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From:  Greypins@a...
Greypins@a...
Date:  Thu Apr 19, 2001  2:32 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Heldentenors (NOT)!


In a message dated 4/19/2001 8:34:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
agoldhammer@y... writes:
agoldhammer@y... writes:

<<
Even Windgassen didn't consider himself a true heldentenor. he came
to Wagner via the lyric route and an examination of his performance
history shows that he was an accomplished Mozart tenor when he broke
in. If you listen to his recordings and read the reviews of his
performances you will see that this is so. there are some others who
are now singing Wagner such as Moser and Windbergh that evolved into
the roles the same way. >>

alan,

i remember one writer (i believe it may have been the author of 'the
record of singing') who made a comment about windgassen not being a true
heldentenor but making up for his lack in this department by his 'obvious
enthusiasm' (whatever that means).

the criteria by which i judge someone to be a 'true' heldentenor is my
own. i consider suthaus, vinay, king, volker, cox, svanholm and volker to
be true heldentenors. of the group i listed as 'tenorial' heldentenors,
vickers, windgassen, kollo and cassilly, the only one of those four who has a
timbre that fits in with the other singers is windgassen. it is a timbre
that i hear being somewhere inside the voices of jerusalem and hoffman that
never came to fruition in either singer. it is a timbre i believe was in
evidence in the young bernd weikl (karajan once asked him to sing siegmund.
the singer refused). i haven't heard windbergh sing wagner yet but, from
what i remember of his mozart, i'd be curious to hear him.

i don't share graham's blood pressure increasing ire on this subject.
in fact, i think if someone can get away singing music they shouldn't, more
power to them.

mike

emusic.com