Opera Fans: Maria Callas / Sarah Brightman / Jackie Evancho ?

mrbigbluelight

Okay, having landed in the "How the Heck Did I Get Here" section of Youtube, I came across this video.

3 different singers of 3 different times of 3 different ages, all singing ""O mio Babbino Caro".
Now, I don't want to give the impression that I know beans from apple butter about opera, other than ..... well, "Red" from Shawshank Redemption said it well:

" I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it."

Reading the posts following the video, there were differences of opinion on the singers and I'm just curious what the pretty diverse group around here thinks.
The Poll question isn't "Who's Best ?".
The question might be best asked as:

"If you had your butt sitting 20 rows back, stage center with your eyes closed, which singer do you think would give you the more enjoyable listening/emotional experience ?".
Choices being, of course:

1. Maria Callas
2. Sarah Brightman
3. Jackie Evancho

BTW: I strongly dislike German Opera. Folks had 78's of German Opera and .... well, it wants to make you want to march into Poland.


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fatchowmein

Maria Callas. This one is hers and hers alone. Although, I still love you, Sarah!

headrott

My vote goes to Jackie Evancho. She has the best tone to her voice. Never mind the fact she is F**king 11 years old in that performance!! She has the most emotional pull from her voice, IMO. She is an amazing talent!

Greg

Serendipity

Sarah Brightman.

bikezappa

What a great post!!!! A+++
I listened to the music three times and tried to write down the differences that I heard.
These are just opinions and have no science.
First off I have recordings of all three singers and enjoy them all.

The clear winner to my ears was Maria. It's like she is drag racing with a 1000 hp engine against a VW bug. She is in complete conntrol of the dynanic range and delivers the goods when needed. Just plain powerful. A classic.

Shara feels subdued and holding back. Much less dynamic range. I didn't feel the music as much but I still liked her performance.

Jackie had a less than perfect recording with some distortion when she was trying to go loud. I also hated the rock concert effects. The people in the audience ejactulate to soon. Let the song play out. Jackie also has limited dynamic range but that again may be due to poorer recording. The real question is what will she sound like in 10 years. WOW.

All three were fun to listen to and compare. Great post.

Serendipity

For those who say Sarah has limited dynamic range, it really depends on the recording. The video clip from Sarah Brightman at the Royal Albert Hall was only recorded in PCM, at least in the version I have. It just doesn't have as much punch as the later releases in DTS 5.1 on her other DVDs.

At PolkFest, I was playing one of her tracks on the Carver Amazings and George Daniel's wife walked in and was like "who's that?" Certainly a head turner for sure.

Oh yeah and you have to turn up the volume.

fatchowmein wrote: »

Time to Say Goodbye, preferably in SACD, is a must have, featuring Sarah, The London Symphony Orchestra, a duet with Andrea Bocelli, and two duets with Jose Cura.

This one is meant to be cranked on LSi15's.

Gotta agree with the above quote when listening to Sarah Brightman.

bikezappa

I liked this poll so much that I asked my wife to listen to the three recordings without looking at the video. And I understand that all three recording are very different and not equal but that is just that.

Here is her response:

I finally listened to all three, twice. Once without looking with the following results:

1. I correctly guessed which singer did each section
2. I liked Sarah's voice the best without looking, later believed it was due to recording quality of Maria vs Sarah
3. I liked Maria's voice second best without looking
4. I liked Jackie's voice without looking the least. I could hear bits of her child like voice creeping in occasionally among the beautiful notes and she had the least control and emotion of the bunch.

The second time I listened while watching with the following results:

1. Maria looked and sounded luscious, warm, emotional, and I would have loved to have been there to hear her
2. Sarah has quite the voice but does not have the visual presence of Maria and Sarah's better recording quality helped her in the nonvisual round of voting
3. Jackie looks like a little squirt and it's hard to take her singing seriously when she looks so unable to have personal experience with the emotions the song is conveying.

Pycroft

Hands down Maria Callas. The other two aren't opera singers, although they are singing an Opera Aria (O Mio Bambino from Gianni Schini - Puccini for those that want to look it up). Maria Calas is the only one not singing with a microphone, and an opera singer uses a much different technique to produce sound since they are trained to sing over orchestra's, which is not only about volume. Sarah Brightman takes the easy way out by singing with a microphone, and because she does that, can purposefully sing in a different way to produce a different timbre. Even if you are not a singer, if you've ever done musical theater, and been mic'd, you know that many times people sing differently, even though they shouldn't. The young lady is doing SUCH the wrong thing for her voice. She is producing a fake tone based on listening to older people sing and trying to produce what she thinks is the correct sound. If she continues doing this, she will totally mess herself up. Nobody, at that young age, should sound like that - the voice doesn't fully mature until the mid 30's. If she sounds like a 35 year old at 11, it's fake, and dangerous.

Maria Callas isn't my favorite, but let's get three real opera singers and compare - that's apples to apples, and I think you'd hear a much bigger difference than you think you might.

James

drumminman

Pycroft wrote: »

Hands down Maria Callas. The other two aren't opera singers, although they are singing an Opera Aria (O Mio Bambino from Gianni Schini - Puccini for those that want to look it up). Maria Calas is the only one not singing with a microphone, and an opera singer uses a much different technique to produce sound since they are trained to sing over orchestra's, which is not only about volume. Sarah Brightman takes the easy way out by singing with a microphone, and because she does that, can purposefully sing in a different way to produce a different timbre. Even if you are not a singer, if you've ever done musical theater, and been mic'd, you know that many times people sing differently, even though they shouldn't. The young lady is doing SUCH the wrong thing for her voice. She is producing a fake tone based on listening to older people sing and trying to produce what she thinks is the correct sound. If she continues doing this, she will totally mess herself up. Nobody, at that young age, should sound like that - the voice doesn't fully mature until the mid 30's. If she sounds like a 35 year old at 11, it's fake, and dangerous.

Maria Callas isn't my favorite, but let's get three real opera singers and compare - that's apples to apples, and I think you'd hear a much bigger difference than you think you might.

James

Don't know enough to appreciate what these 3 are doing. My wife loves Maria Callas.

Nice write up Pycroft. I learned something!

drumminman

I strongly dislike German Opera. Folks had 78's of German Opera and .... well, it wants to make you want to march into Poland.

:razz::cheesygrin: Got a chuckle out of that - I know exactly what you mean! Though I love Ride of the Valkyries!

Serendipity

For some reason, Sarah Brightman's dynamic range is more of a recording issue, IMO.

I have the following recording in both DVD and CD format and the recording seems compressed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ9S60IkqgE

bikezappa

I try get past all the differences in recording technique, singers experience, how they look, what their political agenda is and at least a 100 other things and just enjoy the music for what it is.

How does the music make me feel? There are no winners and losers because we all react differently to each singer, I think.

It's also interesting to see what other listeners hear and post what is important to them. Reading others comments is part of the learning experience. That's also why we like to have very high quality systems that can better show the differences between the singers or music in general.

I wish I could figure out why some music gives me the chills or bumps and other music leave me cold. I know it's not just the recording quality or technology because old cylinder and mono recordings can move me as well as modern recordings.

Music is the best, Zappa

mrbigbluelight

bikezappa wrote: »

I wish I could figure out why some music gives me the chills or bumps and other music leave me cold.

Agreed. While listening to all 3 ladies, only 2 of them were in the "chills/bumps" range; one of them left me feeling rather "flat".
While there is a difference in presentation by each, it isn't enough to account for the "flat" feeling.

Sarah Brightman is the lady that in this video gave me that feeling. Nothing "wrong" with her performance and it is a Youtube video after all but ... :question:

Thanks for that input, Pycroft, very informative. When Jackie Evancho was first on "American Idol", there were a number of accusations of her merely "lip synching". Understandable, IMO, because how the heck do you get that voice out of that younger body ? Still don't know how.
You mentioned a good point about Evancho attempting to reproduce the voices of more mature singers, but I'm not too sure that's the case here.
There are a number of singers that are listed on Evancho's Youtube page (on the right side).
There was one, a Czech young lady on the equivalent of Idol, that sang beautifully but your point was illustrated in her performance, IMO. She has some formal training, but she is 14 (?) and the effort to "reproduce" what is expected shows.
Don't see that effort with Evancho, though. It could very well be there, but I don't see it.

I'm not using my laptop that has all my links on it, so I'm not able to post links to specific vids. I mention that because there is one video of a younger lady that has a pleasant voice, but CLEARLY is straining (both vocally and physically) to reproduce what she thinks is expected. I think she was German, but .... wish I could post that link. In her case, her voice is going to be damaged in the not too distant future.

Maria Callas's performance was moving, IMO. As you pointed out, Ms. Callas was "old school" who performed without the assistance of microphones, so it was Ethel-Merman-time when you hit center stage; belt it out, or get run over by the orchestra ! This is, btw, probably the only time Maria Callas and Ethel Merman have been used in the same sentence.

michael1947

Sarah

Pycroft

Hope this doesn't railroad the thread...but here are a few more to listen to and compare. These are all by opera singers. I think it's interesting because all three are SO differnet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkOoae_0juw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU3bJ5JJhlw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow1niq0mOwE&feature=related

gdb

Who is the fat lady with the metal brassiere and horns on her helmet ? She's who I pick !!