Bel Canto

[mc ukrneal]

What do people think of this? Most of the youtube comments seem to think this is glorious, but to me it sounds out of tune (and out of tune of the same way in the second verse), has horrendous scoops everywhere, is insensitive to the text, and often quite aspirated. By this time the tone is far less beautiful than before also. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MfUsCP6d3U&feature=related

She's so much better in the orange Norma, which is the best I've ever heard her sing (thanks so much for the previous tip!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIQQv39dcNE

I think the problem is more with the recording than with her. It is a bit off, but then the orchestra alone sounds off in moments and so does the chorus to me. So it is not easy to separate out the blame. In any case, I don;t really like her entrances either. The second one is much, much better.

[Guido]

Well look at the opera house - that explains the quality of the support. Recordings don't create aspirates and scoops, unless there is some serious distortion, but that's not what we're hearing.

The question really is whether this was a seriously off night, or whether she had an earlyish decline.