Listen, I understand about casting for the role but I see a lot of critical comments here. Can we not just appreciate that this was beautifully sung? Ewa Podles is such an incredibly unique voice and technique. I think we should be able to just appreciate the variety of roles in which she is able to sing. I don't think it's fair to say she shouldn't sing something because of the color of her voice.
I find the contrast in manner, colouring and vocal temperament between the two women in this duet an exceptionally intelligent and effective casting decision.
She sings the high C6 considerably better than most Normas today... My only gripe with her Adalgisa is that the colour of her timbre is irretrievably dark and androgynous but it sounds too mature for the naive virgin. The agility and focus of the line though is exemplary. Did she ever sing Amneris? Now that is a role for Podles.
Yes, OK, understandable position, but, please, Lohengrin O: who is the other singer? Let us give credit where credit is due! I had the distinct privilege of attending the opera in Warsaw in 1976 & 1977: let me tell you, they had superb opera in those days, and surely that has continued.
When is the full date of this performance? What an ode and a throwback to the original females who once performed this same role. I've said it once and I'll say it again that Ewa Podles is our living and breathing legend. She is our contralto Callas!
Maybe I should've clarified that much better. I wasn't trying to say nor I mean she was a throwback to the original "soprano" that performed as Adalgisa. I was merely talking about how Ewa Podles voice is a throwback to the great vocal techniques of the 18th and 19th centuries: the type of technique that gave Sopranos a consistent and full-bodied tone from F3 all the way to their highest notes and allowed them to explore a 3+ octave range with Assoluta-like qualities. But with all honesty, can we stop with this "Sutherland would be Callas' Adalgisa" please? In 1952, Sutherland was a nobody while Callas was JUST showing the world what she could do with her dramatic coloratura assoluta soprano voice. It took Sutherland merely 9 years to come into her own (9 years after Callas decided to go easier on her voice and her career). Sutherland or Caballe are nowhere near the level of Maria Callas. It's time people stopped trying to compare Callas with those substandard"B+" operatic singers.
Sutherland would have a huge problem with the low note in the Adalgisa Pollione duet, a note that almost everybody sounds uncomfortable singing, but not Ewa... Adalgisa may be soprano but that note (and the previous descending scale) in her duet with Pollione makes the role at least semi Assoluta... Sutherland would as she did with all low notes, muffle it or even omit it and run along... Ewa sounds grandmotherly here but so did Stignani... In Bel canto, the Beauty of singing does not arise from the Timbre or the Freshness of Voice but from the singing technique... Sutherland described the singing of Ebe with Maria in their great duet as: to melt from the Beauty.. and she didn't mean the Timbres... it is the 100% following of Bel Canto singing rules that make the Beauty appear in maximum... that is why Timbrically Gorgeous Voices never produced singing Gorgeous in Bel Canto but the word Ugly pops into your head while listening their Gorgeous Sound do "ugly" things from a technical point of view (Fleming!!)
Adalgisa cannot really be considered a soprano role, because the tessitura is much more variable than any straight soprano role. She goes from low Bb3 to High C6, plus agility, so in the sense it is a mini Norma :)
Shahrdad A lot of Bellini's music had originally higher keys (Casta Diva), but it seems be approved of the transpositions down as it suited the voices he was writing for more exactly. Bellini, Donizetti and even Rossini weren't really writing for high voices. It was bigger, middle voice orientated singers with access to the 6th octave as well as good low notes he was writing for. For example even Elvira and Amina are very much middle voice pieces, despite occasionally going into high coloratura passages.
Nothing bright in Ebe's sound.. at all... she sounds an old lady :D and again your soprano Adalgisa must hit the very low notes in the duet with Pollione which requires her voice to be of the Assoluta category
Because Ewa Podles is the greatest Alive singer today, a singer of Legendary proportions whom will be marveled for the Centuries, she was cast to sing Adalgisa with me as Norma... in a production of low budget (they spent 2 euros for the sets and 3 euros for the rest)
well, I think the answer is PR... PR is the reason a Phenomenon like Callas had to fight like crazy... PR is the reason people like Meada and ... are singing in the Met today... PR is the reason the Met is not bowing to Ewa as if she is some kind of Deity although all these years Ewa is here with her Legendary voice... what amazes me so is that Fleming has never said anything about her although she keeps saying good things about HORRIBLE singers who sing in the met... I think it has all come to a huge world of Lies... endless Lies... people think they are being polite to say good things about horrible people but they are just people whose mother never taught them that Lying is a bad thing :D
Never understood this type of casting Adalgisa is a young woman for which Polione falls because Norma is a woman already (older), the idea is to cast a soprano that can sing the part and sound like a mature woman whilst the mezzo sounds like a young woman, otherwise Adalgisa sounds like a dragon and there is no “dramatic reason” for Polione to leave Norma...
Bell Canto is all about incredibly good singing... Callas and Stignani in 1952 both sounded like Dragons... especially Ebe who sounded 1000 years old... but it was Joan Sutherland who had said that listening to those two sing could make you "melt from the beauty of their singing"
at least she sings the C6 :D Imagine Horne's Adalgisa always without the C6 and sounding like a man and the Bonynge Fans calling her the greatest Adalgisa of the century :D
Interesting to hear this again. Cavernous and resonant as always. Much as I love Podles generally, I'm actually not that keen on this recording - I'm not sure Podles still has full command of the Bellinian line - there are lots of bulges here and there and occasionally it sounds hooty. The top C is quite flat. Georke is completely out of tune, something which she fixed later in her career, but i find impossible to enjoy here.
Dont agree about Podles, she is superfluous... all the melody is there and she still sings with Colors... she rises above Adalgisa while all the rest of singers try hard to just sing the notes
You are hard to resist! You do great work! It wasn't Imbecile it was the other word that also offended Shardad! Glad to hear you are expanding your derogatory vocabulary! All the best!!
I find the new word so Elegant :p and most people dont even know its meaning, they have to google it and as a result there is no Consensus upon it that you are not allowed to use it because you offend certain groups of people that you shouldnt offend because... ... ... I got it from the character Drax from the Guardians of the Galaxy.. :D
Listen, I understand about casting for the role but I see a lot of critical comments here. Can we not just appreciate that this was beautifully sung? Ewa Podles is such an incredibly unique voice and technique. I think we should be able to just appreciate the variety of roles in which she is able to sing. I don't think it's fair to say she shouldn't sing something because of the color of her voice.
Let's imagine...Podles' Adalgisa with Callas singing Norma...Heavenly Fantastiqu
e duetto...
I find the contrast in manner, colouring and vocal temperament between the two women in this duet an exceptionally intelligent and effective casting decision.
your channel is real gem.
R Arnold yes I am so grateful to him
Magnifique !
Con Ewa Podlés cualquier cantante queda tristemente derrotado ante semejante inmensidad vocal
She sings the high C6 considerably better than most Normas today...
My only gripe with her Adalgisa is that the colour of her timbre is irretrievably dark and androgynous but it sounds too mature for the naive virgin. The agility and focus of the line though is exemplary.
Did she ever sing Amneris? Now that is a role for Podles.
No... It's flat...
Ewa deserves to have a reputation on par with the best singers of all times. Norma here is a nonentity..
Yes, OK, understandable position, but, please, Lohengrin O: who is the other singer? Let us give credit where credit is due! I had the distinct privilege of attending the opera in Warsaw in 1976 & 1977: let me tell you, they had superb opera in those days, and surely that has continued.
Ewa drowns out everything
To me I don't think Podles voice fits the character. The singing is fabulous but the character is younger than Norma. It was written for a soprano,
and Ewa is one of the extremely few Adalgisas who ever sang the C6
Lohengrin O I agree!
Fantastica Ewa Podles. Peccato che la soprano ha problemi d'intonazione....è calante....
When is the full date of this performance? What an ode and a throwback to the original females who once performed this same role. I've said it once and I'll say it again that Ewa Podles is our living and breathing legend. She is our contralto Callas!
Maybe I should've clarified that much better. I wasn't trying to say nor I mean she was a throwback to the original "soprano" that performed as Adalgisa. I was merely talking about how Ewa Podles voice is a throwback to the great vocal techniques of the 18th and 19th centuries: the type of technique that gave Sopranos a consistent and full-bodied tone from F3 all the way to their highest notes and allowed them to explore a 3+ octave range with Assoluta-like qualities.
But with all honesty, can we stop with this "Sutherland would be Callas' Adalgisa" please? In 1952, Sutherland was a nobody while Callas was JUST showing the world what she could do with her dramatic coloratura assoluta soprano voice. It took Sutherland merely 9 years to come into her own (9 years after Callas decided to go easier on her voice and her career). Sutherland or Caballe are nowhere near the level of Maria Callas. It's time people stopped trying to compare Callas with those substandard"B+" operatic singers.
Sutherland would have a huge problem with the low note in the Adalgisa Pollione duet, a note that almost everybody sounds uncomfortable singing, but not Ewa... Adalgisa may be soprano but that note (and the previous descending scale) in her duet with Pollione makes the role at least semi Assoluta... Sutherland would as she did with all low notes, muffle it or even omit it and run along... Ewa sounds grandmotherly here but so did Stignani... In Bel canto, the Beauty of singing does not arise from the Timbre or the Freshness of Voice but from the singing technique... Sutherland described the singing of Ebe with Maria in their great duet as: to melt from the Beauty.. and she didn't mean the Timbres... it is the 100% following of Bel Canto singing rules that make the Beauty appear in maximum... that is why Timbrically Gorgeous Voices never produced singing Gorgeous in Bel Canto but the word Ugly pops into your head while listening their Gorgeous Sound do "ugly" things from a technical point of view (Fleming!!)
Adalgisa cannot really be considered a soprano role, because the tessitura is much more variable than any straight soprano role. She goes from low Bb3 to High C6, plus agility, so in the sense it is a mini Norma :)
Shahrdad A lot of Bellini's music had originally higher keys (Casta Diva), but it seems be approved of the transpositions down as it suited the voices he was writing for more exactly.
Bellini, Donizetti and even Rossini weren't really writing for high voices. It was bigger, middle voice orientated singers with access to the 6th octave as well as good low notes he was writing for. For example even Elvira and Amina are very much middle voice pieces, despite occasionally going into high coloratura passages.
Nothing bright in Ebe's sound.. at all... she sounds an old lady :D and again your soprano Adalgisa must hit the very low notes in the duet with Pollione which requires her voice to be of the Assoluta category
Who is the Norma, please?
Because Ewa Podles is the greatest Alive singer today, a singer of Legendary proportions whom will be marveled for the Centuries, she was cast to sing Adalgisa with me as Norma... in a production of low budget (they spent 2 euros for the sets and 3 euros for the rest)
i think this is christine goerke, from seattle in 2003.
I only hear one Norma here and that is EWA PODLES.
My exact same idea... why didnt she sing Norma and Gioconda...
what a fabulously oily and rich sound that would be!!!!
Lohengrin O That is an excellent question. WHY????
Lohengrin O Maria is consecrated as NORMA (AND everything else as far as I'm concerned) but there's another I like almost as much:
GINA CIGNA
well, I think the answer is PR... PR is the reason a Phenomenon like Callas had to fight like crazy... PR is the reason people like Meada and ... are singing in the Met today... PR is the reason the Met is not bowing to Ewa as if she is some kind of Deity although all these years Ewa is here with her Legendary voice... what amazes me so is that Fleming has never said anything about her although she keeps saying good things about HORRIBLE singers who sing in the met... I think it has all come to a huge world of Lies... endless Lies... people think they are being polite to say good things about horrible people but they are just people whose mother never taught them that Lying is a bad thing :D
Never understood this type of casting Adalgisa is a young woman for which Polione falls because Norma is a woman already (older), the idea is to cast a soprano that can sing the part and sound like a mature woman whilst the mezzo sounds like a young woman, otherwise Adalgisa sounds like a dragon and there is no “dramatic reason” for Polione to leave Norma...
Bell Canto is all about incredibly good singing... Callas and Stignani in 1952 both sounded like Dragons... especially Ebe who sounded 1000 years old... but it was Joan Sutherland who had said that listening to those two sing could make you "melt from the beauty of their singing"
i believe this is the Norma from Seattle, with Goerke as Norma
magnificent?
Yes, an incredible voice,for sure, but Adalgisa should be sung by a lighter voice than Norma. Here she sounds like Norma's mother.
at least she sings the C6 :D Imagine Horne's Adalgisa always without the C6 and sounding like a man and the Bonynge Fans calling her the greatest Adalgisa of the century :D
@@LohengrinO and leaving half of the score stuck in her nose 😂
Interesting to hear this again. Cavernous and resonant as always. Much as I love Podles generally, I'm actually not that keen on this recording - I'm not sure Podles still has full command of the Bellinian line - there are lots of bulges here and there and occasionally it sounds hooty. The top C is quite flat.
Georke is completely out of tune, something which she fixed later in her career, but i find impossible to enjoy here.
Dont agree about Podles, she is superfluous... all the melody is there and she still sings with Colors... she rises above Adalgisa while all the rest of singers try hard to just sing the notes
Lohengrin O not disputing her general mastery! I just feel like she interrupts the line here. Given the other comments I'm obviously in the minority!
I ll only give her that she does not blast the C6 as a true falcon like Simionato and Christa Ludwig (in studio) did... all the rest is Magnificent
Lohengrin O did Christa ever do the role live?
I don't think so.
Too bad about the Norma. whoever she is. Reedy and out of tune, the voice sounds like an Adina kind of weight. Certainly not a Norma
what Norma? I hear only Podles here
Beautiful sound but I would hardly call the note glorious!
You are hard to resist! You do great work! It wasn't Imbecile it was the other word that also offended Shardad! Glad to hear you are expanding your derogatory vocabulary! All the best!!
I find the new word so Elegant :p and most people dont even know its meaning, they have to google it and as a result there is no Consensus upon it that you are not allowed to use it because you offend certain groups of people that you shouldnt offend because... ... ... I got it from the character Drax from the Guardians of the Galaxy.. :D
With all respect, but this is not good.