From: qed
Organization: qed
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: Fischer-Dieskau, and others, was: Tenor timbre vs baritone timbre
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>



John Alexander Blyth wrote:

> (This does go on a bit)
>
>
> I have heard recordings of Bryn Terfel and have wondered what the
> fuss was about - he's certainly good, but what is it that makes him
> exceptional? I deduce two things: a) a dramatic flair, totally uncaptured on
> cd and b) a big resonance and vocal presence which recordings have been
> faking for everyone for years, but which he has in real life.
>

Having watched on TV a concert in a Western Australian vineyard which Terfel did
with Yvonne Kenny and, I think, the WA Symphony Orchestra, and having heard my
teacher wax lyricxal about a live performance she went to in Melbourne, I would
say that that the fuss is about the whole package. To put it somewhat clumsily,
I think that we are hearing a person singing with ease and "joy" who is inviting
us to "enjoy" the music with him. Yvonne Kenny has quite a lot of this quality
too. It is as if performers such as these are offering not only the music but
themselves to their audiences; they draw their audiences to themselves.

Climbing on soapbox now:
Good/adeqaute technique, pleasing vocal quality, command of languages,
understanding of style and so on, are all very important, but they are in the
final analysis only a means to the desired end described above. (Climbing off
soapbox.)

Helen Duggan
qed-at-netconnect.com.au