Customer Reviews

The Spectacular Voice of Marilyn Horne: Rossini / Horne

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If one must only one recording of Marilyn Horne, this is it. But this recording has an even greater importance in that it showcases a type of Rossini singing that has been heard from no one else in the twentieth century. Horne was a rare bird indeed ------ a mezzo soprano (sometimes even contralto) capable of executing the most astonishing technical and florid feats that would have defeated even a high coloratura soprano, save for Joan Sutherland. In fact, Horne had the equal technical proficiency of Sutherland, but in a lower range, which made them so cherishable as a team in such operas as "Norma" and "Semiramide". But Horne's gifts were so spectacular that a permanent role as Sutherland's "sidekick" would have been completely unsuitable for her. Rossini operas not heard in over a hundred years were revived for her all over the world ----- for hers was the only voice capable of executing the demands of such music. Truly, Marilyn Horne is as significant in the bel canto revival as Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, and Montserrat Caballe (with whom she also sang on many occasions). Virtually every selection heard on this CD is an exemplary example of Horne's artistry. All of them contain vocal fireworks that flare like Roman candles, and many of them are NEVER going to be performed like this again, if they are ever done again at all, which at this time seems somewhat doubtful. Certainly we are blessed by the presence of present Rossini mezzos like Cecilia Bartoli and Jennifer Larmore ----- great singers both ------but it seems unlikely that either will ever scale the heights of Mount Rossini that Marilyn Horne did. She was truly one of a kind. For anyone who treasures spectacular and vivid examples of singing not heard in well over a century, this CD is an absolute must. I cannot run out of superlatives for this one.

This is an incredible CD filled with wondrous singing. The art of belcanto is not just beautiful singing, and an uncanny ability to sing a million notes a second, it is giving meaning to all that technique. That is exactly what Marilyn Horne does! She breathes life and direction into the music reflecting the purpose behind the character's words, and the intention behind the composer's music. To some her presentation is too "Farward", too "hard-driven." And to others not like some wonderful diva from the past ( Superviva ). Their techniques in this music are not the same. Superviva was dazzling, but not that accurate. Horne is dazzling, and accurate! She is not the frail heroine when singing female contralto, but she is not overbearing either. As for the contralto "male" leads, well, there are none to compare, and none with her gusto. Bartoli is ravishing, but not heavy enough in sound, Lamore is wondrous, but far too feminine. Ewa Podls may have a dark musky sound ( often nearly laboured, and mushy ), but more is required to give a special gusto, a machismo, if you will, to these roles. Horne does that in spades! Though her voice is not necessarily that large a voice ( strong at the bottom and top, gentler in the middle ), and one suited well to Verdi she is not ( even at her own admission ), she has a way of making everything Rossini wrote seem fresh, new, and exciting. I must mention her singing from the catacomb scene from L'Assedio di Corinto ( Act 3, scene 1 ). If one follows the score, one soon learns Horne is not only singing the difficult music written in the Paris rewriting of the opera, but a whole scene ( the same scene actually ) found in the opera Moametto II, the aria for the character of Calbo, as well. I say a special treat for anyone, for in performance one would never hear the wealth of music one will hear here. For a good sampling of Horne's art this is a must buy, for a good introduction to the wonders of Rossini ( and more than just the Barber of Seville ), this CD is a wonderfully exciting introduction to both.

This is Rossini singing in the finest. Horne has no peers in coloratura. She even give Sutherland a run for her money.
Attention, Horne fans, the historic Rossini's Semiramide with Horne/Sutherland is finally available. Do a search for
Horne, Semiramide and you'll get Rossini's neglected masterpiece containing the most difficult music ever written for the human voice. Coupled with Sutherland, the duets make their Norma duets seem like nothing.
I recommend this Rossini cd highly. And I also recommend the Semiramide. I love Rossini!

This CD contains some of the most virtuosic singing I've ever heard. Marilyn Horne is rightly considered one of the great bel canto (and in particular, Rossini) singers of all time. Her mezzo-soprano is a rich and glorious instrument, and there seems to be NOTHING that it can't do; she even sings several soprano arias on this disc. Malcolm's aria from LA DONNA DEL LAGO is masterfully done, and the two selections from L'ASSEDIO DI CORINTO (one for soprano, the other for mezzo) are absolutely superb, almost Callas-like in their intensity. This CD represents a great mezzo in her prime. It should be in the collection of every Rossini-lover.

This CD comes from two different Decca LP records that are highly desired.
One LP is where the Mezzo scene from Siege of Corinth takes the whole side, and the Soprano aria takes half of the second side (recorded in 1972), the other source for this CD comes from an album of two records dedicated to the artistry of the Gracia sisters (Maria Malibran and Pauline Viardot) recorded in Geneve in 1965.
No doubts that Horne is the prominent Mezzo bel-canto of the sixties and that her collaboration with Sutherland gave a tremendous push and fame to the Bel Canto repertoire, and not to forget that the Bel Canto trend was push-started by Callas (Luchia, Puritani, Sonambula, Norma, Turco in Italy, Anna Bolena, and more) - all are roles that brought back the Bel canto to life again.

From the pure vocal point of view, the CD here is sort of "master-class" including the success and the pit-fall of Horne's voice for those who consider taking the Mezzo-Soprano coloratura studies and incorporate them into their repertoire, and that consideration should encompass the topic of breath-control, of stamina, of being able to press-on when the score gets tougher and more demanding as the area enfolds - the voice for Rossini area Siege of Corinth specially, should be trained to be as steady as a rock and well sustaining shifting of gear (think of this role difficulties as the role dealt to Turandot "in questo regio" - just in another context...).

However, one should be aware that not all of Horne wide "diapason" falls under one piece of cloth; there are transients breaking join-point in her voice that are quite obvious; the amalgamation between the "added" lower register which is almost one full octave and supported by chest-voice and at times can resemble a tenor voice - aka, entrance of Arsace into the scene in Semiramide, "Eccomi alfine in Babilonia", an entrance sung with a pushed chest-voice down that might fool you into thinking that the notes are sung by a tenor...(Decca Semiramide complete with Sutherland, 1965-66).

The rest of Horne voice, which is more than one octave on top; that "original octave" was already there when Horne started her singing carrier as a soprano, this register has on some middle notes of being a bit flat, metallic at times, not too secure in pitch and forced).
The stitch between her two registers (two or three notes) is cleverly "pressured-down" into the chest-voice realm (In general the lower register notes are more in pitch than the top octave and encompass a coloratura texture for other singers to be envy about...).

True, it is a feast for a singer to be able to move such a huge voice up and down and in quick successions, but at certain moments one can hear the spots where there is place for more pitch accuracy; specially so when going up or down the ladder between the two registers.
This pitch average is more audible in the 1965 Geneva recordings than in the 1972 recording (and one might want to argue the point that somehow Horne was not in her best element when recording the 1965 pieces. Yet the 1972 recording shows her more in control of her voice and more attuned to the demands than the previous years recording).

Never the less this is a wonderful 'document' of what a female lower-voice contributes to the Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti repertoire.

As things stands right now on the operatic scene, possibly, only two Mezzo singers shows themselves as capable of tackling the most difficult parts of the Mezzo Bel-Canto;
One them to be consider is Elina Garanca (a light toned mezzo not unlike Teresa Berganza but with much less charm and warmth to the voice than Berganza...And judging from Garanca "bel-canto' CD - the voice is smoother than Horne's voice on the top register and has a bit more range on top than Horne's voice - yet there is no volcanic explosion top to bottom as that exhibited by Horne, less stamina, less reach at the lower register where the notes are flattened and sound like they have reached the limit of the vocal capabilities; the voice as a whole runs out of steam much sooner. The vocal range exhibited with Garanca here could be sung by any Bel Canto Soprano (yes, Soprano...) without much ado...One can only speculate that this range would be nicely covered by Callas even at the later stage of her carrier and even in the later condition of her voice, but would bring us much more authority, drama and substance than what we hear with Garanca.

The other mezzo to consider (and to prefer to Garanca), is the more matured, with an amazingly even-voice and a great range and that singer is Jennifer Larmore.

Jennifer Larmore is mistakenly categorized as a Mezzo-Soprano.
In the real-world of operatic voices she should be considered as a scarce rare breed of ALTO with coloratura and with an extended top range;
The voice has an Alto timber for sure; it is very even and it is obvious immediately that it is cut out of the same cloth (contrary to Horne's voice). It is amazing how this voice can shift gear and stay on the notes and in perfect pitch all across the diapason. And mind you - the voice does not miss a thrill, a coloratura ornamentation or Bel-Canto property, that is: the intervals between notes are clean without hang-over and the reach into the note is straight into the pitch and not taken from under the pitch only to fight upwards to get into it (the way it is with some singers from the Slavic/Russian school - aka Netrebko...)

Larmore CD "Callme Mister" encompass all male roles sung by Mezzo-Sopranos and other travesty roles;
One fels that the voice is there as a willing instrument (unlike the somewhat rebellious instrument held by Horne or Callas where the listener gets the feeling that the singer places great effort to produce the sound...)
On that Larmore CD (Callme Mister) the arias by Rossini, Bellini, Meyerbeer and Gluck - takes Larmore into a direct straight head-on competition with various recordings made by Horne.
The outcome is amazing; this Alto-coloratura voice of Jennifer Larmore encompasses a true wide range of notes which are sung with great ease and which has a top to bottom range without the need to push a lower note into the chest-voice (there is no chest-voice as such with Larmore because the voice can get as low as needed and with the right impact and power).

Mind you; Larmore included on her "Callme Mister" CD the very rarely recorded Tchaikovsky Maid of Orleans (Jean-Darc) aria. It is enigmatic why this beautiful aria in its original Russian language was not recorded by the likes of Garanca, Netrebko, kasarova, and other Russian singers (Regina Resnik recorded it in Russian in the sixties, a recording that will bring chills to your spine though her voice sounded old, and matronly).
Well, Larmore has this aria on her CD and although it is sung in French - it is a very moving experience, a dramatic grep on the listener!

Another Mezzo that might one day surprise us all is the Russian Vesselina Kasarova, though Mme Kasarova has to go quite a long way in taming her Russian culture of voice, her pronunciations, and train herself more in the Bel-Canto pitch and breath-control (Kasarova, potentially has an impressive Contralto hue to her big lower register).

There are quite few recordings with Cecilla Bartoli that encompass the Vivaldi, handle, Rossini and their contemporary. Great singing from Bartoli they are and important source for discovering the Bel Canto wider repertoire.
However: Cecilia Bartoli has a smaller voice, one that is not directly associated with the big scale operatic roles taken by Horne. Bartoli's voice is more at home with the domain of concert arias, and though it has a greater flexibilities and pitch accuracy than that exhibited by Horne, that limpidness of the voice and the astounding Bartili's coloratura scales is achieved by a very tight control on the output; meaning, she shifts her voice ever so quickly by "economy" if you will, or by forehand scaling it down, reducing it into the mezzo-voce out pour or sometimes even into the sotto-voce output range where it is easier on the vocal-cords to shift from note to note while leaving the inner part of the palatal quite relaxed.
This said, no one should dismiss Bartoli's artistry and huge contribution to the Bel-Canto repertoire and almost all of her recordings should be seriously studied by those intended in tackling sooner or later the Bel-Canto singing technique.

In the meantime, this CD by Horne is a guide, a bearing torch, a must for all students of the Bel Canto art.