Meraviglia. Amneris che canta Cherubino. Senza paura di andare in petto nei bassi. Un vero mezzosoprano che rende al massimo l'idea della voce di un adolescente. Mozart si canta così.
@GreekCaiias I was in the audience at that performance. It was fantastic, I still remember it after so many years, thank you for posting it. It was the first opera tour ever from Italy (to Japan); Simionato, Giuseppe Taddei (Figaro), and Vitorio Gui (conductor) were the biggest names in that La Scala tour company. It came without a prima donna. Actually, there was one, Antonietta Stella. She was so young and just made it big. She did not get along with the rest of the members. She left after she sang Aida on the opening night. Back to the Figaro performance, I forgot who played Susanna, would you be so kind to look it up and post it? That would do me a very great favor. Numerous listeners have commented here about the suitability of Simionato’s voice for Chenubino’s aria. Simionato’s voice was on the heavy side and no doubt it may not sound present for this playful aria. But consider that they were on tour and she just fill in the bill. I guess that she probably had not sung this in an opera on stage before this occasion. To me, I just like to listen to her whatever she sang, anything. About the aria, I was told that on Mozart’s date there were no mezzos, female singers were all sopranos. Thus, the original key for arias that are sung by mezzos today was for sopranos. Von Stade has a nice voice. Maria Ewing started as a mezzo, then moved up to soprano, just like many other mezzos, Grace Bumbry, and Shirley Verrett to name a few. Whatever she was, I don’t think this aria would serve her well.
drei Versionen habe ich gehört, Christine Schäfer, Schwarzkopf und jetzt Simonato. Die beiden Soprane wunderbar, jede in ihrer Art, aber hier bin ich regelrecht geschockt von der Schönheit der Stimme.
@FoggyRoad81 It's a matter of taste. But you can't deny this is gorgeous, expressive singing. And it's so, so good to hear an Italian singing this -- her vowels are perfect and everything lines up so perfectly because of it.
@FoggyRoad81 you gotta be kidding me. too rich? it's not like mozart died and the world decided to have rich voices. first of all her vibrato is perfectly in pitch.... sounds youthful, elegant and absolutely definitive!!! she out sings and subltes as it is... even out acts ewing and von stade and bartoli and then some all in a bucket. rubato? dude... learn music before you comment on music or musicians.
Era molto brava ,a casa ho una sua foto autografata ,la diede a mio nonno che era ispettore del teatro la fenice di Venezia.Brava anche gianna pederzini le applaudivano appena aperto il sipario ancor prima che iniziassero a cantare.Ho anche autografi di renata scotto da poco mancata,di gianni poggi,di beniamino gigli, Anita cerquetti .
@marcellny you are right she sings perfectly in pitch, to my opinion,-just to my hearing- her voice somehow sounds a little rich for Mozart, more density and less transparency, almost austere .
Vorn er Safe to eat or safe to drink. Ed el Americans. Food is only safe for Americans. Ne znayem shto u nix, but ok. Low Neurotransmitters...Odov tseranum en. Asuma u vas kogda pamidori rastut? Letom ili zimoy. U nas oni ne rastut. Narashivayem. Tesqs chpoxi, mayrsa drel.
Well, the “mezzo-soprano” classification didn’t exist in Mozart’s day. They only distinguished between Sopran and Alt. Even Wagner referred to Erda as a “tiefer Sopran” role. Doesn’t mean mezzos didn’t exist then, just that they were known by a different name. And the same goes for baritones.
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ah, this is the same Giulia who bitch slapped Callas once and Callas almost poisoned her with her mother's insecticide. true stories. they remained friends, though. go figure.
I absolutely adore her and I absolutely hate this. The voice is too rich, so much rubato, so much vibrato. Where is the youthful yearning? Where is the hushed whisper of anticipation. Give me Ewing or Von Stade in this music.
Cherubino is a mezzo role. Not a soprano role. Von Stade and Ewing are sopranos. And 'so much vibrato'? What? Why is Siminato's vibrato bad? This is how Mozart should be sung.
It has been ten years, but Mozart didn't write hushed whispers of anticipation. He wrote this. The musical inflections are written into the melody, if a singer can hear them. Simionato could hear them, and she sang them.
Legendary voice, but far too strident for this role. Cherubino has to sound impetuous, excitable, even naive and yearning at times. Brashness mixed with tenderness. It's not well measured at all in terms of colour or articulation of text.
She gives a very nice masculine innuendo to her voice which in other roles could sound intensely feminine. It is very well measured in color and articulation of text. She doesn't sound like she went to a modern conservatory, if that is what is meant by that critique.
