For all my blog's accidental or intentional readers:things improved sooo much since Joan Sutherland and Marily Horne performed it...
For those possums who have never heard the Flower Duet: do you remember the movie Shawshank Redemption?
Yes, this is the divine music played via the prison's loudspeakers 'til all "bad boys" stalled in the yard to a complete silence.
Elina Garanča, Latvian mezzosoprano and Anna Netrebko, soprano.
For the record, Anna Netrebko is wonderful, I have really became a fan.
She is talented, worked very hard, great actress and very generous performer.
What else? She is jolly and unpretentious, and fun-loving, and her little son looks like her!
There is only ONE thing that was really electrifying.
The risk of performing O mio babbino caro in New York. Her dress was great, the voice was strong and the intonation was great, and the audience did everything to like it.
Why risky?
Because even for a moment beautiful and flamboyant Anna Netrebko did not suggest that she really could throw herself in a river Arno for Love!
Because this part almost belongs to Maria Callas who has really filled the with beauty soaked in tragedy. You knew things will not end happily there....
This great recording is accompanied by curiously non-singing sequences...
Oh, if you are still here: I love the voice of Elena Garanča who sung with Anna Netrebko.
She is beautiful and very dignified. I enjoyed very much her Mozart performances.
But if you have time, check Magdalena Kožená a Czech mezzosoprano (now Lady Rattle). In mid-2000s she has made a series of recordings of Bach Cantatas which were s u b l i m e.
I am delighted to be able to see and hear clips of such wonderful voices these days.
It is great to observe and to cheer for the instances that someone creates something of unmatched quality. One cannot be great at everything, but it is enough to create just one great thing and the world is in the state of progress...
