Janet Baker in a stunning performance of the opera's finale. Conductor: Charles Mackerras. The performance is a live recording from the ENO dating December 13, 1973.
I was lucky enough to be living in London from 1963 to 2000 and hence able to follow her career from (almost) its beginning to the farewell opera and concert performances in 1993-5.Without doubt she was the most accomplished singer of the 20th century with her (alas rare) combination of perfect technique and beauty of tone, as well as being a moving and convincing actress. But. There were a few, very few, concerts when the voice failed to ring out loud and clear and it was not until imminent retirement was on the horizon that her devotees, (the Bakerlites) learned of the crippling stage fright she'd endured for all of her long career. She was asked if, in the light of the agony she'd endured, she thought the struggle worthwhile.....and she said, "no". Dearest Dame Janet, if you ever read this, thank you thank you with all my elderly heart for the pleasure, joy and excitement your glorious voice and musicianship brought me, us.
She sings well, but in English it's very strange, it doesn't sound good. This opera is in Italian. It's like singing Wagner in French, it will still seem strange.
@ioSonoCallas Performances at the English National Opera are ALWAYS in English, even today in 2010. That is the way the British want it. Those who dont like it can visit Covent Garden for performances in original languages.A couple of "second" houses in Europe have this policy (eg Komische Oper in Berlin where all opera is sung in German)
Dame Janet Baker was a Mezzo Soprano so of course would not sing here in the same key as soprano Joan Sutherland. The great divas who sang this role in centuries gone by would happily transpose as they needed. Maria Malibran for example was more Mezzo than Soprano by contemporary standards, but back in those times categories were not so strictly defined anyway. Dame Janet is chillingly wonderful here!
It is quite legitimate to have a house that sings in the vernacular, although it is not quite correct to say that ENO ALWAYS sings in English; operas performed in the original language include; Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" and Glass's "Satyagraha".
English National Opera had, and still has, a policy of producing operas in English to make them more accessible to audiences who may know less about opera and not be used to hearing them in their original language. It provides a gateway into opera for interested people who may then move on to the original language. If only all diction was as clear a this!
This is a full whole tone lower than Sutherland in 1972, the true Queen of this opera. The problem in singing Bel Canto in other than Italian, in particular the non-Romance ones, are the reduced possibilities in coloring the tones in a pure vowel setting.
Two very distinct melodies. What we have here is a reprise of Nella pace del mesto riposo from Act 1 of Maria Stuarda, an addition by Charles Mackerras not in the original Donizetti score.
I have no idea what a "live" recording is but in a place which is devoted to video, "live" means that we can watch a "live" video of the performance! Otherwise wonderful.
A *_live_* recording is made during a performance (often pirate as this one probably is) raw and unedited (or unplugged as one says today) as opposed to a *_studio_* recording where numerous takes are made, edited, mixed and spliced together by a recording engineer. Prior to 2000 very little opera was *_filmed live on video_* because of the size of the video cameras in "those days" was somewhat too cumbersome to fit into an opera house and secondly because the normal opera lighting was generally not sufficient for the very limited sensitivity of those cameras. Extra lighting had to be provided for all video taping. This was not only expensive but also made the productions look awful as they generally had to resort to flood lighting the whole stage from the front. Today things are completely different and many many more videos of live operatic theatre performances are available. Most YT opera clips dating back prior to the 90's are pure audio clips that are enjoyed by fans who would normally not get the opportunity to hear vintage performances and performers.
