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From the get-go, this is pre-HIP.Understood.
The (spotlighted) violin part is too insistent and too vibrato-laden...
And her facial expressions are a bit hard to watch.
But, for me at least, her total conviction, her "nail the colors to the mast" commitment, carry the day.
Selon moi, an amazing job of live singing under the lights; but, I welcome constructive criticism from those with more experience in the repetoire.
I think, not for no reason this clip is closing in on 800,000 views.
ATB,
JM
Edits: 01/05/15Follow Ups:
I think it's a superb performance, and that goes for the violin as well; the vibrato may not be historically appropriate, but I didn't personally find that it detracted from the music -- and I'm no great fan of vibrato even where it's called for. Thanks for posting it.
nt
Thank you for linking this. I had never heard of Julia Hamari before, which is my loss. I have long known that good oratorio singers are special aside from whatever accomplishments they may have. This is about as perfect as can be. Like all good oratorio singers, she can spin out long lines with perfect control.I took the opportunity to listen to a number of other recordings of this aria. Eula Beal, with Yehudi Menuhin playing the solo violin, another singer I had never heard of, is also quite good, but the sound quality is not so good, so I am not sure I can compare them accurately. Her recording has over 500,000 views.
The on!y other performance I came across which I think is about as good as Julia Hamari's is one by Janet Baker. She has a lot more voice but was able to keep it under perfect control. I still think I like Julia Hamari's a little better.
It is not always the singer with the most voice who provides the best interpretation. Marilyn Horne also has more voice than Julia Hamari, and her rendition is quite good, but I prefer the performance by Julia Hamari.
I came across a number of other good versions, but this is enough for now.
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"A fool and his money are soon parted." --- Thomas Tusser
Edits: 01/07/15
nt
The first few bars of the Violin opening had me looking around for the half-smoked cigar in the ashtray on the library table.
Her facial "expressions", as I know from sitting through many of my mother's singing lessons, (Met audition, Cleve land Orchestra Chorus, etc.) create the physical structure that produces the lovely sounds.
At the request of the Moderators,
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Very true re vocalizing facial "expressions", but opera stars also typically keep making their full dramatic/comic/tragic facial expressions even when performing in recital, though usually not for sacred music, where an extreme closeup of the singer's face doesn't do much.
Why is the camera inches away from her face? Why do her eyes look like the lights are on but nobody's home?
At the request of the Moderators,
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jm
O come on, guys! Eyeballs are not expressive, they're sort of round wet and shiny. Expressive eyes are a creation of novelists, a projection of fears and desires. They are part of a face with expressions, eyelids, and eyelashes and so on, but even so, context and subjective reactions affect perception.
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"A fool and his money are soon parted." --- Thomas Tusser
I couldda binna contenduh. Maybe. And even then, only a contenduh.
Now I am just a bum.
However, the extreme close-ups and video editing did put certain aspects rather front and center...
jm
The performance seemed fine.... But for the composer/work performed, I thought both violinist and singer had too much vibrato.
The recording also seemed compressed..... Whatever nuances in the performance were lost.
d
You can't have it both ways here - like the emotional intensity but dislike how it's achieved!
I think the violin is fine - fruity and emotional. And her facial expressions are pretty much what goes with her intensity. It all works. Seems others agree.
You want fire without smoke?
Many people do, although I don't.
Agreed. I think I've mentioned this here before -- the great french horn player Barry Tuckwell would play the most beautiful and moving solos while utterly motionless and expressionless. When asked why this was the case, he replied, "If you look at other french horn players, you'll notice they too become very still -- when they get to the hard parts!"
All I see in the OP is: http://www.tools4noobs.com/online_tools/youtube_xhtml/
The link is below.
jm
Link works perfectly - Thanks.
One thing I always found odd about the video: does she ever blink?
(Unlike you though, I love the vibrato in that violin obbligato!)
The link is to an eBay sale to benefit the local library. Free US shipping.
"Shepherd at the Rock," with flute not clarinet, as explained in the eBay listing.
John
Well, that was just gorgeous, that aria is one of the highlights of Western music, and beautiful contralto singing, imho. If there is anything negative to be said, I suppose it would be Richter's unusually brisk tempo, but they make it work, don't they?
Still, it sounds a bit rushed to me. I grew up with another "pre-HIP" version, led by Karl Munchinger, with a few pretty decent soloists: Peter Pears, Hermann Prey, Elly Ameling, Fritz Wunderlich, Tom Krause and, singing Erbarme dich, contralto Marga Hoffgen. But I don't see that one on youtube.
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