saw marton as turandot twice in boston in 83/84. after 30 years STILL the most impressive singing ive heard from a live human being. glad to have the audio bootleg recently too - but the experience remains undimmed.
Incredible! I know there are many Turandots out there, but I just love her. She is truly an Ice Princess as far as attitude and understanding of the role goes, but she is warm and a vast explosion of energy and vocal power. Wonderful, in my opinion the best I've heard!
I must agree with you. That aria has a fiendish tessitura - she makes it a glory. (Particularly with a jolly seaside café backdrop...) The triumphant ending brought tears to my eyes.
❤❤❤❤❤Bellísimo vídeo…los que escuchamos a Eva en vivo sabemos que pasarán muchos años, para volver a ver una artista como ella, una voz inconmensurable como la suya…perfecta Turandot…genial. Gracias
Every couple of years I have to come back and watch Eva Marton’s version of this amazing masterpiece!I do not know a lot about Opera.But the musical arrangement and tempo makes my hairs stand up.The “Iron Lung” one must have to belt this out.Eva’s thunderous vibrato over the orchestra.Omg wish I was there.Bridget Nilsson the Queen! was my favorite she the first opera singer to put me in tears.When she is in the green dress that C#6 went to the straps here.Eva is the only other last and captivating Turandot performer worth listening too.BRAVO!!❤
nickbigd Thank you for that. No one seems to want to undertake proper training these days, they just want to squeeze out a thin high note and be an overnight sensation.
I saw Ms Marton perform this role at the Met some years later, but I was so young and hyper critical then, I don't think I realized how lucky I was. It's really a bygone era.
I was seated in the front row at Ms. Marton's U.S. debut in the role of Turandot with the Opera Company of Boston in November 1983. The sound coming off the stage was so frighteningly authoritative (loud) that the audience remained frozen at the end of the aria and dared not applaud. One thought one had heard the loudest sound a singer could make - until the next line: "Stragnero, ascolta", which was louder yet. There was no deficiency with the high C during the run of five performances. In Ms. Marton's defense, the odd arrangement of the missing interlude line for tenor, with the melody missing and the key modulation washed out, may have thrown her off normal sequence and ill served her as preparation for the final modulation.
Peter J. Wender I agree with the volume of her voice. I saw her share the stage with Nilsson, and Marton actually had a much bigger sound. Her issues were with singing even the highest notes in the mask, and rarely singing below forte. Her prime, which was quite great, didn't last very long.
@@wotan10950 this has always been my instinct about her voice and where she went wrong. I would have loved to have heard her in her prime. There is an Die Frau excerpt on RU-vid where she sings a C sharp that is absolutely phenomenal. She was at her Peak then and it's really thrilling
Thanks for your post. I wish I had been sitting high up in the balconies to hear this superb musical dramatist unleash Turandot's furor. She is truly a diva with a huge presence on stage.
The high C is spot on. I suggest listening with headphones. So often unprocessed recordings do sound either flat or squeaky because technology often was not pairing the rich voices of these artists of the past, and with headphones you might notice that you get more overtones making the sound more in tune. Nowadays, artists have their performances often edited and processed in a studio before publishing online. Some might even use amplification it seems. Not like the past.. what a pity that artists like Rosa Ponselle have left recordings where you have to imagine the part of sound missing due to ancient means of recording. Headphones make a difference I believe.
Still my all time favorite. She was the first Turandot I ever saw in the way over the top MET production at the age of 19. I have seen this very production numerous times at the MET since then…but Eva Marton made it basically impossible for everyone coming after her to be more memorable. Opera at its best…thanks for posting this.
I don't know why people are saying she's not hitting the high C. She is! She IS skipping the consonants (a la Caballe) but she's doing the C all right.
Her 1994 Turandot with San Fran. Symph/Opera was spectacular. What a voice then and in this earlier piece. The 1994 is or was available on DVD, and worth it.
Contrary to comments here, she is definitely doing the C! This is a difficult aria for a dramatic sop. Sublime singing. In command of her technique... What an artist.
General statement: not much on soprani...Moffo and exception. Heard Marton today for the first time. Last passage at 5.45 ran a chill across my shoulders and brought tears to my eyes....I have been turned off to Turandot over the years because of the soprano, whoever it was, basically screeching throughout the performance. This aria in this clip will make me rethink much. Exceptional....
I remember back in late 80s she performed Turandot in San Francisco. & after the Opera was over the reviews said " more shrill than thrill" Very sad that the they can bring you down & build you up. 😢🙏🎵🎶 Arnold Bourbon Amaral
She was a fabulous Turandot. Not many at her level. Nilsson of course. Sutherland's recording with Mehta is impressive (surprise). They say it ruined her voice. Is that so?
I couldn't vouch as to the effects of this particular role on Marton's voice over time. I saw her in the role in the late 80's and had no at the time how fortunate I was. Sutherland's recording with Caballe is a marvel but notably she never attempted the role live to my knowledge, a telling distinction.
Gran interpretacion. Si llega al do pero no dice la letra. En Queen de Caracalla de 1992 no llega al do final , en realidad no importa despues de toda la interpretacion.
An amazing performance. Nope, she doesn't quite manage the high C (it is decidedly under pitch until the very end of the note.) But her sound and style are amazing.
They did - the voice was much more easily produced pre Turandot. Having said that I heard her live in her debut in Vienna (she was a lot better than here) and it was not only beautiful but very exciting. The voice was really even - gorgeous warm sound from top to bottom and flowed quite effortlessly.
Actually, more than Turandot, I think Gioconda, Elektra and Brunhilde ruined her. Turandot is high tessitura and most girls will be heard because of that. With Giocodanda, she chested way to high. But Elektra and Brunhilde were just wrong, wrong, wrong.
Well, you know that she didn't have time to warm up? She arrived from Boston with about 30 minutes to spare. I was there and it was a pretty damn good performance. In my opinion as an opera goer for nearly 50 years, far better than anything you can hear now.
