Youtube Singers #9/#10

Elly Ameling!! How lovely are you!

I listened to Ms. Ameling sing Widmung by Schumann and heard a beautiful even tone throughout her voice... It all seemed to be in the 'tall, narrow space' we have spoken of in class... Her diction was clear, and the pianist and she seemed to be as one unit. One moment stuck out to me.. when she sings the word, "shmerz" the vowel seems to fall out of line and sounds lazy... though on a second listen it seems she is singing a messa di voce on that note, so perhaps that was purposeful. Ms. Ameling's high notes are so 'free-sounding' and the German text flows from her lips so effortlessly. Her breathing mechanism seems consistently activated, and it sounds that she uses that support on every note of the piece. Her hands being in front of her body seem to work for her.. I do not find it distracting.

I listened to our girl Elly sing Schumann's Seit ich ihn gesehen. The same beautiful voice erupts here, and the tone in the upper register is so stunning. I know that's not a real technical term... Her shifts between the upper and lower voice are so nonabrasive... No clicks are heard between the two. When I watch her, I don't feel she 'gets in the way' of the music. It is as though she is simply the vehicle for which the text is expressed.



Secondly, I listened to Jessye Norman sing for the first time... (Erlkonig by Schubert) Well, the girl has facial expression, and an ability portray the text with her body language, I'll give her that. It sounds that she has a healthy capability to manage her upper voice, and her lower register as well, expressing the various characters of the Erlkonig very effectively.
I could only handle watching the video that accompanied her singing this for so long on account of wild computer graphics, so I then listened to her sing, Dich teure Halle from Tannhauser. I kind of love it. She sings with such support, and her crescendos are very even. She does open her mouth really wide, but perhaps that's because she needs room to get the sound out?! She and the orchestra are partners in equal output and it seems to balance out well.