Thomas Allen - Iago's Credo from Verdi's Otello 

No matter what one might say whether he is a Verdi baritone or not, he is singing wonderfully here, and I think his sound is great. Great! As some have said, there is a nobility in his voice that covers such a wide range of music and characters. Allen is one of the great singers of our time.

God, I love his voice. Everything he does is sublime.

One of the best baritones ever!

He is the complete opera singer. A great natural voice, a great natural actor and a great interpreter of a role. He sees aspects of the character that many singers miss. These are great gifts. This performance is completely against type and is utterly chilling. Notice the use of his eyes. He expresses so much with them. I think that he would have made a great Scarpia. Sir Thomas stands equally beside Tito Gobbi as one of operas greatest actors.

This was very well sung. All this insufferable yapp yapp by people who say that he is too light for the role have no clue and have probably never listened to Victor Maurel who was Verdi's first Iago and who was much lighter than Allen. These people would never rate Maurel a Verdi baritone, they would call him a caprino-tenor! Haha, Verdi's choice for Iago, a tenor...

A truly great and powerful performance by one of the greatest actors and singers. Sir Thomas was persuaded to go on the opera course which was another year at the Royal College of Music - early on at the RCM he was already regarded as an exceptionally gifted singer. He had never acted before and just watched the acting from the wings. In his first performance, according to Robert Tear, "Tom was just better than any of us and acted us off the stage". Upon graduating, Herbert Von Karajan offered him major operatic roles, mainly in Verdi operas. He was a very young singer who had observed young singers damaging their voices due to singing such heavy roles. He said that he wanted a long career as he had a family and a mortgage. He certainly chose his roles wisely and became of the great Mozart and Rossini baritones and a marvelous Eugine Onegin, and a great Billy Budd which I have on DVD.

Sir Thomas, under theh right makeup and costume, would've made a terrifying Iago. Bravo! He's one of my favorite baritones of all time. His diction is flawless and his delivery impeccable. Down voters are simpletons... or Sir Thomas himself messing with us, as others have opined. LOL Mil gracias por compartir.

What a find! Never heard Sir Tom sing quite like this before. It's fascinating to hear and I'm so grateful for it, but also glad he decided not to take his voice in this direction as he undoubtedly would not have had as long a career.

Brilliant performance - as to be expected from one of the great baritones.

I just watched and listened to Terfel, Hampson, Hvorostovsky, and Allen in the Credo. Despite the awful video quality, Allen's was the most convincing. Simply brilliant.

Wonderful rendition! His voice is perfect for the role and frankly, so was he as an actor. Look at the villain makeup they lathered onto Justino Diaz in far too many productions to make him appear more menacing. Simply unnecessary in his case, he was an excellent actor and looked like a raptor. Sir Allen would have probably needed the makeup to some extent. And? Glad I found this, thanks for sharing.

magnifica interpretazione di Jago Thomas è un grande baritono inglese che, ai suoi tempi, si è dedicato soprattutto ai ruoli Mozartiani ottenendo grandi successi in tutto il mondo

I love this man! The first time I saw him was as Don Giovanni and the last was as Beckmesser. Fabulous singer in all he did.

I mean, no disrespect to Bryn Terfel, but he never looked THIS commanding and scary! ;)

One of the best Jago in the World.. Bravissimo

Stunning performance, thank you! He never lets us down:DD

An awesome Iago!

Fantastic performance Thomas!

If you're going to sing something way out of your Fach, this is the way to do it; in a concert setting and not the whole role. Allen sings the great Credo intelligently, never forcing his voice to be something it's not. Hampson, on the other hand sings the whole role and pushes the bejeezus out of his voice and ends up sucking big time.

You expressed it perfectly...the bridges he burned with many talented, outstanding singers, that speaks for itself, people like Franco Bonisolli, Francisco Araiza, Birgit Nilsson, etc.

Splendid ! You are one of the gratest singers of our time, Sir.

Perfection

Magnificent

I believe he said something along the lines of there being a lot of loud, powerhouse singing and an equally loud orchestra in the pit under the baton of HvK if he took up the offer and he simply believed he wasn't ready for that, preferring a long-term career to 15 minutes of fame. You can imagine what Karajan thought of TA wanting to do Pelleas instead! I'm sure though that he made the right choice...I mean, look at him now and still singing and acting! Bravo, Sir Thomas.

Every other comment on this video makes reference to Allen not being a true Verdi baritone, but if you look on the right side and find Hvorostovsky's Credo you find nobody making these same comments...

Maravilhoso ! Pra mim ,um dos melhores barítonos

Excelente interpretación. Cada frase es dicha con un sentido preciso y con un rigor extremo. Desde la vehemencia de la primera expresión expresada de un solo aire toda la melodía que abre el discurso de creencia atea. La sintaxis del poema es declamada con un canto de fuerza y poder que manifiesta una furia terrible y un dolor existencial que lo conducirá irremediablemente a la nada de la muerte inexorable y esperada aunque temida. Angustia existencial del hombre solo contra todo y contra todos, principalmente en contra de si mismo. Odio a ser y a existir en un mundo absurdo y cruel. La voz hermosa y oscura brinda marco a una inspirada elocuencia sublimada y terrible.

Indeed...much as I admire Karajan for his conducting, his decisions regarding the abilities and skills of opera singers, esp. Allen was a tad self-centred. I too am glad that Allen didn't give into him and instead decided to pursue a very long and fruitful career.

He was indeed approached by Karajan...Allen had an audition with him round 1977/8, I think. I read that HvK (as TA likes to call him in his journal) offered him two big and rather heavy baritone roles - one of Golaud in Pelleas and Melisande and I forget the other one...perhaps it was Luna as mentioned here? Anyways, TA turned it down...twice since HvK kept on chasing him. Simply thought it too dangerous for his career at the time.

He definitely had the colour in his voice to do the role...nice to hear it sung and not barked

Holy crap! How fantastic! Shame about the vid fault..... But the ending................ *shudder!*

He looks possessed by Satan when he sings this, everything he does is in superb taste.

@peduzzi89 Well said! It would have been great to see and hear him in the role, but I'm very happy he has stuck to what's good for his voice.

You mean Rodrigo Posa? Yes he did (there are a few excerpts on RU-vid). Don't know about Scarpia. Probably not (another wise choice, I think). I have seen a concert in which he sang Scarpia's "Te Deum" though. He didn't do any 'diabolical histrionics', but if a look could kill and if it were a staged performance, he'd certainly annihilate everybody in sight :D

Lyric?...dramatic?....who cares? This is tremendous singing!

PS2. Or as Iago, for that matter. Look at that brief creepy smile when he sings "vile son nato"...-:))

What a pathos! NEC PLUS ULTRA.

People who say he doesn't have the vocal weight to sing that are wrong. I saw him do Posa with Bumbry and Orestes with Verrett, two ladies with certainly no small voices and he was on their sound level.

68 ups and one 1 vote. There has to be one fascist among us in a democratic society, probably Iago himself.

Though he is a pure lyric baritone, he actually gives a more respectful interpretation than Thomas Hampson and it actually sounds like Thomas Allen could've actually performed Iago (in concert version like this). He didn't have the sound needed when it goes against a huge orchestra (the only downfall of this performance is when the sounds got bigger, he got a little quieter).

Well, Allen's Luna would require a Corelli (or equivalent) as Manrico at his absolute vocal and visual best -:) But that still doesn't mean Manrico would be Leonora's first choice...

I've heard him in an interview talking how he was, in fact, once offered Luna by Herbert von Karajan. He replied something along the lines of: nnnno, I don't think so...-:))) PS. I'd love to hear him as Renato from "Ballo in maschera"...

Of course I don't believe Allen has been a major Verdi baritone! (You're absolutely right in your assessment). I was just fantasizing - if he a major Verdi baritone AND intended to sing Luna (which he neved did!), he'd probably be awsome in the role and Manrico in that performance would have to be someone as great as Corelli (vocally AND visually:-).

Allen is fantastic here. Equally fantastic is his decision not to sing this repertoire, which clearly he would not have been right for in the long run.

Very good. Too often the Credo is sung like a pantomime villain baiting an audience. It should be sung like a conversation iago has with himself about who he is, testing his own ideas and beliefs, and gradually leading to the climax where he crosses the line to pure evil.

He would NEVER do this role

Much better than Nucci

To Mike You were better than this and she loved him