A young Samuel Ramey - Simon Boccanegra- A te l'estremo addio-Verdi-1980

Aix-en-Provence 1980.

[@Agorante]

Just one last comment. This is a favorite audition aria. It sounds difficult but is easy - that is if you are really a bass. It isn't super low and has no high notes at all. It's slow and has lots of breaks where you can catch a breath. No fioratura or soft high notes either. It's a perfect piece to sing if you are nervous. It demonstrates color. If you have the right color it makes a big impact.

[@thomastidswell7310]

Patrick Boyle i won the Harrogate Music Competition Opera Class 2014 singing it. It’s the full two octave range for an operatic Bass. It’s melodic , harmonic and emotive. The audience loved it! Sam Ramey does it justice but I reckon Ghiauarov really had the “solidity” ...Sam was/is Fabulous though he is The Russian has the edge.

[@xxsaruman82xx87]

@@thomastidswell7310 Bulgarian.

[@st14]

@@thomastidswell7310 The full 2 octave range?...

[@AIdem-ig9fq]

@@thomastidswell7310 F#/Gb2 - C#/Db4 www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=517

[@The_juice132]

@@thomastidswell7310uh dawg it’s low fsharp to D 😭

[@ArteconvivioItalia]

SPLENDIDO, non c'è che dire. Una delle migliori interpretazioni mai ascoltate!

[@giulianataramella1192]

Magnifico, voce stupenda, grande Ramey!

[@1965tifata]

Stupendo....voce bellissima ❤

[@mirjamdevries9376]

Stupefacente fa grave finale lunghissimo! Ma anche il resto è fantastico, anche gli acuti! 👍

[@DontfuckwithElton]

I believe the difficulty of this piece is not the singing, but the character development of Fiesco. This is one of the first things he sings and you have to show what kind of a person he is and his suffering with one aria. While it may be an "easy" sing (thank you, Verdi), the weight of character is not at all.

[@MagaliDamonteVocalCoach]

Pour moi la plus belle version ..de cet air ...Samuel Ramey for ever 🥰

[@ininacsot]

Magnifique,superbe, maintenant il faut dire que c'est un concert mais que cela est beau à entendre,merci

[@gaddovarzi6980]

A chi dice che Ramey non è un vero basso consiglierei di ascoltare il fa diesis finale. Impressionante.

[@MsSandtime]

What a performance he gaved .It was exceptionel,Excelent,magnifique.BRAVO SAM.

[@retiredsk8tr1953]

Thank you for this upload. I had this vinyl years ago and loved it. I believe the recital opened with a Carrissimi song.

[@giulianataramella1192]

Magnifico Ramey!

[@federicopatrizi3990]

mi piace molto, c'è una ragione particolare, sento il calore delle note e dell 'ugola davvero bella di samuel , molto bravo , tecnicamente non ho appunti da fare ......scenicamente poi è come un siepi , una bella presenza davvero sul palco , ho visto un mefistofele suo davvero molto bello e generoso come cantante .

[@gabriellaesposito9244]

Vorrei solo dire che per classificare una voce non c'è colore che tenga....dipende dal passaggio sul registro acuto,quindi ramey anche avendo una voce più chiara di alcuni baritoni è un basso e che basso!!!!

[@СеклитаЛимариха]

Люблю.

[@Agorante]

@raigekimaru Thank you for explaining that to me. I'm 69 in a few weeks. I have spent the whole morning working on the aria "Fra l'Ombre e Gl'ororore" that I intend to post soon. I posted a pretty good "Le Cor" about a week ago. I reached my prime about two hours ago.

[@wanderingtallguy6849]

Uno dei migliori. Ma a differenza di Samuel, Siepi le dinamiche le faceva eccome...

[@hcl_9169]

Best

[@Agorante]

I said sorry. The point I was trying to make was that when you listen to auditioners you consider the piece chosen. Goldovsky disparaged those who tried to show their scholarship by choosing obscure arias. He wanted to hear something familiar so he could judge the voice. I used to judge opera auditioners. When someone sang this I wouldn't learn much. Too easy. Ramey is the best Phillip of recent years. Any single phrase in 'Ella Giamai Mamo' is more diagnostic than this whole aria.

[@Agorante]

By my calculations Ramey was 39 when he recorded this. He had been the new star bass at The New York Opera for nearly a decade. This is young? Lanza died at 38.

[@Agorante]

A couple years ago Ramey was doing Phillip and Bucheladze the Inquisitor on a Met broadcast. It sounded like a wobble contest. That did not make me happy. Hines and Plishka started singing the King and later moved up to Ramfis. Then they sang about 35 roles a year. Siepi and Tozzi started at the top with Ramfis. Pape first sang the King and has only sung about a dozen roles per year. Pape mostly sings German roles, maybe that's why he is used so infrequently.

[@raigekimaru]

@Agorante basses reach their prime late, but the flip side is they can sound sexy at 80+

[@andrzejzborowski4920]

I would like to see a film about his famous hairstyle :)

[@drmiddos]

@TheLeonapa I just finished listening (very carefully) to Samuel Ramey's singing, and I don't understand to what you are referring when you say the low f# was comsi comsa; it sounded solid to me. I did not hear a change in timbre, intensity in his approach and maintaining the f#. Maybe you can elaborate on this, as my ear may not be as well-honed as yours.

[@retgrimes]

Why the faux critics who insist on being heard post here is nothing short of comical. Get a career, Asshole.

[@tonshaad1230]

What arias/recits. would you classify as Easy, Medium or Hard? As a baritone myself, I tend to often question the velocity of such pieces that I choose to sing. I mostly tend to stick to Rossini, Handel and some of Bellini, however as of most recent years I've dabbled with Mozart (though honestly, Mozart's aren't that good, IMHO.)

[@ininacsot]

Je pense que ce récit n'est pas facile et que là , c'est très beau.

[@Agorante]

@TheLeonapa Plishka didn't have a small voice. That's just not true. He sang a long, long time. Maybe you caught him late. He was not of course a low bass like Talvela, or Moll (or even me). He was however lower than Tozzi, Rootering or Pape.

[@raigekimaru]

@Agorante for a coloratura soprano, no; for a bass, yes, 39 is still fairly young. basses reach their vocal prime later than other voices.

[@ahoire]

magnificent!!! but... what a shame that he is accompanied by only a piano! imagine if it were a proper performance with a full orchestra!!!

[@merttalay9702]

He had a chance to play with kurt moll in Don Giovanni. Masters with masters

[@foropera]

and Kurt Moll had the chance to sing with the best Belcantist bass of the 20th century.

[@merttalay9702]

@@foropera Both guys are great talented singers

[@miguelalfaro966]

The best bass in history. People that say he has a small voice never hear him in person in a live concert or opera

[@aneamarlivana172]

I have heard him in person many times. Not a small voice. The first time I heard him live was in recital, with Warren Jones as pianist. When he came back after the intermission, the first on the program was Olin Blitch's Hymn of Repentance from the opera, "Susannah". Even though I had been listening to him for an hour before this, and knew that he had a large voice, when he hit the first note of the Susannah aria, I literally jumped in my chair.

[@emailvonsour]

lmao what

[@Agorante]

Yes I meant performances. I still sing a pretty good Fasolt and Fafner. Get me a gig!

[@Agorante]

It all depends of course on your strengths and weaknesses. 'Vi Raviso' from Somnabula is pretty easy. The Drum Major's song is hard for a real bass as are most Handel arias. Dark voices are often stiff. If you have good soft high notes 'Vecchia Zimarra' is easy, if not it's hard to make a positive impression. Many Rossini buffo parts are very high and long. The serious ones can be crazy florid.

[@jackbigbug]

Ma è lui?

[@foropera]

jackbigbug what disturbs you, the youth if his voice , fast vibrato, or his photos? ;)

[@veryoriginalchannel]

@TheLeonapa F, not F#.

[@DontfuckwithElton]

I agree with that quote. However, if you really want an exceptional performance of a piece, notes are just half the battle. The music of an aria or opera is not the total spectrum of it. The story, libretto, and the way a character is portrayed are equally as important as the notes sung. Seldom do such grand singers such as Milnes get away with just singing notes. Their understanding of who the character is and what he/she is singing is essential as well. Please don't call me silly, sir.

[@miguelalfaro966]

Trate de escuchar: Ah perche la conobbi de Il viaggio a Reims, con Samuel Ramey mas joven. La critica destructiva no conduce a nada bueno.Si uno no va a decir algo bueno de alguien es mejor no abrir la boca, ni aun cuando uno crea que es " mejor'. Sigo creyendo que ha sido el mejor bajo de la historia.Sin demeritar a los demas.

[@pinotermini1868]

Dopo quella di GIULIO NERI, la piu' bella voce di basso

[@Agorante]

Sorry but that's just silly. This isn't an acting piece. Sherrill Milnes once said "If you haven't got the notes, it doesn't matter how you take off your gloves". Most of the young American basses who sing this aria at auditions don't speak Italian and don't know the opera. This is not such a good aria for Ramey because anyone can sing it, and he is capable of singing stuff no other mortal can quite manage.

[@adriendjouadouhatcherian-s1858]

Patrick Boyle I want to kill myself with despair just reading that comment.

[@pablokabaliere7260]

Ramey here sounds very low and dark . An BASS baritone .

[@patrickcristian376]

Ramey it’s a bass not a bass baritone 😂

[@TheLeonapa]

ok wonderfull but the low f# was comsi comsa including the not nice vivrato brings to me the memory of another metropolitan bass Paul Plishka who had the smallest bass voice ever who also had an inaudible lowf# who like this bass used to say pregga maria per mUUUUUUUUUU

[@heron520]

ad avercene bassi cosi'..........tutti a pensare ai colori delle voci, alle tecniche, ma sentite il fraseggio........il personaggio c'e' tutto...........mah.

[@Agorante]

Opera is not right venue for the lowest male voices (or female either). You have to be heard over a chorus and orchestra unamplified. You need a big High F. Church choirs often have a bass who has great low notes but can't sing above Middle C. They will never be soloists. Moll is about as low as a conventional opera singer can be and still be employable. Pape has too bright a color for my tastes. Ramey's voice is well placed. Excellent high notes, excellent low notes.