...and then there were two.
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Artist:
catching up on several days posts, including "Jonh's incredible review":http://mog.com/Jonh_Ingham/blog_post/109161 of the Prince concert (seriously, if you're not reading Jonh, how can you call yourself a mogger?).There's an excellent thread and obit over at "wassonii's":http://mog.com/wassonii/blog_post/109780, but i wanted to add a few personal observations. I first met "the 'fridge" in early '85 at the Beacon Theater in NYC during an audition for his competition hosted by the Opera Company of Philadelphia. It was something of a cattle call, there were probably a hundred singers during this early round, I sang one aria, he said a few nice words, and that was it. Later that spring at the finals in Philly, there were still about 70 singers. The winners got roles with OCP in productions starring Luciano. Three years before, the winners were showcased on PBS in a televised production of La Boheme, so winning definitely was a big deal. The 70 were first trimmed down to about 35 singers who were to sing in the final concert the last day of the competition, after which the individual winners would be announced. I sang early, and waited around for probably four hours for the concert to end, and Luciano and the other judges to deliberate. Finally, they walked back out and Luciano announced from the stage "Everbody eess weener!" Of course, we expected him to say something like, "Everybody is a winner, but since we have to pick someone, these are the finalists...". But no, Luciano said "Everbody eess weener!" and walk off the stage. Gradually, we all realized that indeed, Everyone had won, which mitigated the honor somewhat, and proved to be a logistical nightmare for OCP, which now had to integrate 35 young singers into productions over the next several years.I was lucky to be in two productions the following year, one of which was again La Boheme, and which was again taped for broadcast by PBS. After the last performance, the whole cast and crew packed up and flew to Italy for another round of performances in Pavarotti's home town of Modena. When we landed in Milan, representatives of Saab met us on the tarmac at Malpensa and presented Luciano with a brand new Saab 9000 Turbo as part of some promotion. Luciano posed for pictures, shook hands, smiles all around, then climbed into the back seat of his Maseratti, also parked on the Tarmac. He called me and another singer over, and we joined his driver and sped off down the rain-slicked autostrada at 200 kph, no muss, no fuss, no customs, no immigration. this was definitely the way to travel!When Boheme was finally broadcast a year later, PBS felt they couldn't devote another entire evening to the same production, so they cut it and did a "reader's digest condensed" La Boheme, with just Luciano's big scenes, and a narration by Richard Thomas to knit the story together. Although my face appeared once or twice, every bit of music I had to sing was left on the cutting room floor!In January of 1980 Pavarotti sang a benefit concert for the New York Philharmonic, from which the above video is taken. The concert also featured Itzahk Perlman, who made a cameo appearance as the Jailer in a scene from Tosca. "Andre Kostelanetz":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Kostelanetz had died that day, and so the concert opened with the Ingemisco from the Verdi Requiem. Mehta made the announcement from the stage, and asked that there be no applause at the end. Pavarotti gave a committed, passionate performance, climaxed by a stellar high B-natural, after which there was complete and utter...silence, making the effect all the more stunning.The performance below is from a 1967 film by Henri-Georges Clouzot, made in an empty La Scala with Herbert von Karajan conducting, and Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto and Nicolai Ghiaurov, in addition to Pavarotti, all "in stellar voice":http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=107989.It's hard to pick one example to highlight Pavarotti's art- like all great artists his technique was so thoroughly integrated into his singing that he made the near impossible look and sound effortless. at his best, his impeccable use of language, seamless legato, crystalline tone, and pinging high notes set the standard for tenors for the past 50 years. He said he learned how to breathe during a tour of Australia, by feeling the stomach of Joan Sutherland to see how she supported her tone. However he did it, it's in evidence in this recording from Bellini's I Puritani, made with Sutherland and her husband conductor Richard Bonynge, with whom he made a series of bel canto opera recordings in the 60s and 70s. High C? this one goes to 11 with an amazing high D-flat, followed moments later by a high B.During the 70s Luciano was a regular on the tonight show. One night Johnny asked him how he felt about sex, and its potential effect on the voice, ie, should one have sex and then go out and try to sing. Luciano, always something of a libertine, answered "I think sex is good for the body, the same way vocalizing is good for the voice...I vocalize every day!"words to live by.
Locating MOG account...
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