High notes produced in a manner that so many tenors would envy nowadays and low notes produced in a manner that so many basses would envy nowadays. Such a gorgeous big even sound!
Just my favorite Baritone, besides his great instrument range tone, his interpretations for me were the best! Great emotion and depth, very musical. I saw him late in his career he was spectacular, the most interesting singer I heard.
MacNeil had the largest vocal range of any Verdi Baritone I know of & even sang Hollander. His best years were probably the late 1950‘s into the late 1960‘s. He had like Warren a huge sound which as he aged became more difficult to keep steady & would often need some time to warm up early in a performance. But at his best there is no sound like his around now that I am aware of.
@@redgrapeskins Later on I heard even some LIVE performances where the Big Mac sang the A flat at the end of the cabaletta in FORZA but it should be remarked that this particular cabaletta was, perhaps because of its tessitura, the most demanding cabaletta that Verdi that Verdi ever wrote for his baritones & many Verdi baritones besides MacNeil would sometimes avoid its climatic high A flat. Even SI, VENDETTA In act 2 (sometimes Act 3) in RIGOLETTO is not so strenuous for the baritone. PER ME ORA FATALE in IL TROVATORE comes close as does Miller‘s in LUISA MILLER but the cabaletta for DON CARLO in FORZA seems to me the most demanding & baritones like Merrill would sometimes transpose this cabaletta down a half step in a LIVE performance & still not interpolate what would then be a high G at its climax. Warren, on the other hand, in all the times I have heard him, always sang the high A flat at this point. Unfortunately he did not make it to this point the night he died.
Free Met stream: Saturday, December 12 - Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Classic Telecast) Starring Teresa Stratas, Astrid Varnay, Richard Cassilly, and Cornell MacNeil, conducted by James Levine. From November 27, 1979.
Trying to find the best way to communicate with you, and so I thought I would leave a link here for you to watch: Дмитрий Хворостовский в Москве If you are interested in showing a retracted tongue this is it. Dmitri Hvorostovsky is in superb form in this video and he is almost uncharacteristically using a tipped up and retracted tongue...I don't think anyone could possibly argue against this approach as his singing is absolutely astonishing. Keep spreading the word on the tongue!
I completely disagree with the myth that MacNeil keeping the voice open is what gave him a wobble. He actually turned over into the top wonderfully well BECAUSE he kept the voice open through Eb4 (and situationally, even E4 and F4). He developed a wobble because he sang repertoire that was too high for his true Dramatic / Helden baritone voice (Rigoletto, Germont, Figaro); his technique was fantastic, and he could sing those roles, and sing them well. But singing in too high of a tessitura will take a toll on any voice, and it did that to Big Mac. He was actually able to alleviate his wobble for a good period during the 80's, but eventually went back to singing some of the high roles that wore his voice down, which led to his eventual decline.
Elliot Matheny This is one of the silliest things I’ve ever seen written about a singer. Mac Neil’s top was second only to Ruffo. In his best years he sang a louder A flat than Warren (so people tell me who heard Warren). In my experience of him in the mid 70’s the top was still incredible, but it was the middle that had deteriorated. This phenomenon is by no means uncommon in singers with huge voices. And his drinking did not help matters.
