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Customer Reviews of The Art of Singing - Golden Voices of the Century

With Caruso, the greatest tenor of all ages, while we are hearing him sing, we only have his photos, or else a couple of clips singing something else in some other silent films. The only clip that he actually sang and act was the sextet. But the camera covers almost all six singers at the same time and the sextet lasted but a few minutes. And the sound, archive that was, so are most of the other clips, is acceptable: we can clearly hear what and how he sang albeit that there is some slight surface noise.

For Gigli, the one who sang with a "perfect control of his breath", we only have a Handel accompanied by a pipe organ. And even though the sound occasionally slightly cracked in the high register, the recording and particularly the music is wonderful. Simply one of the best rendition of the piece, whatever instrument you're talking about. We also have a bonus of seeing how recording studio was operated at the time.

Then we have a short clip of Chaliapin singing. Rachmaninov the composer/pianist was a great fan of this singer. His singing is a mixture of singing, talking, preaching and sighing all at once, but never shouting or screaming however suppressed that might be (none of the singers in this DVD are, as opposed to some singers nowadays). Similar to Chaliapin would be Pinza and Christoff.

We have two clips of Martinelli, one an operetic aria and the other non operatic. The way he sangs is timeless and his voice is even better than Domingo. We also have de Luca who sang with a most "perfect legato", and then Schipa whose sang so softly "with words falling onto the lips with the breath keeps them running". And then we have Stepheno, the long time partner of callas whose "diction" is unbelievable. We also have Lawrence Tebbett, with his super charisma equipped with such a "dark voice between bass and baritone that is ringing in the top register". We also have Corelli with a most beautiful voice. He is more handsome then any Hollywood film star and his way of singing is the most modern. We also have an intriguing clip of Wunderlich singing an arai from The Magic Flute. And of course, we also have Bjoring who is far more appealing than Pavoratti singing Boheme...

For the lady singers, we have Sutherland. We have lots of her in DVD, but this one was shot when she was at her very prime and this is one of the most technically demanding arias wonderfully performed. We also have the "dramatic intensity" of Olivero which is shattering, not just overwhelming. Yes, there is also The American Beauty of the Metropol, Rise Stevens. This clip is gorgous both sound and sight...

Yes, there are a lot more. A whole varieties of singing, not just the stereotype of singing most audiences are given nowadays. If you want to see and hear the secrets or the limits of human voices, you can't possibly miss this one!

PS: Yet, my maid once told my daughter that she does like classcial singing ( Renee, Price, Sutherland... whatever). She said the way they sing is not natural, even if not awful. Her favourite would be George Harrison, one of the Beatles. I don't argue with her: there was a time when I shut myself away from classical singing altogether, particuarly the female singers. But I advised my daughter to take note of the powerfulness of communication and the emotional depth of the classical singing... Nonetheless, I reckon that classical music lovers around the world totalled about 5% of the population or even less, and very soon the future audience will find even the most modern singers awful, particularly in view of the fact that cultivating the passion for classical singing takes years, if not generations. But there got to be something that is more intransient if not really eternal and that got to be the classics, the real classics.

awful
The sound is horrible. But worst, the singers all are squeaky and awful. Callas is the worst of all. Today's singers are far better. Viva Renee Fleming. In the recent past...Viva Nilsson, Price, Sutherland, Sills, and Caballe.
But the singers from Caruso to Callas are awful.
Sorry.

IRRESISTIBLE
Yes, all music lovers should see it.

But out of the singers with a clip here, not many were at their best. One exception is Martinelli, who is one way or the other better than any of the three so-called greatest tenors today; and Bjorling sang with more ease and musicality than Pavoratti. Gigli sang a song that was most splendid. Tibbet was charming, but Tauber wasn't equally impressing. And the clip of Chaliapin is so short. Sadly we have so little of Caruso and Callas. Each of them deserve 5 to 6 hours (if not days). Caruso only appeared on a silent film taking a part in a sextet however wonderful that might be; and Callas' clip was not quite her best. But we don't have much more available and the DVD is already as long as 116 minutes!

We also have some invalable commentators including Martineli himself, Thomas Hampson, Rescignom...etc. I have gone through it at least 4 to 5 times by now and I will go back to it before long. Great Stuff, simply irresistible.