She sends Strauss packing! Enormous voice. ENORMOUS high notes. She is a machine. Wonderful interpretation. Thank the lord I didn't hear her sing this when I was studying this role. I might have given up totally. And of course she does the original version so rarely done now. (But anyone else find the ads that cut into this annoying?)
She truly is in the “zone” here, where her voice is just beautifully warmed up, and just where she wants it. Beautiful voice; beautiful performance. Brava!
this particular recital was recommended to me 20 years ago by Gerald Moore the famous voice teacher and Fleming's vocal coach... and I bought it from a British guy who had the rarest opera collection along with Natalie's Lakme and dame Joan's and Marilyn's live black and white recital under Bonynge... Edita had also sung the impossible Lucio Silla aria in this recital...
Elle me rappelle sa Zerbinetta en 1976 au Mai Musical Florentin dirigée par K. Bohm où après son air, le public émerveillé en délire lui fit une standing ovation et l’applaudit durant 12 mn... Bohm essaya à plusieurs reprises de reprendre la direction, sans succès ! Ce fut un des triomphes les plus fantastiques auquel nous avions assisté. Du très grand R. Strauss, de la très très grande Édita, Zerbinetta inégalée à ce jour, sachant rendre justice au compositeur et au personnage avec brio, se jouer de toutes les difficultés avec élégance, style viennois et technique vocale sans faille. Merci Lohengrin et Édita. 👍🏽🎶🍾
Die Zerbinetta sang Frau Gruberova auf vielen Konzerten , auch noch im höheren Alter von 70 Jahren . Ihre Zerbinetta ist einmalig , fantastisch gesungen, aber auch schauspielerisch . Ich hatte das Glück Frau Gruberova in Zürich in vielen Opernrollen live zu sehen auf dem Höhepunkt ihrer Karriere, unvergesslich ❤️
This is Strauss's first version of the aria ”Großmächtige Prinzessin“, which is almost twice as long as the version sung today in ”Ariadne auf Naxos“. Additionally, the middle part with the high notes is a full tone higher, thus two F#6 (and today two E6).
BTW, Karl Böhm called her the best Zerbinetta ever (there is an old recording from the Wiener Staatsoper, from the early 70ies IIRC, that demonstrates that) - given his acquaintance with Strauss, this verdict is quite profound
to my mind she is the ONLY Zerbinetta... I had read once that she had said that Zerbinetta is nothing compared to the difficulty of Aminta... took me decades to locate this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0VuB93lLhAk.html
Thanks for the (accurate, if sometimes catty) responses. All I know is I heard her on a YT video, or some more recent recording, and was appalled at how the voice had disappeared. I remember hearing an Ariadne in the Wiener Staatsoper in the mid-1980s', with Gruberova as Zerbinetta, and Agnes Baltsa as the Komponist- I cannot remember the Ariadne, but those two were ABSOLUTELY STUNNING- after this b*tch of an aria, her 'Stumm, stumm' was so effortless, it brought the house down. Ariadne, who? Thanks for this video! I'd prefer to remember her at her best....
all my posts are the singers at their best... today's Gruby is a travesty created by her twisted ambition to sing the Callas repertoire... but before all this nightmare, she was one of the greatest singers in history
Hmm. Even at her prime, the coloratura is very very weird sounding, kind of like Deutikom, also constantly breaking the legato. She's scooping all over the place (not proper portamento), bad diction. Very accurate at least, but she's already doing the weird facial contortions just in microcosm.
+celloguy not just scooping.. she literally slurs everywhere and everything.. if you visualize this u can see a huge tongue licking everything and smudging its edges :D (this is not good coloratura technique, but thats why she kept her voice till she became a zombie!) Can you believe that after my 30 years in opera this is the only aria I like Gruberova in? (the Strauss coloraturas in general)
willworkforwages my contempt describes the Massacre she committed in bel canto the last 20 years :D extremely ambitious, not enough intelligent, totally deranged fan circle
willworkforwages she will always be remembered for her first 20 years (up to 1990 when she was singing her true nature repertoire like Kostanze, Aminta, Zerbinetta, Fiakermilli etc) and she will be forever laughed at her ridiculous efforts to sing the Assoluta repertoire in the last 20 years where she almost destroyed her fame as a serious singer ... no vitriol here dude, just the simple truth , Ambition without Intellect is a very bad thing !
you can see why he revised it. it's rambling and nonmelodic. does it count if you only hit the high note for a nanosecond? I guess so. Also, I think she needs a better fitting bra.
This is literally the only aria I can stomach to listen to by her and the only reason why is because many sopranos don’t sing this version. I would prefer to hear other sopranos sing it but they haven’t yet. This type of Strauss aria works well for her voice because it doesn’t particularly require precise bel canto. So a singer like her has leeway to slide through the melismas with no accuracy. She has no accuracy at all singing bel canto so I can see her leaning into Strauss more. I cannot stomach her horrible coloratura in any actual bel canto roles. She is a one trick pony and her only trick is explosive high notes. Other than that people can miss me with thinking she’s the best Zerbinetta😂…some of these people in the comments sound delusional stating she’s the “only” Zerbinetta 💀 This is one of the few recordings of this versions of the aria in full and that’s what I feel is the main reason why people support this video. For my taste I’ve never seen her do Zerbinetta where I have liked the acting 🤷🏾♀️ And I definitely CANNOT stomach her singing in any other opera genre or composer. This is actually the only recording I’ve ever been able to listen to in full by her.
...kinda me too... and Fiakermilli, Aminta and Aithra's (the Straussian Coloraturas) As Aminta she only has Reri Grist as rival... no competition (and Dessay in her not so good years)