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It took me a while to appreciate her genius, but this really sealed it for me. I have never heard anyone sing this horridly difficult aria with such insolent ease... and -if you know what is going on- such understanding.
Ernani is a relatively early Verdi opera, but all the ingredients were there, Il Trovatore couldn't be too far in the future, just nine years!
It's always fodder for heated - and sometimes irrational - debate when anyone has the temerity to claim that someone is the "greatest" in any field of artistic endeavor.
There are many greats; there are no measurable criteria for determining "the greatest" except informed critical judgment combined with personal taste. It's the latter that makes the statement problematic.
^ Bruce, did you even bother to listen to the Callas recording I linked? Have you heard a better recording?
That is what I was talking about.
I listened to the recording in the OP's link and the "Ernani, Ernani, involami". I don't deny that she was a great singer; I was simply refuting the unverifiable claim of the thread's title "the greatest singer ever." Did you even bother to read my post?
Guys, it'a a figure of speech, not a literal provable thing. Callas didn't have the greatest sound, but she was profoundly sublime in the category of dramatic emotion.
I agree with Bruce. One can't say she's the greatest ever. In order to say that, one would have to listen every singer in the world and I certainly don't have the time to do that. And I don't think that anyone on this planet has ever done that.
Guys, it'a a figure of speech, not a literal provable thing. Callas didn't have the greatest sound, but she was profoundly sublime in the category of dramatic emotion.
Whatever...what I don't get is why anyone would start a thread about her here out of the blue, with no hint about the motivation for it, or anything helping to establish some kind of direction for the thread to take. It's not as if the people here who might be interested don't already know, after all - she's not news.
It actually might be interesting to talk about whether anything about her art is transferable to piano playing, and how that might work, in a wordless medium.
Guys, it'a a figure of speech, not a literal provable thing. Callas didn't have the greatest sound, but she was profoundly sublime in the category of dramatic emotion.
Which is basically Bruce's point I think.. you didn't even establish criteria.
-Daniel
Currently working on: -Poulenc Trois pièces -Liszt Harmonies du Soir -Bach/Brahms Chaconne for Left Hand
Guys, it'a a figure of speech, not a literal provable thing. Callas didn't have the greatest sound, but she was profoundly sublime in the category of dramatic emotion.
It actually might be interesting to talk about whether anything about her art is transferable to piano playing, and how that might work, in a wordless medium.
My mind immediately went on Lisitsa but I don't think that's quite the same thing...
Maybe a comparison could be Shostakovich's compositions? Such genius and stirring emotion in at times a hit-over-the-head directly musical (and not-at-all traditionally emotional or aurally sweet) package. What beauty nonetheless. Gorgeous.
-Daniel
Currently working on: -Poulenc Trois pièces -Liszt Harmonies du Soir -Bach/Brahms Chaconne for Left Hand
Guys, it'a a figure of speech, not a literal provable thing. Callas didn't have the greatest sound, but she was profoundly sublime in the category of dramatic emotion.
It actually might be interesting to talk about whether anything about her art is transferable to piano playing, and how that might work, in a wordless medium.
Maybe a comparison could be Shostakovich's compositions? Such genius and stirring emotion in at times a hit-over-the-head directly musical (and not-at-all traditionally emotional or aurally sweet) package. What beauty nonetheless. Gorgeous.
However, the thing with Callas wasn't about composition, but about interpretation of existing compositions, and that is what I had in mind when I posted.
