This has been a very interesting thread, indeed. What a lot of strong opinions exist. Practically a unique angle for each of our replies, even as we all seem to have a mutual understanding of the points Lea Ann has raised.
So then, it seems, just as in our singing, that interpretation is the bottom line. We are constantly interpreting not merely our musical roles, our vocal abilities, but our perceptions about the musical world in which we are involved and the niche we carve for ourselves.
Debra Voigt may be too heavy in Solti's eyes. So what? Had she accepted the Hollywood-only construct, she wouldn't be a force about whom he could be so ungalantly judgmental. Did he really think he was telling her something she hadn't already considered many times over?! On the other hand, maybe she appreciated hearing it. Who knows.
It seems the only way any of us can be the best US we can be, to paraphrase PJ, is to try to hold our own in that vast sea of 'isms and opinions and shoulds and right-thinkers and wrong-thinkers OUT THERE, all of which seem to both make perfectly good sense one moment and be at cross-purposes simultaneously--and make up our own, individual minds about how we best interpret it all and hope we can ride the wave instead of get pulled in with the undertow! No doubt, we could "compare" two singers who have "made it" and yet the one may appear the antithesis of the other. If a Debra Voigt and a Frederica von Stade stood side by side, one heavy, the other thin, what interpretations then should we make? One always hopes that they will be the one to break the mold of whatever is the going status quo. And this one hopes that it includes whatever is the magical combination which results in the best one has to offer so that the audience responds and wants more.
I once heard Pavarotti say that being a professional opera singer was not merely having a wonderful instrument, but a combination of many things on many fronts.
So to all of us--put a quarter in and three cherries across--for us all!!
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