It Ain’t Just Singing

For me the entire opera performance experinece is a thrill.  I like getting a bit dressed up, the grandure of the operahouse, the mature audience, the sets, the costumes, the conductor and orchestra, and of course the singing.  As I see more live opera I’m aware of the fact that it is not simply singing but so much more that shapes the opera experience.

of the opera, to listen with a greater level of discernment and hopefully enjoyment.

It makes sense that if you like Verdi’s “Rigoletto” you buy a Rigoletto CD, perhaps picking the recording by reading reviews or by recommendation.

title="http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Don-Giovanni-Fernando-Corena/dp/B000002A4M/sr=8-1/qid=1167891211/ref=sr_1_1/103-8694387-3663014?ie=UTF8&s=music">http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Don-Giovanni-Fernando-Corena/dp/B000002A4M/sr=8-1/qid=1167891211/ref=sr_1_1/103-8694387-3663014?ie=UTF8&s=music

http://www.amazon.com/Faust-Sutherland-Corelli-Ghiaurov-Bonynge/dp/B0000041TQ/sr=8-2/qid=1167890991/ref=sr_1_2/103-8694387-3663014?ie=UTF8&s=music

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000002A4M001020/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_020/103-8694387-3663014

Opera and classical music differ from other musical genres in that many recorded renditions of works exist in formats from vinyl to CD to MP3 and DVD. Most of us own one version of the music we like.  When it comes to contemporary music, one Beatles “White Album” is enough.  For the serious opera lover, however, one version of a work is simply not enough.  Why ... because every performance and recording is unique, it may be the same score and lyrics but the blending of venue, orchestra, conductor, and singers bring “color and hue” to performance, sometimes with spectacular results.

Operatic singing is so much more than making a pleasing sound with the voice.  One can certainly appreciate “good singing” in any performance.  To fill a an enormous theater with the sound of the unamplified human voice is an extraordinary talent.  To bring complexity and emotion to a performance at the same time is truly a gift.  The same is true with the other factors in particular the conductor.  While it can appear that the conductor is simply moving the music forward, in truth it is the conductor that determines the entire “mood” of the listening experience, working in essence at a “meta level” with flow and nuance.  For those of us with the untrained ear this goes unnoticed, there is just too much information coming at us to perceive things.  Listening to different performances helps but I still find it hard.  In the end if you like a performance then the conductor did his job right I suppose.

Last opera season I had the good fortune to see Verdi’s Macbeth at Seattle Opera.  It was a marvelous production that left me wanting more so I went again a couple of days later.  Several primary cast members were different in the second performance (Silver Cast), in particular Lady Macbeth.  In the first production Andrea Gruber played Lady Macbeth, the second Elena Zelenskaya.  Ms Gruber was Lady Macbeth with a psychotic edge.  Her singing and acting reflected the crazy emotional and mental state of this key character.  Ms Zelenskaya played her, for lack of better description straight, there was little sense of the madness that envelopes her as the story moves.  Her singing was very good, solid, pleasant, but it lacked that edge that added another, and perhaps proper, dimension to the character.  This experience was a breakthrough for me.  Here was a clear example of how two very different interpretations and performances can affect the feel of an entire opera.

Unfortunately one only sees live performances a handful of times in a year thus the recorded medium becomes our ongoing opera connection.  For the fledgling opera lover like me the clean sound of contemporary studio recordings often are the ones I’m drawn to first.  They are pleasing to the ear and often become the “standard” by which we evaluate all other versions.

With the advent of modern digital recording technologies we find many older releases restored and remastered.  In moving in this direction you depart from the “pristine” sound of modern recordings to a much rougher sound, particularly with live recordings, where the sounds of stage movements, audience, and uneven vocal volume of singers are all part of the mix.  For the new listener this can be a distraction and a temptation to dismiss such records.  But it is here that on occasion one finds a “musical gem” that rewards the patient and discerning listener’s ear.  Not only does one sometimes get to hear an extraordinary singing performance but in the bigger picture finds a new dimension to a character and connection to the opera. 

An example: In preparation for an upcoming performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni I have been listening to this 1959 recording featuring some major opera heavyweights in their prime including Joan Sutherland, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Luigi Alva among others.  It is perhaps the standard to measure others by, it is that good.  How fortunate I am to have an opera mentor and friend, Gregory, who seems to have every known recording of opera ever made to draw upon.  After a number of weeks of listening to the above version he loans me the fabulous 1956 recording featuring the likes of Cesare Siepi, Fernando Corena, Lisa Della Casa, conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos among other notables of the era.  It is live mono recording with stage noise, audience applause and all but, what a performace of this popular opera, wow!  Listen to Leopold Simoneau’s singing of ‘Dalla sua pace’ at the end of Act 1 Scene III.  Listen to the same aria by Luigi Alva on the Sutherland recording; very fine also but different.  It can be a subtle thing that I can’t quite find the proper words to describe, perhaps you get the idea.

Of course, not everyone is as lucky as me to have a ready supply of opera recordings at my beckon call but a visit to the local library may be a worthwhile adventure to explore other versions of a favorite opera.  Snooping around on Amazon.com can be very helpful as well since there are plenty of music samples to preview.  A little experimentation and venturing beyond the usuals has its rewards for those truly interested in learning more about this rich musical form. 

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