Great singers: what sets the best apart from the rest?

WE live in an age blessed with a multitude of good singers. Every year, training programs around the world churn out thousands of young opera artists, well schooled and eager to put their talents to use.

But what about great singers? How do our singers today compare with various legendary golden ages that produced the likes of Schroeder-Devrient, or Galli-Curci, or Nilsson? And, for that matter, exactly what is greatness in opera? Where does it come from, and what attributes distinguish it from mere competence?

These are thorny questions, to be sure, but fortunately quite a few people in this country are willing to take a stab at answering them. (It's often been noted in the pages of this magazine that Canada has produced many fine singers. Similarly, we possess no lack of people with strong views about singing.)

We asked four experts, people who have, in one way or another, made the evaluation of singers an important part of their lives. All have been involved in the world of operatic music, either as a coach, a teacher or a broadcaster. And of course, all are intelligent listeners who frequent opera theatres and concert halls.

Remarkably, given the way singing is sometimes discussed in almost mystical terms, our ad-hoc panelists were pretty much down-to-earth in their observations. And even more remarkably, it seems they agree on a few key points--not always about individual singers, of course, but on the importance of distinctiveness, inspiration, emotion and commitment.

Conspicuously absent from oar experts' comments were remarks about diction, range, agility or intonation, although these technical qualities may simply be assumed where greatness is concerned. Be that as it may, one conclusion is clear: to please today's critics, aspiring singers would do well to take the dramatic aspects of their art every bit as seriously as the musical.

Alan Aberbach

Alan Aberbach is a retired professor who can't quite bring himself to retire. After teaching history at Simon Fraser University for many years, he's now director of opera studies at the Vancouver-area university. As well, he's the founder of the Vancouver Opera Club, is a frequent guest on CBC Radio and is the author of three books about Wagner. For him, singing and drama are inextricably bound together.

"What excites me most," he says, "is the way the voice is used to express feelings and text. I like a beautiful voice, but I look for communication. I'd rather hear a singer who doesn't have a great voice, but who communicates. Teresa Stratas would sometimes sacrifice vocal beauty to get into the role."

There are a few singers nowadays who fulfill Aberbach's criteria. "Cecilia Bartoli is one of my favorites, and David Daniels can make a role believable. Roberto Alagna certainly has a good voice--he's a good actor, too." However, he reserves his warmest feelings for artists whose glories lie in the past. "I must admit that these days, there are not many voices that excite me. Where are the Tebaldis and the Milanovs? With Vickers, Callas and Rysanik, whether it was great singing or not, you left a performance drained, and you were happy to be drained. These days, singers are attracted to the glitter and money that come with singing. There's no question that too many voices are singing roles too young."

Ultimately, Aberbach regards the voice as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. "I want passion and feeling and excitement. Without that, what good is opera?" he asks rhetorically. "Technique is indispensable, but it doesn't mean you have to sacrifice emotion. I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too."

Catherine Belyea

Catherine Belyea is well known to radio-listeners in and around Toronto as the host and producer of Sunday Night at the Opera, on CFMX (Classical 96). She became hooked on opera in the early 1970s, when she heard a Sadler's Wells double bill of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle.

First of all, she stresses the distinction between opera in the theatre and opera on disc. And--perhaps surprisingly for a radio announcer--her most cherished moments are drawn from live performances: the time she heard Leonie Rysanek as Salome in Vienna, for example, or a Canadian Opera Company performance of Jenufa several years ago.

Listening to opera on disc, she points out, makes it easy to be more critical. However, one recording that meets with her unqualified praise is Decca's 1999 Rusalka, featuring Ben Heppner. She also speaks fondly of Michael Schade's Das Lied von der Erde recording with the Vienna Philharmonic.

Unlike some listeners, she rejects the notion that opera is an art in decline. "A lot of old Met broadcasts have been issued on recordings," she says, "and to hear these performances from the 1940s today in the hall, we would think them mannered and silly. But audiences went bananas for them. It's like hairstyles--there's a certain fashion element that creeps in."

Belyea readily recalls great operatic performances she's heard (indeed, they seem to have left an indelible mark on her soul), but she's less inclined to keep a mental catalogue of singers she considers to be great. Deborah Voigt? Not really. Kiri Te Kanawa? Yes, she was, but only in certain roles, especially Strauss. Angelika Kirschlager is perhaps a great singer. David Daniels unquestionably is. For Belyea, great singers are, by definition, quite rare.

And what traits do the great share? "There's something extra-musical about them--there's something more than what they just get off the page. I describe it as `heart.' That's a quality that can make singers appear like divas or divos; they can insulate themselves from what's going on around them." Belyea pauses: "But then, you could say that about a lot of bad singers as well."

Richard Turp

Richard Turp puts his encyclopedic knowledge of opera to many good uses: he's director of Montreal's Andre Turp Musical Society (a recital series named after his celebrated tenor father) and the Lachine Summer Festival. He's also a radio producer for the CBC and a teacher at the Universite de Montreal.

Turp begins his comments with two important qualifications: "The first thing I would say is that one person's definition of a great singer is not someone else's. And there's a distinction to be made between great singers and great artists. Callas was a great artist, but not a great singer."

That said, he warms to the subject of singing with a philosophical observation. "I don't believe in golden-age periods. I see history as a river, with golden nuggets. On some occasions there seem to be more extraordinary talents, but overall, it's a continuous process. At the moment, I think if you look around, there are some technically remarkable singers, but also a remarkable number of genetic singers, with no personality per se."

Turp has measured words for the current state of vocal artistry. On the one hand, he's encouraged by recent developments in Baroque technique and repertoire; on the other, he decries the lack of Verdi singers and describes the performance of French repertoire these days as "a disaster." He also points out that some of the best singing heard today is not in the opera house at all but in concerts and recitals.

As for individual singers, he believes there are only 10 or 12 great singers in the world, including Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Renee Fleming, Anne Sophie von Otter and Rene Pape. He also hears the "seeds of greatness" in such young Canadians as Isabel Bayrakdarian and James Westman, and he has several personal favorites, such as Russian baritone Vladimir Galouzine.

"If they have anything in common," he muses, "it's the way they can enlighten whatever they're singing, making it completely truthful. They will sing a phrase or a role they've sung countless times before, and illuminate it, bringing a revealing element. Sometimes they do it in spite of themselves--but they do it."

David Stanley-Porter

David Stanley-Porter lives in London, Ont., and holds a Ph.D. in classics. However, he's best known as a tireless opera-appreciation teacher and tour guide at Toronto's Canadian Opera Company. In his decades of listening to opera around the world, he's developed some strong opinions about musical matters.

"It's the individual timbre that makes a great voice for me," he declares. "Great singers are people like Samuel Ramey, who have a unique timbre. Janet Baker had it, too. So many sopranos don't sound different from one another, but Regine Crespin had a quality all her own. A lot of people sing gloriously, but don't have much interpretive ability. When you hear a sound that stands out, that's very exciting."

But for Stanley-Porter, a distinctive voice is just the beginning. "A great voice is one thing, a great performer on stage is something else. On stage, the most important thing is to bring the character alive, as Jon Vickers did. Teresa Stratas's voice doesn't thrill me particularly, but when you see what she does on stage, you realize she's a really great singing actress."

Stanley-Porter rejects the concept of a golden ages as "a myth," but he does lament what he feels is a current lack of outstanding younger tenors. And, like Aberbach, he believes today's singers are pressed to sing big roles at too young an age. "Nowadays, as soon as the record companies hear singers with potential, they're recording them, they're pushing them into big halls. It all happens too fast."