Tuesday, November 14
Bazajet Recording Sessions
In case you missed it, someone from Türkiye has posted the videos from the bonus DVD from Fabio Biondi's 2006 EMI Classics recording of Vivaldi's opera Bazajet. They feature performances of several of the virtuosic arias filmed during the recording session itself.
Vivica Genaux's buccal articulations? Ildebrando d'Arcangelo's secure and easy top notes? Patrizia Ciofi's slutty gesticulating and blow job faces? There is so much going on here. I know I am always talking about Genaux and this damn aria, but I really believe it is one of the most difficult pieces ever written for a singer. If your heart isn't beating out of your chest by the end of her performance, you need Jesus (and methamphetamines… and a male prostitute, you old, dead queen).
Here's the whole heap:
Comments
I am so gald this is on you tube as my copy of the DVD is damaged. Fantastic performances (D.Daniels is not one of my favorites, he (to me) always sounds like a bad M. Horne impersonator) but Genaux, Ciofi and Garanca are fantastic with Garanca as my favorite...what a beautiful voice and artist, and she is quite something to look at. Thanks again
This version of the aria is most likely done in several takes--I do not think that it gives an accurate protrayal of what she can actually do in the piece.
For that, one must go to the live broadcast that she did of this opera in Montpellier, France on 25 July 2006. There she manages the aria very well--not as ornamented as in both of her recorded versions, also not as pristine or accurately sung, but she displays a mastery of the style that is staggering none the less.
Also, if you can get your hands on the broadcast of Hasse's "Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra" it is well worth the listen. There she does not take the Farinelli role of Cleopatra, but the contralto role of Marc'Antonio.
i'm completely mesmerized by genaux's art!
the voice is so good
the style is perfect and brilliant
the vocal agility is breathtaking
i really didn't know her so much before reading and watching this...but now i can say i'm a fan!
your site is amazing...keep up with the good work!