Search - Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Anton Guadagno :: Puccini, Verdi: Opera Arias

A lost breed, strangely present, then absent, now gone forev

Impostazione | New York City Area | 06/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"We are very blessed to have had Ghena Dimitrova in the modern era, when technology had advanced enough to catch her in excellent sound. She indeed was the last of the great Italianate dramatic soprano voices. Similarly Susan Dunn was the last of the great Verdi stylists. Do other sopranos sing Verdi, yes, and quite well. Do others also have big voices, yes, indeed!!! But the open and natural vocality, the MASTERY OF THE CHEST TONE, the refined use of the head tone, and natural feeling for the word were in totality, lost when Ghena Dimitrova died. I don't blame the singers though, but the milieu. I can GUARANTEE that there EXIST TODAY singers in the Dimitrova mold, who have not and are not being encouraged, guided, appreciated, and least of all understood. Their time will come and the strong will survive.



Yet, for all of her bigness, the most memorable aspect of her vocal art is her pianissimo and its integration with the rest of her voice. I dont' think Dimitrova ever intended to sing Mimi sul palcoscenico, but we are lucky that she recorded her arias, as well as the other lighter things.



Yes, her tone turns acidic at forte. Her phrases are sometimes cut short and clunky, and her vibrato can be unmusical, as she admitted. But she is all we have among the real dramatics in modern sound, and for this I am grateful. I am NOT grateful that we live in operatic environment which bewails the loss of the big chesty voices, but scorn the new ones who are trying hard to pave a way for themselves. Ironic? Indeed! Well, the big voices will never lilt like Fleming, but could she ever stir the soul with a flood of sound that leaves one in tears and in awe? Dimitrova did it and could do it TODAY!!!!!



Time heals all wounds! I am optomistic!"

A recording you must have

M. Montenegro | mexico | 05/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ghena Dimitrova, who unfortunately passed away the last year, left very few studio recordings. This edition includes the puccini album (recorded about 1985 EMI DF N38283) and some of the Verdi arias of the "Opera Arias" recital (1984 EMI EL 067 2700611) and this is the first time this material becomes available in CD format. If you already know who Ghena Dimitrova is, I am sure you will buy this recording, if you do not know her, give yourself a gift of this spectacular voice: one of the very few dramatic sopranos to sing the repertoire in the last years... Highly recommendable!"

A true dramatic soprano in some odd territory

Matteo | Oakland, CA United States | 05/08/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps the last of the true dramatic sopranos of the old school, Ghena Dimitrova must be credited with one of the most powerful soprano voices of the modern era. It's simply a force of nature, an icier Birgit Nilsson on steroids.



Of course, the drawback of such a voice is that it can be hard to adapt to lighter fare. This recitial disk of Verdi and Puccini arias is hit-or-miss. When she sings what is suited to her titanic voice the results are good. When she tries to sing the lighter lyrical roles she runs into trouble: from pitch problems (she has a tendency to sing sharp) to lack of nuance.



First the pluses. Turandot was a signature role, and she sings it marvelously here. Clear, clarion tone, and unfussy timbre. Also successful are arias from AIDA and I LOMBARDI. Verdi is certainly better suited to her voice. The letter scene from MACBETH is where she is truly at home and where her voice seems the most comfortable.



The rest is iffy. Her voice is not suited to Mimi and Liu, and those arias do not come across well. She has more success with Suor Angelica and Manon Lescaut where the character's situations are harsher and call for more vocal power. But the iciness of her timbre, while perfect for Turandot, makes for less-pleasing results.



Overall, a welcome document of a powerful voice. But this disk does not play to her strengths as a dramatic soprano. Instead she squeezes herself into lyric-spinto territory with uneven results."