![]() ![]() Mihai takes all of this in his stride, and sings with the ease of one performing a renaissance madrigal. The final section is pure Rossini - a joy to listen to but absolute hell to sing! Extended coloratura at break-neck speed, chromatic ascending and descending runs, Bb4's galore, and the tessitura is firmly around the G4 mark for the whole section. To finish with, the final perfect cadence on the repeat of the word "showr'd" drops to Db3, the lowest note in the whole aria. Mihai's speed, flexibility and agility imbues this most wonderful compositional device with both sweetness and enchantment: refusal is not an option! Of course, the word "blessings" is the highlight of the phrase, and as such receives an ascending coloratura run up to Ab4, just as the word "fairest" did in the previous phrase. The use of these runs is to musically alliterate the verb "to shower" which ends the line. "All sweet delights and blessings/ Will love upon thee show'r" The next part of the B section is the exquisit use of demi-semi-quaver hexlets and hemi-demi-semi-quaver descending runs on each syllable in the line: Mihai uses the lightest touches to run between the various arpeggios, and opens out to a fuller resonance on the Ab4 which highlights the word "fairest" in the phrase above. Let us enjoy in liberty/ Long days of love and pleasure!" "Forget now thy days of tyranny/ Look up, my fairest treasure, The effect is that of a slow dance a playfulness in the vocal line which matches the sentiment of the libretto: The melodic line here is a particularly lovely one, moving from the Dominant, to the Mediant, to the Leading Note, and finally onto the Tonic. The B section modulates into Db maj, and is marked Andante. Remember, this is a Tenor aria, the last one of the opera, and this is only the A section! Yet Mihai is completely unphased by this rather evil piece of Rossini writing, and drives onwards towards the next section. One particularly horrible bar of coloratura is placed squarely around the G4 mark with a throw-away Bb4 chucked in just for fun. Mihai deals with this easily, resorting neither to heavy aspiration nor to slurring. The A section has the tenor leaping or running mostly between F3 and A4, with some quick-running key modulations during the semi-quaver and demi-semi-quaver coloratura. The Bb maj aria starts abruptly at 0:54 with a demi-semi-quaver run from the unison strings, launching the Tenor into a perfect cadence through the major triad stepping down from the dominant to the tonic via the mediant. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |