the title role
I am anticipating The Magic Flute in Spring with Josepg Kaiser, whom I heard in translation of Eugen Onegin from Salzburg with Anna Samuil and Elaterina Gubanova - whom I heard live at Disney Concert Hall last summer in Prokofiev's cantata "Alexander Nevsky". There will also be La Traviata with pretty famous Elizabeth Futral or Maria Poplavskaya. Honestly, I didn't like Poplavskaya in that Don Giovanni recording available free on the website of The Royal Opera Covent Garden - she was eluding some notes and sounded rough. In that recording there was also Joyce DiDonato, whom I frankly don't like.
Michael Spyres (and here Otello's cavatina, Rossini - quite a few problems, yet a beautiful timbre, natural agility, and the sense of the bel canto style)
Dmitry Korchak - very musical and cultivated singer
Rossinian tenor - Maxim Mironov - not his fan, but still, very good, especially in Bogdan Sobinin's aria there on youtube
Olga Peretyatko has acknowledged herself in Paris and Rossini festival in Pesaro, as well as in other places in Europe
Hungarian soprano Erika Miklosa (pretty good in the recording of The Magic Flute under Abbado's baton)
Sondra Radvanovsky
Lorenzo Regazzo and one more similar fach singer - Ildebrando d'Arcangelo - not always precise in musical intonation, but still very good!
Diana Damrau - somewhat harsh singer with screaming tops, good in Mozart and Salieri (her last recital)
Darina Takova and Iano Tamar - two dark coloratura sopranos with an element of dramatic stamina
My personal favorite - Dimitra Theodossiou, the Greek soprano with the sense of musicality and charming pianos
Piotr Beczala (though, in my opinion, quite dull singer)
Alexandrina Pendatchanska
Laura Claycomb
Ludovic Tezier (in Lucie de Lammermoor - the author's French edition of the opera)
The only bass in the list - Orlin Anastassov

Didn't find some other singers on youtube I wanted to mention...

I would also pay attention to the singers I don't really like - dull and glamorous Elina Garanca and same-quality dull Erwin Schrott - whom I heard live in his trademark role of Don Giovanni. I was not conquered. Those two seem to have chosen the Netrebko style - glittering cover over music.

[knight66]

Sarastro, Thanks for going to the trouble of providing all the links. I will get throuigh them and write about them. There are some voices there who surprise me in view of your remarks on some other contempory voices, screamers and wobblers, some with less than glamorous tone.

In addition to the above, I offer:

Katerina Karneus

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KaGAjDeagdM&feature=related

Sally Matthews

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PBkW0OzfUmo

Jonathan Lemalu

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=f7DaNfXbpGU

Mike

[Sarastro]

Well, many of those are not presented as "the best contemporary soprano," "the greatest diva of our times," many have just started their career paths...so their status corresponds to their vocal capacities. Just a little overview.

[knight66]

I wrote the following before you posted the item immediately above. My notes are not in any sense a rebuttal of your idea that certain singers have been over promoted. Here are my reactions to some of the initial ones. I think it is unfair to decide on a singer based on one clip, but in terms of what I heard.....

Ekaterina Siurina: The Verdi simply would not load. However, I listened to her in Sonnambula. Difficult to judge in just two minutes. She has the notes, but I felt she was pushing hard at the top and if she continues that way, the wobble there will become pronounced. Although her scale work was excellent above the middle of the voice, it was imprecise in that middle range. But it seemed a beautiful and powerful voice.

Maija Kovalevska: Another voice new to me. I find the Eastern European vibrancy a bit of a problem, I don't like the very quick vibrato. Also, there are some intonation problems and some of her rising phrases become shallow and hard momentarily. She moves single phrases from soft to hard palate which alters the colour of the phrase. This is not an expressive characteristic, it is her way of getting round the notes. On the plus side, she certainly has a grip dramatically on this really complex aria, it is no sing through. However as far as first rate vocalization is concerned, I think there is a lot of work needed to integrate the voice.

Massimo Giordano: Sounded good to me, apart again from a slight lack of integration where the same note is produced differently, not depending on the vowel, but the preceding notes and whether they provide a good springboard.

I am not going to give exhaustive notes, but so far I am not hearing voices that I would call world beaters in terms of putting the singers you don't like into the shade. I will listen to the rest and comment on any I really like or don't like.

But thanks for going to this trouble and it will certainly draw to my attention singers I have never heard.

Mike

[knight66]

Fascinating to listen to these singers....

Klaus Florian Vogt: A very interesting singer and an interesting approach to the part. I then listened straight off to Sandor Konyer, that seems much more the natural Wagner voice, but Vogt sang beautifully, though with less detailed phrasing and word pointing. That may have been part of the concept of the role, I would want to hear more of him. I assume it is the production that makes him appear as expressive as a piece of wood.

Viktoria Vizin: I really enjoyed this singer, a distinctive voice well used and allied to dramatic ability. The intervals are taken cleanly rather than bouncing on the lower note, nice to hear that kind of musicianship.

Dmitry Korchak: One to listen out for. He has a warm tone and good technique...Sometimes the producers do not trust the music, what a daft production for the singer to cope with.

Olga Peretyatko; She is a real contender in terms of a world class voice; but so young and needing to settle in more with the technique. But it is pretty much all there. The Queen of the Night was a competition and so nerves may have been a particular problem that chopped some of the ends of phrasing to allow her to snatch breath, but a small point. I very much liked her Guilda aria with the piano, why truncated though? Lovely soft high attack and I did not agree with the comments that suggested her lower range was occluded.

Erika Miklosa: I have the Abbado  discs and am bemused that she is renowned for the Queen of the night. I think she is the weak link in that set. The notes are there, some of them delivered too quickly within the tempo, but the projection is too soft grained for the part. I should think she is excellent in other roles. The clips from Edda Moser and even more so, Damrau illustrate just what is vitally missing and make Miklosa sound like she is singing vocalize.

Sondra Radvanovsky: Riveting...nothing really available on Amazon; damn. She is special, very exciting and a real communicator. I listened to all I could find, great trill, dark and gleaming voice, great legato singing, high notes she softened, that Trovatore:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4eNvAFXz7WY&feature=related

is a killer and she sang it beautifully, great technique. Mind you the conductor needs to rethink to keep things going, he disintegrates the piece.

Darina Takova: To my ear initially she was often under the note. I find the voice gusty with unevenly produced tone. I then listened to the live la Scala performance from Rene Fleming, I cannot understand why people wrote that they could not hear any emotion in the voice; there was certainly appropriate emotion there within the phrasing and with the use of the words and tone placed onto certain words. I thought this was a superb piece of singing except for the poor trills.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oqgahQ3UM3c&feature=related

More later.

Mike

[knight66]

Iano Tamar: I thought this was a dangerously forceful way of attacking this piece from Semiramide, some wildness and a few notes glossed over, but exciting. Sutherland is the best I know of in this piece, though I did not go through all the other singers listed for this aria.

Dimitra Theodossiou: I see she is a personal favorite Sarastro. In Era desso il figlio mio, I found her gusty and uneasy at the top. In Macbeth I really thought she was having problems with the basic voice production.
Lucrezia Borgia;

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jmLw5rwAORI&feature=related

What on earth is she up to in this aria? I can hear honorable intent, but the method of delivery seems to indicate real vocal problems, then that last wild high note! Was I listening to the wrong tracks? I found a Verdi Requiem from six years before the Lucretia and yes, superb, dramatic, beautiful voice. I guess she has deteriorated horrifically, sad. Then Attila from 2007, she pushed her voice far too much. That last high note again, completely ill advised. So many singers go this way, a great pity.

Mike

[knight66]

Thanks for a really interesting morning.....final thoughts for the moment.

Laura Claycomb. I know of her, that Rigoletto extract was simply stunning. It was sung as well as I have ever heard it.  Handel's V'adoro, pupille, another complete triumph. A fully equipped singer at the top of her form and a good communicator.

Orlin Anastassov: Another one new to me and he sounds promising. Good even tone top to bottom and an exciting dark voice.

Mike

[zamyrabyrd]

I find the Eastern European vibrancy a bit of a problem, I don't like the very quick vibrato. Also, there are some intonation problems and some of her rising phrases become shallow and hard momentarily. She moves single phrases from soft to hard palate which alters the colour of the phrase. This is not an expressive characteristic, it is her way of getting round the notes. On the plus side, she certainly has a grip dramatically on this really complex aria, it is no sing through. However as far as first rate vocalization is concerned, I think there is a lot of work needed to integrate the voice...
Sondra Radvanovsky: Riveting...nothing really available on Amazon; damn. She is special, very exciting and a real communicator. I listened to all I could find, great trill, dark and gleaming voice, great legato singing, high notes she softened, that Trovatore:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4eNvAFXz7WY&feature=related
Mike

Unless it is my inner ear vibrating out of whack, Sondra's voice fits exactly the type of quick vibrato. She has a wonderful instrument but has no clue yet how to use it.  Either Eastern European women shout or produce a sickly melodratic tone. I'm not convinced. And I still believe that opera has SOMETHING to do with language. WHAT was she saying??? (Gosh, I have to get out Callas' recording just to purify my ears.)

I'll try to listen to the rest when I have time.

ZB

[bvy]

Laura Claycomb. I know of her, that Rigoletto extract was simply stunning. It was sung as well as I have ever heard it.  Handel's V'adoro, pupille, another complete triumph. A fully equipped singer at the top of her form and a good communicator.

I second that. Claycomb was Juliet in Pittsburgh's recent production of The Capulets and the Montagues (Bellini). My wife and I were supers, but I only in Act I, so I saw Act II four times. Claycomb was thrilling. Vivica Genaux was Romeo, her mezzo a perfect vocal foil to Laura's soprano, and she's another name to watch.

[Brünnhilde forever]

Sarastro: This is a fascinating topic you gave us for the New Year, and I thank you very much! 

BUT - isn't there always a 'but'? - It exposed me as the only one - as far as I know! - who still goes to the opera or buys DVDs and CDs for the excitement of a performance, a play, an entertainment. It has never happened to me, to sit with my ears wide open, and eyes tightly shut, to listen to every note the performers created. Of course I can hear off-key, scooping, missing beats and all those irritants, but it will not interfere with the enjoyment of the play! As an example, my favourite Ring des Nibelung production is the Harry Kupfer/Daniel Barenboim with Tomlinson/Evans; neither singers are in 'the hall of fame' as best ever singers, but they tell me the beautiful story with their acting and singing.

I mentioned to a friend this latest DVD release of Tristan und Isolde directed at the Scala by Patrice Cheréau and conducted by Barenboim. It's an overwhelming performance, moving me to tears, sending chills up and down my spine and making me join the audience at the end of Act II with a loud outcry; not immediate applause, but a shout of surprise and shock at the power and beauty of it. So what does my beloved friend reply? I paraphrase: "After listening to Windgassen and Nilssen, watching any other Tristan is a waste of time." And he reassures me that every note Nilssen produces is right on. Heck, I wasn't even listening with a critical ear to every note Waltraut Meier sang; she involved me in the person of Isolde - not an opera singer out for an audition!

So be it, I am the only here at GMG enjoying the play. I am very happy!  0:)

[Sarastro]

"After listening to Windgassen and Nilssen, watching any other Tristan is a waste of time."

That's certainly not my point of view. I think some of you misunderstood me. I give credit to all singers and am willing to listen to all of them, but I become mightily pissed off when such mediocrities as Netrebko undeservedly get over-over-over promoted, leaving really good singers behind.

[Brünnhilde forever]

Oh but Honey, I didn't misunderstand you! Maybe you misunderstood me! The person totally devoted to Nilssen was an entirely different person, not even a GMG member!

Ok now? 

[Sarastro]

The person totally devoted to Nilssen was an entirely different person

I understood this.

[zamyrabyrd]

That's certainly not my point of view. I think some of you misunderstood me. I give credit to all singers and am willing to listen to all of them, but I become mightily pissed off when such mediocrities as Netrebko undeservedly get over-over-over promoted, leaving really good singers behind.

Hi there,
I seem to agree with most of your observations. Are you a singer, or just have fantastic taste and hearing?

ZB

[PSmith08]

As an example, my favourite Ring des Nibelung production is the Harry Kupfer/Daniel Barenboim with Tomlinson/Evans; neither singers are in 'the hall of fame' as best ever singers, but they tell me the beautiful story with their acting and singing.

Staging aside, John Tomlinson is my favorite recent Wotan, and, in my view, the best since Hotter. His farewell at the end of Walküre is usually sufficient to leave me silent for a little while, just like Hotter does. Indeed, only when Wotan is given a voice like Tomlinson's does the full pathos and tragedy of the character become manifest. The all-powerful god, finding himself hemmed in by his own doings, is a figure to stand with Aeschylus' or Sophocles' best characters. When Pape finally commits the role to disc, I'll reevaluate, of course. As for now, it's Hotter and Tomlinson, in that order.

[Maciek]

I wonder if Aleksandra Kurzak fits the subject of this thread? Or Mariusz Kwiecien?

[Maciek]

Oh, well. Another thread to hang on the wall of my trophy den...

BTW, an amusing interview with Kurzak can be found here.

[Sarastro]

Thanks, Maciek, I'll check it out.

Are you a singer, or just have fantastic taste and hearing?

I'm just a humble lover. 0:) Besides, there are people here much more experienced than me...

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

What's this thread about? In Baroque music, I pretty much like Countertenor Phillipe Jaroussky - youtube -.