What technique ... what sheer beauty of the voice ... and the expression heartbreaking ... listen to the nuances she sings in this aria and its repeats ... no other singer does this as good
Lungs of steel! She would breathe with her whole body, enabling her to carry long phrases, at slow, highly effective tempos. Check out her Et Incarnatus Est, with Bernstein, in Mozart's c minor mass!
Ora intendo perché l'arme vestì; crudei, spergiuro! di lui, di or farne vendetta io giuro. Ah! mio cor! schernito sei! Stelle! Dei! Nume d'amore! Traditore! T'amo tanto; puoi lasciarmi sola in pianto, oh dei! perché? Ma, che fa gemendo Alcina? Son reina, è tempo ancora: resti o mora, peni sempre, o torni a me.
OK, note to stage manager/music director: ditch the feathers worn in Alcina's headdress. They do nothing at all, except to distract one's attention from this magnificent aria. My attention in this video was drawn to the waving feathers, rather than the superb singing/music. It's a case in which the visual overtakes the original intention, which I presume is the music written by the composer and then interpreted on stage by the singers.
She’s brilliant. But what is this ridiculous accompaniment? This heartbreaking aria sounds so light weight with pizzicato in the bass, which is not marked in the score
