Search - Claudio Monteverdi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gioachino Rossini :: Artist Portrait: Matti Salminen

The Greatest Bass Singer of the Century

Rod | Markham, Ontario Canada | 01/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Matti Salminen is a bass who possesses an incredibly powerful and beautiful voice. His lowest range is natural and unforced while his higher register is also very melodious. I did not fully appreciate opera singers until I heard his performance of Sarastro in the Magic Flute on DVD.Mozart - Die Zauberflote / Hartelius, Beczala, Salminen, Mosuc, Schaginger, Neumann, Keller, Vogel, Will, Welser-Most, Zurich Opera

This CD contains some of my favourite bass arias including those from:

Mozart's Magic Flute and Entfuhrung, Rossini's Barber, Verdi's Don Carlos, Weber's Freischutz, Monteverdi's Poppea, and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. No one even comes close to matching Salminen's Sarastro or Kaspar and each of the other arias is either the best version I have ever heard or very close to it.

The conductors and orchestras on this disc are among the best in the world and the sound quality is excellent. At the price that this CD is offered one can't go wrong. I would also highly recommend any Salminen performance in Wagnerian opera- as Salminen has no equal in this field. Wagner - The Flying Dutchman (Der Fliegende Hollander) / Backman, Behrens, Grundheber, Savonlinna Opera FestivalFinally, Rautavaara's opera DVD Rasputin, in which Salminen plays the title role, is the only contemporary opera that I know of that I would consider a masterpiece and very worthwhile owning.Rautavaara - Rasputin / Salminen, Hynninen, Paasikivi, Franck, Finnish National Opera

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The Greatest Finnish Bass since Talvela

The Cultural Observer | 01/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Matti Salminen is a force of nature. The immensity of his voice and the generosity of his artistry are two commodities that the opera world has known for more than three decades, and thankfully, for those of us who were not there years ago to hear a voice that was in the prime of its glory, he is still going strong. His voice was described as too large for the Bayreuth Festival. Who on earth could be too large for Wagner? His Hagen, Hunding, Fafner, Marke, and other assumptions of the complex Wagnerian conductors are held today as gold standards, especially the reference Hagen he does with Levine. But Salminen was also exemplary in the works of other composers, as shown in this recording.



The recital begins with Sarastro's arias from Mozart's Zauberflöte, grandly sung and characterized with wisdom by Salminen's years of investing his soul in the music. Salminen may be too imposing and large for the roles that are neither grand (e.g. Verdi or Mussorgsky) nor Wagnerian, but he is nonetheless an artist who deals with the text in his most individualistic way without injecting too much of himself in the music. The result is a completely satisfying experience that lends itself well to the great bass characters in opera. His Philip may not have the nobilita that Pape and Ghiaurov so easily exude in the part, but how generous his outpouring of voice is! His Rossini is not exactly kosher, but it is amusing to see such a large voice dealing with a part that is taken by basses ten sizes smaller than this titan. His Tatest du's wirklich is brilliantly sung, evidencing one of the greatest Markes in history. The recital closes with the hellish call of the Commendatore for Giovanni's repentance, and how chillingly he is able to wield that instrument to produce an experience that can only be heard with his elemental voice.



If you haven't heard this singer, you have not heard the immense power of the human voice yet. At $7.00, this is a steal."