#79 in praise of: anna moffo

Happy Independence Day, Peninsular Malaysia (because Malaysia didn't achieve total independence until Malaysia Day and I'm bitter like that, heh)!

This is going to be the first in a series of few posts which will be unashamedly about diva-worship. Other opera fans who are claiming to be above such things can go fuck themselves.

The young Anna Moffo circa 1956-59,
before the rhinoplasty and (glorious) weaves

I'd like to start this series with Anna Moffo. Girl was gorgeous. Girl had voice - in spades, literally: she sang Elisabetta on stage. Girl had talent aplenty. So what the fuck happened? According to Herself, it was her first husband who drove her faculties to distraction and extreme fatigue, ultimately destroying one of the most beautiful (soprano) voices to come out of the land of Buffalo wings and french fries.

I first heard Anna Moffo from a YouTube video of her singing Marguerite's Jewel aria in what looked like a fluff-piece cabaret concert. Girl looked fierce, but had no trill to speak off (that impression was wonderfully changed later, of course). I noted though her voice sounded like sex personified. It had throb, it had sensuality, it sounded atrociously *female*. This is the kind of voice you can imagine hearing from her side of the bed after an all-night orgy.

Then I heard her singing a song from Showboat, Bill, as one of the songs from her Italian RAI television show. I don't know then, but I fell in love with her the moment I heard "I don't know" from her lips. I couldn't help it. There's something about the way she phrased this standard that made you believe even though she's probably fucking around this Bill fellow's back, she really did love him, at least when it all first started.

I sound like a crazy fan. I am. I now am the proud owner of several Anna Moffo recordings, including the greatest La rondine ever recorded, a daring take on Luisa Miller, a Madama Butterfly which made a powerful case for the lighter voice (Gheorghiu, I'm looking at you), a perfectly balanced Lucia di Lammermoor with Gorgeous Charlie (passport name: Carlo Bergonzi), even the shitty ones like the duse of crap, the Thaïs recording with the young José Carreras, and the tear jerker of the lot, L'Amore dei tre re.

Her recording which I love most was of course the Rondine. She made Magda sympathetic, which is of course really hard to do. I love the fact that she did not made the dream aria the centerpiece, but gave that place of honor to Ore dolci e divine. Her duets with Daniele Barioni were living gems. The wonderful Act 2 quartet did not turn saccharine, but kept the momentum going: happiness is effervescent, after all.

The second was her L'Amore dei tre re with Domingo and daddy a.k.a. Cesare Siepi. This was unfortunately for a sadder reason: to wonder how the fuck everything come to this. At least the Thaïs was a camp-fest. I couldn't help crying the first time I listened to Moffo's first phrase: "Ritorniamo", intoned in a hoarse middle voice. Return to what? It was a ruin of a voice, but what a magnificent ruin.

Maybe that was the problem. Moffo wasn't exactly a musical genius like Callas was, in the way she never made a phrase her own. Okay, I am probably too harsh; I've heard at least two phrases which had never been bettered by anyone else: "Tu sei con Dio ed io con mio dolor" from Madama Butterfly, and "Per non vederlo più!" from the live 1961 Met Turandot, in which everyone in the cast, even the chorus, was perfect.

But that was not the problem. The problem with Moffo was, once you get through the sheer gorgeousness of her timbre - and that was a great deal of fabulous you have to get over - she was at most an extremely competent singer who happened to have beautiful physical features, and fact is people are shallow like that. I do heard that she was a wonderful affecting actress on stage. I've seen her films: the Sonnambula, Madama Butterfly (which made her one of Italy's most beautiful women) and the Traviata. She indeed looked wonderful and had the operatic naturalism acting style down pat.

But all of this did not deny the amount of artistry she poured for the world. Maybe it's the bitter hag in me, wondering what-if's and what-could-have-been's. In an age where not only beautiful voices were plenty but there were also interesting "artistic" voices (Magda Olivero, anyone?), Moffo certainly held her own. And I'll certainly never forget her heart-aching rendition of Bill.

#78 independence blues / a criticism on "tanah tumpah darahku"

I've listened to the Independence Day song for 2013. I am deeply, undeniably, completely saddened. One of my friends stated he lost his appetite after one listen. I concur with his good taste. I refuse to embed it on my blog. Google "joe farizal, tanah tumpah darahku". The Malay Mail puts on its extra pink rose-tinted glasses to have a look at this piece. I'm a hater, and this blog already states its mission to bitch about other people, so let me put on my critic's hat (made from off-season West Virginia badger fur with pregnant camel skin lining) and bust out a few words.

First the music. We have tons of composers with international credibility and experience, for example the lovely people in this site, (a bit atonal and experimental for my taste but at least they have tons of musicality), can't they commission a song from them? Oh right, they are mostly Chinese composers right, too much artsy fartsy type, allergic la hoy... Haiya.

Seriously, it's a bore hearing a quasi-march song every year with repetitive uninspired motives. I can forgive capitulations, even the Masters use them time and again but I will not forgive lack of inspiration. You have one whole year to compose a decent Independence Day song, and this is the best that you can come up? Che vergogna. I mean, pizzicato WTF? Have you ever heard a rousing pizzicato passage? (Don't quote me the third movement from Beethoven's Fifth or I'll scream a high D at you). And synth. Why not just ask Lady Gaga to write a new anthem?

And the saddest thing is that they can't even hire a decent band or orchestra or "human" performers. Everything is sampled. God knows in Klang Valley alone we have one symphony orchestra, several municipal bands and countless school bands/orchestras and session musicians. We have Juilliard-trained composers, lyricists and singers, and we get stuck with a parody of a song exulting "Kita halilintar". Is this supposed to be a tie-in to "Percy the Lightning Thief"? Because that was also a flop.

Then the vocal line. Which is fine and isn't so bad when you take an instrumental point of view. But come on, all those roulades (ha!) doesn't really scream patriotic spirit does it? You want straight, linear phrases preferably in the middle voice, which allows legato and more importantly maximal volume. This is a song which is going to be sung by everyone, including by people who don't have musical training. You definitely want a song like Perajurit, to this day the best march song ever written in Malaysia.


And why do the theme ends on F#? Any composer worth his/her salt know that note isn't exactly a good place to start or end a phrase if you're writing a vocal piece for mass consumption (as opposed to solo pieces). And on a fucking "A" vowel at that. Are you trying to strangle many people simultaneously? Tip: google "passaggio". No choir director is going to accept that kind of writing. You want something which everyone can sing, not just the sopranos. [Edit: I'm aware that one can always transpose, but the fact there is a choral version of this song made that point moot.]

Finally the lyrics. As I understand it the lyrics are written by our Minister of Communication and Multimedia. And it shows. He falls into the trick of assigning a syllable to every note, which is amateurish for lack of a better word, which would've been fine if the smallest note value in this song is a half-note, which is clearly not. I am not one to say bad things about our esteemed leaders, but please sir, leave these things to people who are paid to do them, had spent years perfecting their art, and actually know how to do their job well.

And I'm supposed to understand that the lyrics are about the Lahad Datu debacle. Fine and dandy. But really, there's no one else in the whole of Peninsular Malaysia better to write the lyrics? Good luck hoping for them to ask someone from Sabah, no, someone from fucking Lahad Datu, a guy or lady who lived THE WHOLE THING HIMSELF/HERSELF, God forbid right? Malaysia Boleh! (And I'm allowed to say this because I'm a Sabahan, so screw you back). Someone actually wrote up on the interwebs that the lyrics have deep meaning. I'm sorry sir; Salina had deep meaning (if you look behind the pseudo-autobiographical details). Usman Awang's "Anjing Itu" had deep meaning. *This* is fluff, hiding itself behind words like "putera-puteri" and "halilintar".

I sound like a bitter man. Well yeah I'm fucking bitter. I deserve to be, when France had fucking Berlioz arranging the anthem, and USA had fucking Sousa, and UK had Handel, Purcell and motherfucking Arne. But whatever right [wall-slide, wiping bitter tears]. 

#77 genuine: dramatic coloratura album (alexandrina pendatchanska)

I have left this blog for so long, I'm starting to get the guilts. I'm sorry, but the exams (of my life!) are coming up, so I won't be much around until at least after September. In the mean time I had the absolute pleasure of purchasing one of my favorite singers' album, Genuine: Dramatic Coloratura Album by the absolutely great Alexandrina Pendatchanska, or as how she goes by nowadays: Alex Penda. When I scoured the nets I couldn't find out a decent review of this album, so I think why not I put (an irreverent one of) my own?

Like most of the greats Miss Pendatchanska's instrument is never to everyone's taste. It is heavy, ponderous, extremely dark and vibrato-heavy, and sometimes wavers on pitch. By all accounts despite the impression from recordings and YouTube videos, it is not a large instrument (I heard it was the same with Callas, in which post-slimming down it was a cutting/biting voice rather than a large voice on its own. Still the best Gioconda though). But this instrument is capable of doing everything and anything the score wants (which is great) and some more besides (which is awesome!). Pendatchanska is also a kind of vocal wunderkind, performing Sempre libera at 17 (take that Lezhneva!).



We'll start from the superficialities. The cover art is to die for! It shows a picture of her, clad in black satin stole, her hands in what we call the Levine sign position, clutching both the stole and her heart. The focus is on the top of her chest and her neck, before the photo cuts off just above her lips. Et voilà: this album is all about the lungs, the heart, the voice. A bold red GENUINE stamp over her hands, and this cover instantly becomes a classic. No hassle, and definitely no overdone Photoshop bombing cf. Netrebko's Verdi disc, hehehe.

The track list is covers the last years of 18th century up to mid-19th century. The first track is the gran scena from Act 2 of Rossini's Ermione, Essa core al trionfo. This follows with two Mozart selections, Come scoglio and Donna Anna's rondo Crudele!... Non mi dir. As you may suspect Pendatchanska is someting of a Mozartienne, specialising in his crazy bats like Donne Anna and Elvira, Vitellia and her Elettra, which had to be seen to be believed.



Then comes the final scene from Anna Bolena before leaping forward to two Verdi selections (Ernani, involami and Leonora's first aria from Il trovatore), the disc closes with the final scene from Roberto Devereux.

These are my conclusions: Like Sutherland, Pendatchanska is best when the music moves. Not necessarily in fast tempi, but as long the phrase is short or medium. Unlike Sutherland, Pendatchanska wavers in long-breathed phrases. This is not to say she have breathing problems such as Netrebko, in fact she took an extremely long phrase each in the Bolena and Devereux extracts which she manages by tapering the voice to a mere wisp of sound. She has a genuine trill as can be heard on YouTube, but it is absent in this recording. The voice also have what I call the Genaux dilemma: the vibrato increases in amplitude a the voice goes up, giving a false impression that it wobbles. It does not! But the heaviness of her vibrato is definitely scary. The voice is definitely comfortable in the lower and middle ranges, but her top can be glary and her acuti surprisingly thins out, much like Leontyne Price.

For all my complaints, hers is the most committed performer I have ever heard on disc. When she orders her Oreste to kill her betrayer (in the first track), her voice adopts an eerie straight tone, which is grating on a small instrument but definitely stuff of horror movies when done by a large instrument like Pendatchanska's. She also uses this effect in the Devereux extract, depicting the dying queen with as great success as she had on the stage.



She is unafraid to use unorthodox methods to get her points across. She goes sharp and throws out her R's like crazy, for example. And when the fiorature phrases are coming you could almost hear her getting her gears on (small swallowing sounds etc - I blame the recording engineers/mic placement). Her recitative work is first class, as can be expected from a Mozartienne and Handel specialist. That said, I find her Mozart selections in this disc a bit lacking. She does everything right, even the crazy leaps from the Così excerpt and the crazy long cadenza in Non mi dir, but I wish she included Elettra's arias instead.




The orchestra is the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eralso Salmieri. God forgives me, I don't know this guy but he conducts Mozart and belcanto as if painting by-the-numbers. The Bolena excerpt lacks imagination, ditto the Don Giovanni. At least he is responsive to Pendatchanska's needs. The album also features guest artists who, God forgives me, mar the recording with their contribution, but thankfully not enough.

Verdict: BUY IT, GODDAMN IT!!! Sell your house, sell your kidneys, your babies!!

#76 mawarku - 2by2 and siti nurhaliza

See, I am not a perpetual anti-Siti. She used to have a wonderful biting voice, in the mold of singers like Fauziah Latiff and the young Sheila Majid (the older, more mature Sheila is another thing altogether) and most excellently exemplified by Aishah. She is not a powerhouse singer, never was and never will, but that's okay, the world has enough space for lyric singers. And what she achieved in terms of sheer popularity will perhaps never be exceeded by another Malaysian singer, at least not in this decade (the internet sensation Yuna comes close, but she is a meme at best).

Perhaps the first time I noticed the Siti Nurhaliza instrument was when she sang Mawarku with the boyband 2by2. Looking back, I chuckled at the sheer campiness of the whole thing: the hair parted in the middle, the shuwa-shuwawa voicing, the MIDI oboe. I did remember holding a candle for the male vocalist - ah, youth.

Listening back, one could see how Siti became famous. At that young age she already displayed the propensity for good phrasing and wonderful colouration of her line. Listen to her singing Kau teruna with a staccato mezza-voce on the word kau: it's the vocal equivalent of saying "I know this asshole's bad for me, but look at those eyebrows!" This, and other examples, were especially evident when you juxtapose her phrasing over that of the male vocalist (whose name I've forgotten), who simply sounded amateurish and dare I say bored to be singing this song. Another example: later she employed a slight nasal twinge on pujaan jauhari, where before she had just been singing about pure white roses: she just knew those jewel-smiths are dirty masochists, mistaking thorns for orgasms. Don't blame a guy for making insinuations, I'm not the one putting those huge-ass ropes in the video.

Of course being young she did not really display much variation between her first and second stanzas. After all it was not that difficult; even the climbing scale was essentially an arpeggio. Perhaps this was a conscious decision, after all the premise of this song was basically the seduction of the virgin, so the female part would have to be sung with a more straight approach. There's a very audible register break when she sang the vocalise in the middle of the song, but I guess that's acceptable in popular music nowadays (as in, anything post-Madonna, not that Madonna had ever sang anything beyond her register break). Then there's the issue of her lower range.

My absolute biff with the current crop of Malaysian singers is the lack of a good, working, lower range. I am not talking about the chest function at all, I am talking about having good low notes which are capable of expression without sacrificing the note value, the note place in the harmony, the voicing et cetera. The composer of this song must had had an affair with the guy, when you have an instrument like Siti's, of which the glory is the top range, to give her the lower voicing to sing. What the fuck? It's a crime. It's absolutely a crime. Hear for example when the voicing was reversed, the guy taking the lower part (Senyumanmu yang menawan hati). It's like comparing diamonds to silt.

Of course that was the young Siti, before all the prize, all the gossip and whatnots. The raw material was sterling, and the artist she had developed to today is certainly accomplished if somehow artistically dim. But not everyone can have voice, intellect and the ability to make the hair crawl with a simple gruppetto like Aishah.

#75 the cuénod collection

French Troubadour Songs (1950)

1. Il me suffit (ANON)
2. Quand ce beau printemps (ANON)
3. De plus en plus se renouvelle (BINCHOIS)
4. Exultate iusti in Domine (Psalm XXXIII) (CERTON)
5. Quare fremuerunt (Psalm II) (CERTON)
6. Verba mea (Psalm V) (CERTON)
7. Ma chiere dame (MACHAUT)
8. Chanson Balladée (MACHAUT)
9. A madame playsante et belle (DE LANTINS)
10. Misericorde au martyr (NON PAPA)
11. Puisque voulez que je vous laisse (NON PAPA)
12. L'ardent amour (CRÉQUILLON)
13. A vous en est (CRÉQUILLON)
14. Le lai des amants (ANON)
15. Je suis aimé de la plus belle (CRÉQUILLON)
16. Puisque malheur (CRÉQUILLON)
17. Cessez, mes yeulx (CRÉQUILLON)
18. Le jour s'endort (DUFAY)
19. Helas! il n'est mais nuns (DE LA HALLE)
20. Pour ce se d'amer dueil (DE NAVARRE)

Hugues Cuénod (tenor)
Hermann Leeb (lute)
*with embedded lyrics
*I recommend starting on track 14, with the lights closed. Goddamn it, Mr. Cuénod basically turned the clock back to the Middle Ages with his first note!

Italian & Spanish Songs of the 16th and 17th Centuries (1950)

1. Valli profonde GAGLIANO
2. Lute solo Fantasia FLORENTINO
3. Se l'aura spira FRESCOBALDI
4. Fuggi, fuggi, cuor mio VERDELOT-WILLAERT
5. Con lagrime e sospir VERDELOT-WILLAERT
6. Lute solo Veneziana ANON
7. Sventura, cuor mio CARISSIMI
8. Cara e dolce SCARLATTI
9. Perdida MILAN
10. Sospiro MILAN
11. Durandarte MILAN
12. Lute solo Three Pavanes MILAN
13. Si me llaman DE MUDARRA
14. Triste estaba DE MUDARRA
15. Lute solo Pavana DE MUDARRA
19. Israel DE MUDARRA

Hugues Cuénod (tenor)
Hermann Leeb (lute)

Socrate • French Song Cycles (1985)

01 Lettre de Béatrice & Lettre de Christian (Deux lettres d'enfants DE MENASCE)
02 Les cigales (CHABRIER)
03 Villanelles des petits canards (CHABRIER)
04 Pastorales des cochons roses (CHABRIER)
05 Balllades des gros dindos (CHABRIER)
06 Le château du Bartas (Saluste du Bartas HONEGGER)
07 Tout le long de la Baïse (Saluste du Bartas HONEGGER)
08 Le départ (Saluste du Bartas HONEGGER)
09 La promenade (Saluste du Bartas HONEGGER)
10 Nérac en fête (Saluste du Bartas HONEGGER)
11 Duo (Saluste du Bartas HONEGGER)
12 Le bachelier de Salamanque (ROUSSEL)
13 'C' (POULENC)
14 A sa guitare (POULENC)
15 Daphénéo (Trois mélodies SATIE)
16 Le statue de bronze (Trois mélodies SATIE)
17 Le chapelier (Trois mélodies SATIE)
18 Air du rat (Ludions SATIE)
19 Spleen (Ludions SATIE)
20 La grenouille américaine (Ludions SATIE)
21 Le poète (Ludions SATIE)
22 Chanson du chat (Ludions SATIE)
23 Portrait du Socrate - Le banquet (Socrate, drame symphonique avec voix SATIE)
24 Bords de L'Ilissus - Phédon (Socrate, drame symphonique avec voix SATIE)
25 Mort de Socrate - Phédon (Socrate, drame symphonique avec voix SATIE)

Hugues Cuénod (tenor)
Geoffrey Parsons (piano)

Hugues Cuénod chante Debussy (1972)


Hugues Cuénod: various works (file folder)
Including:

• Le bonne chanson FAURÉ
• Songs from Shakespeare Plays VARIOUS (with Albert Fuller, harspsichord)
• Anna Magdalena Buch BACH (Albert Fuller, harspsichord)
• Songs from La Fontaine (Albert Fuller, harspsichord)
• Cinq mélodies de Venise FAURÉ

*with lyrics in .html format

*CREDITS to unknown original uploader

#74 dice lui

Dice lui, ch'io son bello
come al neve il raggio solar,
e chiaro il sorriso mio,
è come al fonte il viso stellar.

Ma so ben, che in amore tutto
è in un ombra, buio e confuso;
E so ancor, che il labbro innamorato
di tutto lavora in cui mentir. 

(adapted from "Dice Tirsi" from Endimione, attr. Pietro Antonio Bernardoni)

#73 baroque goodness

I have been listening to two albums of the Baroque genre, showcasing two technically accomplished and aurally extrovert performers of dare I say it, the same fach, namely Joyce DiDonato and Simone Kermes. Miss DiDonato may identify herself as a mezzo-soprano, but what I hear in her voice is a short soprano, of the same ilk as Frederica von Stade, Magdalena Kožená and the early Cecilia Bartoli (the post-milennium Bartoli is another monster altogether). And that's okay in my books, I love these type of singers. There's always something very heart-aching in their voices - to be technical, this is because their vibrato rates are rapid, flickering, so you'd never mistake it for an instrument the way more seasoned Baroque performers like say, Vivica Genaux and Simone Kermes herself, can be.

Miss DiDonato's Drama Queens is a respectable effort. Alan Curtis leads the Complesso Barocco: they are known quantities. As is often nowadays in fashionable Baroque compilations, this album includes world premiere recordings such as Madre diletta, abbriacciami from Giovanni Porta's Ifigenia in Aulide and rarities like Keiser's Fredegunda and Octavia excerpts. The album opens with Da torbida procella from Orlandini's Berenice, a spitfire of an aria. Miss DiDonato's timbre, with that slightly acerbic edge, helps her especially with the text. On the other hand one often finds her voice swamped under the orchestration (surprising, considering she's singing Strauss' Composer and Octavian to rave reviews) and when she pulls the straight voice it sounded almost jarring. The coloratura holds no terror for her, but I notice she performs slightly better in the middle voice compared to her upper range, consistent with many observations that her topmost notes are not of the same quality as they used to be.

I find the Giulio Cesare in Egitto excerpt to be wanting. There are stretches when the vibrato simply vanished from the voice and we're left with a wisp of a voice. Cleopatra is an empress not a lady-in-waiting: her grieve should have been gigantic, awe-inspiring, not simply human. The middle section, while fury-laden enough, is not in the same class as Kermes' version in her Cuzzoni tribute album. Another Cleopatra-inspired piece, Hasse's Morte, col fiero aspetto is miles better, with Miss DiDonato's voice climbing up and up as if challenging her passagio to a duel. Her mini-cadenza, before the coda, is also very beautiful.

Miss DiDonato seems to have a preference for the Porta aria. While I find her approach to the siciliana wonderful, I find her most delectable, however, in Intorno all'idol mio, a very famous piece included in the Arie antiche collection. There is a powerful moment when her straight voice is employed to implore the wind to bring her kisses to her estranged lover. The recitative in the middle is exemplary work, and her final Addio's are heart-wrenching. I do believe she sustains a 30-second F# piano at the end of the piece.

On to Miss Kermes. Opening her album Dramma is an excerpt from De Majo's Arianna e Teseo. One hears a strange trick: as if the orchestra is playing over the phone, or from an old phonograph, before cresting in a wonderful forte. What a clever duck! I don't know whether it's better balance, equipment, acoustics or player spacing, but I find the sound from La magnifica comunità to be more aurally persuasive than that of Il complesso barocco. For example, the introduction to Le limpid'onde is absolutely atmospheric I expected to hear chirping birds and rushing brooks every time I hear it.

The Kermes instrument may be a controversial one - especially live - but her album efforts are always worthwhile, and I always find it very surprising when a very slender timbre such as hers can find the coloration for example, in Tace l'augello from Porpora's L'Agrippina, and the famous Rinaldo piece Lascia ch'io pianga. For coloratura-fanciers, Miss Kermes does not disappoint in arias like Vedra turbato il mare, where her downward runs figure very wonderfully. In Sul mio cor, one finds her defying gravity with octave leaps and excursion into chest voice, all within the first four measures of her entrance.

That is not to say Dramma is a perfect essay. One finds the timbre to be a bit blanche and jarring. On the other hand it is no less expressive. The top notes can sometimes sound glassy, shrill-ish even. But the larger picture remains intact, that Dramma is a wonderful album and worthy of any Baroque fans' shelves.