Blog power

There's been a good deal of discussion lately concerning the wisdom or otherwise of blogs by opera singers: how frank is too frank, and so forth. Many intelligent observations have been made - along with a few slightly over-the-top ones - and I won't add to all of that. However, if I may, allow me to be a little more commercially minded about the issue, and say this: they're an awfully good marketing tool. Or at least, they are to someone as easily swayed as myself. You sing, you start a blog, I read it: I want to hear you. And it's not just my curiosity you win: provided your blog entries do you credit (which is the case for the vast majority of the singers' blogs I've seen so far) you also win my good opinion. If and when I do hear you, I'll want from the very beginning to like you. We can all be as high-minded as we like but singing, and the love of certain singers, is a deeply personal matter, and personality - of both listener and singer - counts for a lot. Which is in my view is exactly as it should be. I've never claimed to be objective; and if I did you wouldn't believe me.

None of this is my point, however. This is: reading La Belle Canadienne's blog has made me long to hear her sing. I haven't so far (I did consider staying up until 6am for a Così webcast but didn't manage to last the distance.) But, degrees of separation and all that: in Melbourne I ran across a copy of Elina Garanča's Mozart Arias. Elina Garanča! I thought. She was Dorabella to Canadienne's Fiordiligi! Alright, I'll buy that then. Simple as that. No, perhaps not quite that simple: I also thought, what fabulous blue eyes. She must be an equally fabulous mezzo soprano.

My terribly superficial decision-making process has been vindicated. Evidently she makes a magnificent Dorabella, if her 'Smanie implacabili' here is anything to go by; and the eyes do not lie: her voice is just as beautiful as those eyes told my shallow self it would be. I've rarely heard a more arresting beginning to a recital disc than her commanding 'Chi sa, chi sa, qual sia': the sort of introduction after which one simply wouldn't dare not listen to the rest. In 'Deh, se piacer mi vuoi' she is an incandescent Vitella; and 'Misero pargoletto' is a fourteen minute vocal tour de force.

Impulse buys haven't always panned out wonderfully for me. This one, however, is looking increasingly like a winner. Playing it now, as I write, I'm discovering ever more to like: it all augurs well. A delicious discovery.

Comments

[Mezzogregory]

Sorella Prima,

I have the most glorious opportunity here to tell you that I heard Canadienne's Pamina last week. I'd heard her sing before, but truly, her Mozart is a gift. I'm evil for "Ach ich fühl's" and I was transported. Full tone and pianissimi were to die for. Even all across the voice and a blessedly honest performer with a truly intuitive artistry. Canadienne may not be a fame seeker, but if she keeps singing like she did for us, fame will seek her and she will have to hide.