(Plácido Domingo, como protagonista de Simon Boccanegra - Met Opera House)
«On Monday, three days before turning 69, Mr. Domingo returned to his vocal roots. For the first time at the Metropolitan Opera he sang a baritone role, the title character in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra.” Some of his tougher critics would say that Mr. Domingo has been a quasi baritone for years, since he has increasingly asked conductors to transpose parts of the tenor roles he sings down a step or two.
But he sounded liberated as Boccanegra, a tormented doge in 14th-century Genoa. At times his voice had a worn cast. And when he dipped into the lower baritone register, he had to fortify his sound with chesty, sometimes leathery power. Still, this was some of his freshest singing in years.
Maybe taking on Boccanegra is a self-indulgent exercise for Mr. Domingo at this stage of his career. I almost hesitate to praise him, since I do not want him to get ideas. Right now the two companies he is running — the Los Angeles Opera and the Washington National Opera — are struggling financially. So he has big responsibilities.
That said, he earned an enormous ovation on Monday night. Over the last decade, when a role took him to the upper register of his tenor voice, he often sounded cautious and calculating. But as Boccanegra, he could not wait, it seemed, for the line to soar into the baritone’s high register, now his comfort zone.
Yet that auditioning committee of 1959 was right: Mr. Domingo was a tenor. Whether a singer is a tenor or a baritone is not just a matter of range. The coloring and character of a voice also identifies its type. There have long been dusky, baritonal qualities to Mr. Domingo’s singing, but the overall colorings and ping in his sound were those of a tenor.
Inevitably, he made Boccanegra seem like a tenor role. The long scene in which Boccanegra discovers that Maria, who goes by the name Amelia Grimaldi (don’t ask), is his long-lost illegitimate daughter, did not have the contrast of baritone and soprano colorings that Verdi intended. Still, Mr. Domingo brought vocal charisma, dramatic dignity and a lifetime of experience to his portrayal. Purists will complain, but Mr. Domingo’s performance was an intriguing experiment.»
Muito se tem escrito sobre a derradeira interpretação operática de Plácido Domingo. O mor das vezes, a crítica aclama o seu Simon, plenamente baritonal. É a primeira crítica - a que acima reproduzo - a questionar, sem embandeirar em arco, a incarnação de Domingo.
Prudência, prudência e reservas...
«On Monday, three days before turning 69, Mr. Domingo returned to his vocal roots. For the first time at the Metropolitan Opera he sang a baritone role, the title character in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra.” Some of his tougher critics would say that Mr. Domingo has been a quasi baritone for years, since he has increasingly asked conductors to transpose parts of the tenor roles he sings down a step or two.
But he sounded liberated as Boccanegra, a tormented doge in 14th-century Genoa. At times his voice had a worn cast. And when he dipped into the lower baritone register, he had to fortify his sound with chesty, sometimes leathery power. Still, this was some of his freshest singing in years.
Maybe taking on Boccanegra is a self-indulgent exercise for Mr. Domingo at this stage of his career. I almost hesitate to praise him, since I do not want him to get ideas. Right now the two companies he is running — the Los Angeles Opera and the Washington National Opera — are struggling financially. So he has big responsibilities.
That said, he earned an enormous ovation on Monday night. Over the last decade, when a role took him to the upper register of his tenor voice, he often sounded cautious and calculating. But as Boccanegra, he could not wait, it seemed, for the line to soar into the baritone’s high register, now his comfort zone.
Yet that auditioning committee of 1959 was right: Mr. Domingo was a tenor. Whether a singer is a tenor or a baritone is not just a matter of range. The coloring and character of a voice also identifies its type. There have long been dusky, baritonal qualities to Mr. Domingo’s singing, but the overall colorings and ping in his sound were those of a tenor.
Inevitably, he made Boccanegra seem like a tenor role. The long scene in which Boccanegra discovers that Maria, who goes by the name Amelia Grimaldi (don’t ask), is his long-lost illegitimate daughter, did not have the contrast of baritone and soprano colorings that Verdi intended. Still, Mr. Domingo brought vocal charisma, dramatic dignity and a lifetime of experience to his portrayal. Purists will complain, but Mr. Domingo’s performance was an intriguing experiment.»
Muito se tem escrito sobre a derradeira interpretação operática de Plácido Domingo. O mor das vezes, a crítica aclama o seu Simon, plenamente baritonal. É a primeira crítica - a que acima reproduzo - a questionar, sem embandeirar em arco, a incarnação de Domingo.
Prudência, prudência e reservas...
Na minha óptica, Placido Domingo sempre foi um tenor, tal como Bergonzi. O timbre básico não é o de um barítono.
ResponderEliminarParece-me que, acima de tudo, o que mais sobressai na assunção do papel de Simon Boccanegra por Domingo é a experiência do intérprete, baseada numa técnica apuradíssima e o cultivar de um modelo de canto estilisticamente irrepreensível.
Já há tempos ouvi no Youtube o Simon Domingo e é, como num passo desta crítica, um tenor a cantar barítono que é uma coisa diferente de ser um barítono. Por muito que o formidável Domingo dê cores à voz, graças à sua celebrada técnica, falta-lhe o mais importante: o timbre. Sem esta característica pode ser o maior actor cantor em palco, mas não é o Somon Boccanegra tal qual Verdi o concebeu. Conclusão: não gostei do Simon de Placido Domingo.
ResponderEliminarCuriosamente tenho um cd do Caruso onde canta o Solemnia in quest'ora da Forza do destino com um grande barítono da época: Antonio Scotti.
Nas notas do cd vem que por vezes o grande tenor canta a parte do barítono. Nunca ouvi tal perfeição, pois por vezes percebe-se a custo e outras, a maior parte das vezes, nem se percebe. É como a nota da Schwarzkopf na Isolda da Flagstad.
Em Julho P. Domingo vai estar em Madrid no mesmo papel.
ResponderEliminarAcabei de ouvir pela Antena 2. Inteligentemente interpretado quanto ao "render da voz", guardando-se ele para o culminar bem conseguido.
ResponderEliminarNão sei o que se ganha com esta "performance", esta experiência. Não fora ele ser o Plácido e mais que meio mundo lhe cairia em cima... a César o que é de César, um tenor é um tenor e incursões dete teor não penso que sejam abonatórias para um cantor....já era tão questionável vê-lo num Othelo. A mim incomoda-me este jogo de pirotécnia vocal. Mas Plácido é Plácido e ... Penso que muito se falará dele e descurar-se-á a intérprete que desempenhou a Amélia, um soprano lírico cheio...a ver vamos.
Saudações líricas
Ouvi também partes na Antena 2 e a minha opinião mantem-se sobre o "falso-barítono". Tenho a assinalar a maravilhosa voz do tenor Marcello Giordano, que me parecia a de Jose Carreras no pico da sua arte. Voz verdiana 100% que está no mesmo podium de Jonas Kaufmann, este com outro reportório.
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