I prefer the tone of Fleming to Callas, Bostridge to Pavarotti. The former are more so pure trumpets, less human, all voice. The latter are the legends, and I adore their legacies, but there's too much gut in the voice. Maybe it's just a shift in the world's taste over time, or maybe it's my taste vs the world's. Not that the former are neglected... they just aren't deified.
In fact, someone like Fleming even has too much gut in the voice, to be a quintessential soprano. Add a spoonful of Enya and she'd be perfect.
I listened to Verdi's Requiem and substantially preferred it to Rigoletto and Don Carlo. It serves a different purpose of course, but being a long dramatic work of Verdi I didn't think it'd stand so tall beside the others. It's better in every way: the lyrical lines, the irae, it all hits harder and with less cheese. It compels me to Otello, Traviata, etc. I know this man writes music!
Tonight is La Boheme at the Teatro in Rome
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