When I was a young boy I went and heard Gwyneth Jones. She was singing at the Metropolitan opera and it was Gotterdammerung by Richard Wagner. I will never forget the feeling of when I first heard her voice. It was the most rich, enormous tone I have ever heard. I ran to Tower records and other purveyors of opera cds. What I came up with was a little disappointing. It was a recital of Giuseppe Verdi. I found her voice beautiful but it was not the same experience as in the opera house. The opulence of tone and the size were lost.
Perhaps this is a trait specific to large voices. I never heard Richard Tucker, Renata Tebaldi, Franco Corelli, or Cornell MacNeil live in the opera house due to the fact that I was unfortunately born too late. (Many of my older friends how did see them do not see my relative youth as unfortunate. I suppose the grass is always greener.) The one singer I did get to see live was Birgit Nilsson. It was in 1996 and she was a guest speaker at the James Levine gala, She gave a nice tribute to him replete with her signature witticisms and quips and then she walked to the middle of the stage and sang the hojotohoes from Die Walkure. I had been a fan of hers for years and had resigned myself to the fact that I would never hear her live. Obviously she was way past her prime but the instrument was like nothing I had ever heard. The only way I can describe it is like in fantasia when the Elephants do the ballet dancing. I know the metaphor is weak, but it was like this enormous animal that had the ability and coordination to do the most amazing feats of dexterity. I hope that she is in a happy place.
My impression of Birgit Nilsson was formed not so much from her studio recordings but from her live opera recordings. I found that I especially appreciated the ones from handheld mics that people snuck into the theater. Now, you may ask why would I prefer a recordings by some amateur to a state of the art recordings. I feel that they render the most authentic experience of being in the theater. You are able to get a sense of what it was like when Leontyne Price went for the High C in Aida.
I do however acknowledge that they are not for everybody. Opera CDs of live performances invariably have sneezing of the guy in the next seat. Technical glitches often abound as well. I liken the experience to reading an old scroll or some other historical document. Of course it would be wonderful to walk around ancient Rome but we can't. We do have the power of imagination and those who have the curiosity have the ability to consult old documents to try to recreate that experience. The imagination has a wonderful ability of filling in holes.
The author lives in New York City where he sells opera cds of live opera.
Source: www.articletrader.com
