Bass Cage Match: Osmin's Low D!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ต.ค. 2024
- Time to take the Opera Cage Match to a new low. The Low D in Osmin's aria "Ha! Wie will ich triumphieren" is one of the lowest notes in any standard repertory opera. I have compiled a sing-off between eleven basses, representing 60 years of freakishly low voices.
In chronological order:
1. Ezio Pinza 1947 (in Italian)
2. Mihaly Szekely 1959 (in Hungarian)
3. Gottlob Frick 1966
4. Kurt Moll 1974
5. Marti Talvela 1984
6. Matti Salminen 1987
7. Jaako Ryhänen 1988
8. Robert Lloyd 1991
9. Cornelius Hauptmann 1992
10. Franz Hawlata 2006
11. Kurt Rydl 2006
If you have a recording of someone else you think should be here, post it as a response!
And in my opinion, Pinza wipes the floor with all of them.
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Kurt Moll, definitely! When I was in the MET Chorus I asked him if he had ever interpolated a B flat below low C at the end of the trio in Die Zauberfloete ( sorry, no umlaut on my keyboard!), and he said he hadn't, but it sounded like it would be fun! He then went on stage for that trio and did just that. It was was amazingly huge and resonant and cut through the orchestra to the audience beautiful and unforced! Maestro Levine, who was conducting, later asked him not to do that for the radio broadcast, which was kind of a shame!
Great story ☺
Wow! What a story!
Stopping Moll from molling was the second worst thing that Levine did during his tenure. Heh.
He sounds like he had a great personality, I wish I could have met him.
@@herrbrahms And what was the worst?
Kurt Moll is the man. Always sounds as if "Theres plenty more where that came from." He never struggles.
Many people here completely do not understand how good these basses are. Sure, you may be able to go even below D2 but would you be able to SING a D2 over a full orchestra without microphone? Hitting and PROJECTING the note is completely different.
And resonating beautifully is another thing too
Yeah, a lot of people also don't realize how to project a note like that. It's not all volume, it's the way you resonate that note. It's like you want the note to be inflected so it can pierce through the orchestra into the audience.
@@alexanderwoodward9918 Exactly. Those notes may even sound quiet in a video but in person, they are just freaking loud. It's not the same as hitting D2 in our rooms.
It's very interesting. My favorite is also Kurt Moll. But I think, he uses a little but helpful trick, to sing the tone clearer and keep it more easily. The original lyrik is "Denn nun hab' ich vor euch Ruh". But he sings "Denn nun hab' ich Ruh vor euch." He changes the last words, Frick also. This enables them, to sing the low D with the vowel /ɑ:/, because you can sing an /ɑ:/ for /ɔ/ in "euch"/ɔɪ̯ç/. And that is a little bit easier as the singing with the /u:/ in "Ruh". But it's just a detail 😉
Kurt Möll was an oktavist, so it's not like a trick, this is actually not the lowest note he could go with clarity.
Leandro Tomas Cuadra Basso profundo actually. Oktavist is a term that fits Russian choral basso profundos more.
Kurt moll has a brilliant voice what sets him apart from most is squillo or real resonance low but audible and piercing
There is a reason why Kurt Moll is considered to be the greatest operatic basso profundo in modern era. He has the most consistant and powerful voice with beautiful tessiture and timbre and with amazing range. His voice is also very distinctive: we recognize it right away( the great Gottlob Frick also has a very recognizable voice). L'impeccable bassiste!
Ezio Pinza - great low D - and he was a cantante!
Mihaly Szekely - one of favorites, he surely had some notes lower than C2.
Gottlob Frick - "blackest bass of Germany", another spectacular D2.
Kurt Moll - I needn't say much about it - just listen!
Marti Talvela - too sharp and strained, perhaps he had a bad day.
Matti Salminen - sounds like too low note for him.
Jaako Ryhänen - it's hardly audible through the orchestra, sorry
Robert Lloyd - good low D, but a bit throaty.
Cornelius Hauptmann - just nice.
Franz Hawlata - sharp and strained, and hardly audible.
Kurt Rydl - he is clear past his prime here.
u have to give matti salminen more credit, his D2 sounded much better than many on the list that ure on top of that praising.
The thing is Kurt Rydl never had those extremely low notes, at least not that I could recall of.
@@Kenny......least patriotic finn:
@@kronkepus3671 i dont consider my opinion biased but who knows ahahhah
I came looking for Lloyd's performances, and found 12 amazing bass performers. Excellent video. I agree that Pinza sounds fabulous, but agree also with one of the comments, Moll's voice does give the feeling that it's plentiful and full of bounty. Opera forever.
"Sweeps the floor" is the perfect phrase. Wow!!! I've always thought that in terms of sheer quality of tone, no singer dominated his or her voice category as profoundly as Pinza - even more than Caruso, Ponselle and Ruffo in their's. Just listen to this set. You have 10 voices of the same rough nature (of course some are of far better quality than others), and then one sound that sings the same notes but sounds like it comes from another planet - so clear, ringing, gorgeous and sweet is it. That this higher-range basso could actually do the greatest low note, and with ease, just adds to the evidence of his greatness.
As for Talvella, he must have had a cold that day, because his voice his literally unrecognizable, not only in the low note, which he usually slaughters, but throughout the selection.
Moll & Pinza are both a Heavenly thunder in these ears. Thank you for the sampling plate!
😆Cage match! 😆
I have a recording of a live performance of Der Rosenkavalier from a 1936 Buenos Aires live performance in which Alexander Kipnis sings a low C. In the same performance he also sings a series of high F's an F# and a short G# at the top. All beautifully dark, resonant and rotund in character!
OF course, Kipnis was one of greatest bassos ever.
Baron Ochs is one of the craziest operatic roles ever written, that's for sure.
I, too, was most pleasantly surprised that Pinza was the clear "winner" here. I always thought him a basso cantante, yet his note is not only deep, but strong & full of heft!
Kurt Moll is The best
PINZA reigns supreme! What a voice!!
Robert Lloyd's voice has never come across in recordings or broadcasts as well as it does live. It has a rich magnificence that the microphone never captures.
I'd love to here John Relyea singing this roll. He has a forte bottom D.
Ezio Pinza rimane il migliore. Un vero e proprio organo!!
@BorisGodunov Pinza did sing those notes live, Osmin was a role he sang abroad before he made his US debut. He could and did, and he had those notes in the house:-) He didn't have to "cheat" and he definitely deserves his legendary status. I have his full repertoire of opera performances for the US and abroad.
I sang this aria at a vocal competition the other day and almost completely blanked my low D. This explains to me why I was still able to win.
The 1st two ones are the best of the bunch!
I just love how PInza sings this whole aria, and his low notes were apparently big and resonant in the house. There’s a real problem with dark bass voices being heard singing these low notes in the house, and I’d bet Pinza’s Ds would have carried quite well.
Is it just me or does the Martti Talvela one from 1984 start going waaaaaaay fucking sharp?
He does. It's probably because he can't really go down to the low D and he is straining to get there thus the tone and intonation suffers.
He's anticipating the two-octave leap.
Yeah, he's like between D2 and Eb2.
I definitely agree with baritonoguapo. PINZA wipes the floor with all of them. He wasn't Toscanini's and Bruno Walter's favorite basso for nothing. He was amazing. Hits the low D perfectly!
Kurt Moll gets it out most clearly. However, the low D is just a (very small) part of Osmin. All singers, basses included, are singers primarily singers. The strong bottom note is a nice spice for other good singing qualities, but not more than that.
Study Moll's Triplets in the aria - never heard anybody singing these so accurate
AND Moll could trill...the total package!
@@RossiniSoprano Not as well as Pol Plançon. Now THERE was a trill!
Kurt Moll's low D is nice. I pick that. Pinza's is really good too. He was a higher bass so it is surprising that his is as good as it is.
Classical types are more relevant about timbre, roles and type of sonority, than range. You can be a baritone and top a Low C and even a tenor High C at the same time.
@@rja1165 I agree with you. I sing with a tenor who sings low cs like they are nothing. For this passage specifically, I like Kurt Moll. I heard him sing Sarastro in person and his low notes had tremendous resonance.
@@nickbaritone The best example I can give you is mine :
voca.ro/1loGTaLWQUmQ
I recorded it at home during practice. A strong low C and a full high C.
Actually, there are many examples of singers with versatile voices.
@@rja1165 You are amazing man! So good, for how long have you been singing?
@@luscao8444 Actually, 11 years. My voice changed at 12 and I started singing at 14 !
But I only took 4 years of real lessons.
Thank you for posting this. I can attest from personal experience that low D is a beastly difficult note for most basses to sing. Few operatic roles demand it. For example, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, as written, only goes down to low F, though a low E is often interpolated at the end of the second aria. On many of the recordings here the D was sung barely audibly My vote would definitely be for Moll. I would give an honorable mention to Pinza, for singing it well enough despite being a lyric bass who sang some baritone roles too. Incidentally, I recently interpolated a low D into a well-known cantorial piece ("Eilu Devorim") that I recorded on my own TH-cam channel.
Kurt Moll by a mile...and by far the best artist!!!
Ezio Pinza - the best!👌👍
Moll stands out in many ways, but not the least of which the brightness and spin he sang with. He didn’t woof or over-darken, always kept his voice where it was most auspicious; no smoke and mirrors. That’s why he could sing practically everything - Mozart, Wagner, Schubert Lieder, you name it.
Kurt moll won that round
Vibrato on high.notes is hard...but vibrato on lows...thats a whole life training
agree
without a doubt
@@mcmerry2846 you either have it or you don't, it's basically impossible to train.
Kurt Moll!! Marti Talvela actually goes a whole semitone higher. Maybe he was trying to do a vibrato and one of the vocal chords came a cropper
Magnificent Kurt Moll. Didactic post. Thanks.
I always liked Moll, so I'd say he "won" it, but Szekely is also very good, so is Pinza. I wonder if Siepi ever sang Osmin, that would be interesting to listen to!
So many magnificent voices :3
By faaaaaaaaaaaar, Ezio Pinza was the best. The color of his voice didnt' changed a bit.
Well, that's because it sounded bad from the beginning
Sure was. Though I would have loved to hear Neri.
@Dugehstmiraufnkeks get your ears and head check, youtuber
@@pollywoddle471 I would like to hear him too
I'm envious cos' I LOVE Kurt Moll's singing. I could only dream of singing that well.
Josef Greindl, Herbert Alsen and Endre Koreh made outstanding recordings
I also think Moll is the best, but I give honorable mention to Salminen, for his real menace and also for the eerie, expressionistic phrasing of the orchestra under Harnoncourt. And kudos to poor Cornelius Hauptmann for having to sing at A=430, roughly a quarter tone below modern pitch. Doesn't make that low D any easier!
WOW nice collection! For me ... Kurt MOLL (from 0:58) thanks for including & introducing him!
Kurt Moll is the best Osmin ever!
Also the best Sarastro.
talkingbowl I fully agree!
@bodiloto's hater You're both wrong. The best Sarastro by far is Peter Meven.
@bodiloto's hater Not as Sarastro he's not. And widen your listening experience a bit. Pol Plançon, Ludwig Weber, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Alexander Kipnis, Tancredi Pasero and Giancarlo Luccardi are all superior to Siepi.
@bodiloto's hater Listen to them for yourself. That will demonstrate the truth of my assertion better than any verbal argument I can give.
Ezio Pinza may not have the most powerful low D but he has the best and the most developped voice of them all. Actual good singer
Yes.... I think that Moll wins this one!
Guys who think that is easy to sing a low D, or that they could sing it best shouldn't forget that a large part of these recordings are made in a theater. Are you so sure your low D could be heard from the first to the last line of a big theater? With the orchestra? Those guys you've just heard have spent a lifetime singing...Don't be presumptuous
I wanna hear Avi singing this.
My favorite was Kurt Moll, unbelievable.
I've watched this clip for years now and it still intrigues hearing the differences between each performer.
Admittedly, I know extraordinarily little about the inner workings of professional singing, so apologies if this comes out wrong.
Personal favorite is Frick for the richness of his voice. For clarity and execution on keeping with the pacing of the piece, Moll.
Is it odd that the shape of their mouth or lip size comes out in their execution?
My personal favorite is also Frick. I am always dazzled by the beauty of his voice, the greatest I ever heard. And he can color his voice for different characters. His Sarastro, so kind, not pompous, nothing of the 'Great Man' in it! King Philip (I think of it in German), Prince Gremin, so many others. I fell in love with his dangerous, menacing Hagen!!! But if Kurt Moll supporters want to claim a win in this match, that's OK. It;s not for me the most important thing.
@ReyNixz It has been said that if Talvela had been 6 inches shorter, he probably would have been a baritone. I'm not so sure about that, but he was never particularly strongest on the extreme low notes of his range. But he had, in my view, the most astonishingly beautiful of bass voices.
Dear All, I know that the Hungarian language isn't easy, but listen to a full Osmin aria sung by Mihály Székely and a German version sung by Endre Koreh(Decca 1950 cunducted by J. Krips). Enjoy!
L.Baranyay
One thing is to be able to hit the note and a different thing is to be able to fill an opera house with that note
Amazing volume on some of these!
Moll, Salminen, Lloyd, Pinza, in this order.
great collection! Thankyou!
Yes my friends thit you hear the beauty of them all? For what is this competition? I don ' t understand. When i have a favorite then my favorite is ... Kurt Moll. Now i am going to listen to the full aria and enjoy the music and beaty of all of them. Thank you for the publication.
Ezio, without a doubt.
Pinza, Szekeley, Lloyd are the better ones. Some aren't a low D as they have been transcribed up, including Rydl who has the worst note. Certainly an interesting compilation.
Did anyone try singing it and actually hit the note? I did and I feel invincible!
You need to include Gunter Wewel. He is the best. Also good, but missing here are Herbert Alsen and Franz Crass
Did Crass ever record this aria? If he did, I'm not aware of it.
@@jasonhurd4379 He did. There are at least two different videos of him doing it on youtube.
Maybe they weren't the best but good on Finland for producing so many quality basses with such a small population.
Gottlob Frick in my opinion.
At 18, I sang Sarastro's arias, and longed to do this aria, cuz the D was THERE. Now, I realize, it's just part of the 'package.' But I wonder- How many of these recordings were done early in the morning, when we bassos have great low notes? LOL And yes, a number of the singers, tended to sharp (Phonation that low is much more a 'relax and let go' rather than 'support and aim'.....and yes, you just have to 'park and bark' on a note like that.
Moll is my favorite, but who sings the Baroque key? It's slightly lower and quite impressive.
That's Cornelius Hauptmann, from the DG Archiv recording conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
Conal Coad - Its recorded on ABC Classics, stunning singer (and still performing)
FINALLY! I've been trying to find operatic bass singer videos on TH-cam forever now and all I end up with at best is a baritone because people not classically trained don't recognize the difference, that or they are all bass guitar covers of the "Night of the Opera" or whatever by Iron Maiden. -_-'
Bravissimo !
As someone has already noted, this is not "Low D" (=D1), this is mere D2, one octave above the low D.
@JazzyGiord Thank you for your competent remark, dear JazzyGirod. I completely agree with you. Many baritones and bass-baritones 'reach' a low D and then think, it'd be easy, so what all the fuzz about it... BUT: Mostly they produce vocal fry or 'sit' on the sound and push the note downwards with muscular tension, thus overbreasting and beraving the necessary (even down here!) it of its healthy head voice component... Having to push or having a real deep bass voice = the question.
Fantastic compilation. Thanks for the work.
It's interesting how many of the artists take "poetic license" with the text over the D to get a more open vowel and thus more volume.
For my money...Moll is the best.
Eduard Wollitz should be featured in a cage match of some sort - - if recordings are available
@thephantom1946 Thank you for the citation. I've checked on the Magidoff list, and it is indeed there. However, I remain unconvinced for several reasons. Magidoff was completing Pinza's autobio after his death, so this list was compiled around 1956. There are zero citations, and no mention is given of when/where Pinza supposedly sang it. Pinza himself makes no mention of the role at all. For all we know, he could have been assuming Pinza sang the role based on this very recording. (cont)
Thanks for the comparison's
Pinza , Lloyd and Moll in that order.
Lmao Lloyd has NO bottom note
@BorisGodunov The evidence is in the book titled 'Ezio Pinza' an autobiography with Robert Magidoff who did a lot of researching and listed all the roles he performed on stage. I bought the book when I was a youngster in 1959. You can't find a fraction of the information about Pinza anywhere online; only in a book. Online sources provide precious little information, comparatively. It is the first one listed under his roles onstage, and was in Europe. So I'm afraid you're incorrect.
that`s correct! Gardiner`s version is lower than the others. The "D" is between D and D-flat.
@thephantom1946 I will need more than your say-so that Pinza ever sang Osmin on stage. I'm very familiar with his repertoire as well and have pretty much everything he recorded, and there's not a trace of Osmin anywhere outside of the 1946 Bruno Walter studio recording of the aria in Italian that is sampled here. Googling Pinza and Osmin only brings hits on this recording.
Outside of this recording, there aren't any low Ds in Pinza's recordings by which to judge.
excellent video
THis is all great. I'm wondering if the same competition exists for the duet between Osmin and Blonde, in which Osmin goes from a low e-flat to an f above middle c in about a measure and a half. It'd be interesting to see that competition.
This 1988 live stage performance recording of Jaakko Ryhänen doesn't show his low notes at their best. On TH-cam is also his studio recording made in 2001 where you may hear an excellent low D. Just write "Jaakko Ryhänen Osmin" and you'll find it.
is it me or does it sound like Kurt Rydl sung an Eb2 instead of D2?
Was Kurt Rydl even singing a Low D XD
2006 was too late for Rydl
Rydl is one of the most overrated singers ever. Never understood how he got contracts.
@Steven Criscione I eat 5 string bass strings for breakfast. B0 here.
Ezio Pinza: who knew?
what a great video...!!! LOVE IT
@thephantom1946 Finally, I'll reiterate that there is no actual documentation of Pinza singing the role. Magidoff's list is not such, it's the equivalent of hearsay in a legal proceeding. Given the complete omission of the role from Pinza's recordings and that it is a role that is very much outside his typical ones, I'm comfortable being skeptical. The overall point, that Pinza wasn't ripping off low Ds in opera houses, and that THIS D is "strong" due to getting close to the mic, stands.
Kurt MOLL by far the best tone!
@76Basso Thanks for those links, I always enjoy hearing Pinza. But that doesn't actually make ThePhantom1946 "correct." I don't deny that Pinza would sing a low D in a studio recording, which is what you provided. But as you yourself point out, the aria was transposed up for a live performance, which actually proves my point! And it certainly doesn't support the assertion that was made that Pinza sang Osmin on stage, which was the overall argument. I can find no evidence he did so.
Pinza and Frick have great and very impressive voices! But Moll is my favorite.
And Rydl, poor Rydl, has a very inconstant vibrato and an inconstant pitch :/ At least in this recording
I absolutely agree with you, Moll is great singer at all; have you heard the version from Gunter Wewel? Great low D, interesting clip.
I think most of these are live, you also have to remember they are in order of when they were sung. So the older ones probably would not have as good sound quality as the newer ones.
My opinion? Pinza and Moll.
Yes, I totally agree, though I've watched my personal favourite Kurt Moll singing Osmin (on here actually) and he doesn't MOVE much when preparing for the low D. As for singing under the shower, while I wouldn't pretend to be in these guys' league, I did attend music college for guitar and voice, and am somewhat above "shower" level. Moll does a great "Isis and Osiris", which has a bottom F, and I sang that at college. :)
There is an optinal low C in the Blonde-Osmin duet. The reason this D is famous is because its held so long not because it's so low. There are a number of low Cs in Monteverdi too. Fischer the first Osmin sang up to a high A Flat. He probably had a two part voice like Endre Koreh - light on top but bottomless. Koreh was the first recorded Osmin I believe. He like Fischer was a specialty singer. All these guys are mainstream basses who need to be able to carry weight above middle C.
can you find Tancredi Pasero singing this? His La Calunia is a big favorite of mine.
Why there's no Josef Greindl's Osmin?
KURT MOLL! KURT MOLL! KURT MOLL!
i think gunther emmerlich should be there i heard him sing it in the dresden opera night it was very clear and nice done. the feeling was superb one of the best i seen
Gotta give that one to Moll. Although Robert Lloyd and the great Ezio Pinza both made it close.
He didn't sing this role in the US. He was 34 yrs old when he came here. The listing of all his roles for here and abroad is in his biography. I'm sure it's correct. If you choose not believe it, then don't.
Well, just evaluating what is given here- Kurt Moll in first and Lloyd in second- even though Frick is probably the darkest in general and popular for his potrayal of Osmin. Greindl and Weber should be heared.
Oh yeah? Let's hear them!
Has anyone ever heard of Herbert Ahlsen? I just heard him in a vienna philharmonic recording and his low d's are HUGE. But I cant find any info or other recordings w/him
No one seems to understand recording techniques used in the 1940s. In those days on vocal studio recordings singers sounded up close and personal. I greatly prefer that to the false sound of an opera house they try to put into post-1957 stereo recordings. Of course Pinza sounds closer to the microphone than the others; his is the only recording not taped in stereo.
For me (personally): the big thumb goes to Gottlob Frick - one of the darkest bass performers.
@zepto3600 what about Baron Ochs' exit at the end of act I of Rosenkavelir -- a low C...
@76Basso And about that low E flat--It's the same story as the Osmin D. He wasn't singing in an opera house for that song, even if there was a live audience (although even THAT is arguable, since in those days they would frequently add laugh and applause tracks to broadcasts from a studio). Regardless, it is clear he is singing right up at the microphone for it. He certainly does not have the deep bass spread for that note that you get with a Moll, or even Siepi.