INCREDIBLE. That huge voice, huge lower register and still flexible. You also hear that strong, clear falsetto. What an amazing voice he had. Besides Ruffo this is the best Largo I have ever heard.
MacNeil had a remarkable voice. Amazing that in his later years he still managed a fabulous upper register. The tones were open, natural , clear, and could crack the paneling in the back of the Met. family circle. Very different than Warren, but just as effective.
Different from Warren how? Besides Mac’s ringing tone and better low notes vs Warren’s rounder allllllmost over-covered sound, the voices sound similar to me. 😀
@@stone301 Guess you do not like Warren. MacNeill and he were very different voices, but both fit the Verdi baritone category better than most others.,
@@stone301 People say the strangest things. Warren was simply one of the greatest Verdi baritones. i thought his bottom a little muddy, his brilliant top sometimes too much of a good thing, his mezza voce and color extraordinary. Only MacNeil is in the same league with his top-and at its best I may prefer his voice
Amazing. I heard him often at the Met in the 70s and 80s. Here is is just fabulous. Nice to hear the voice when its scale was even. It was always a monster sound, but the flexibility is unusual in a voice this large.
I missed Warren-we know what happened to him-but I too heard Mac many times in that same period. Yes, huge voice, extraordinary top. Saw his Rigoletto a number of times-can't believe Warren was better. Hard for people who did not go to the opera in a house the size of the Met how huge many of those famous voices were
the diction, the leggerezza, the evenness of the emission. Perectly supported sound in every single note, ofc with complete open throat. id say this is pretty much what would happen in garcia's days
This is a great example of Macneil's facility up and down the voice. And, as has been noted, especially so for a voice this big and weighty! I would also recommend recordings by Warren, Milnes, and in a different dimension, Hampson. There is also a fine recording of Robert Merrill navigating this daunting piece with surprising success. The baritonal heft and rugged appeal of Merrill's voice was undisputed, but he shows the ability to do considerable vocal acting.
Please ! Hampson is a caricature of a bad tenor ! The two greatest recordings of the aria are probably Ruffo's and Granforte's. I would then the put Stracciari, Warren, Merril, Macneil and the other greats.
Yes, unfortunately he was over the hill by the time video telecasts became a thing. He was consistently great up until the mid-1970s - more than 20 years into his international career.
Oh sweet Lord, I've been waiting forever to hear him sing this!!! I'm amazed with the flexibility he had in his voice that I've never heard before! Easily, more fluid than Merrill, certainly, who has been bumped down from number 1 to number 2 favorite in this aria! Trrill: Is there any way I may PLEASE get a recording of this recital, please?? MacNeil is my favorite male opera singer! :D
Yes, and interestingly Julian Patrick sang the same text in a recital two years later. I'm not 100% sure where the text came from, as I can find no fragment of it on even a very deep search of the internet, but my educated guess is that it was the work of Boris Goldovsky, who was a huge proponent of opera in English in the mid-20th century. He rewrote a number of libretti himself, including Barber of Seville, which was performed in his translation from at least 1953. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mzU3pF8yfZ8.html
What a delightful rarity! "Big Mac" was the first Rigoletto and Simon Boccanegra I heard at the Met (c.1968). Those were two of his greatest Italian roles but I also heard him sing Trinity Moses in "Mahagonny" in English which had some funny bits for him. It 's a shame he didn't do more comic roles, but the truth is he was simply too valuable for Verdi. He had a good sense of humor which comes through here in his wry introduction to the "Largo."
He makes THIS (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6GhwDObJk84.html) look like a schoolboy??? Macneil is super in this recording, but nobody matches what Tibbett does in this performance.
I can't even find the sheet music for the Soprano Version. Sopranos would have to sing the Bass Clef Vocal part an Octave higher than written to achive this Soprano version.
Its understandable and a cracking effort considering its in English. Its really nice. It hasnt the brrring brrring of Italian, but English is English. Italiano is Italiano.
