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From:  Greypins@a...
Greypins@a...
Date:  Mon Apr 23, 2001  1:38 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Recording Studios


In a message dated 4/23/2001 1:38:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
ibracamonte@y... writes:
ibracamonte@y... writes:

<< Yes, but singers KNOW about this difference. They
sing differently in a studio than they do in a house.
Listen to any current coloratura's recordings and then
go see her in a big theater -- the production is
amazingly different. Big-name singers with big
recording contracts and savvy agents make a LOT of
adjustments when they go into the studio. >>

isabelle and lloyd,

i believe it is in 'the art of singing', when speaking of the use of
voce finta, richard miller hints he is speaking of fischer-dieskau when he
says people who know his recordings are disappointed when he does not sing
the same way in public performance going on to say that the requirements of
singing in a concert hall make it neccesary for him to abandon voce finta.

isabelle, i agree that the big name singers with big recording contracts
are capable of varying their approach depending on the situation. even
student singers who have yet to perfect their techniques know that the opera
they have been over rehearsing for two months in a rehearsal room with piano
will become a different cup of tea with the orchestra.

lloyd, i can see how a singer whose reputation is built on recordings
that are very different from what they would do in performance could bring
pressures on them to attempt some of their 'in studio' effects in
performance. but even with
fischer-dieskau, the classical singer most guilty of 'mugging for the
microphone' (pre thomas hampson), did not attempt these same things in
performance, at least not in the one performance i heard him in ( 'die schone
magelone' in boston symphony hall in 1975 ). it was actually rather
straight forward and i was surprised to find his voice more baritonal than i
was used to hearing him on recordings.

if there has been a demise in opera singing in the last thirty or forty
years, i would be more inclined to blame larger opera houses and the craze
for big voices.

mike

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