Marina Rebeka takes on the killer role of Médée

THE SONGBIRD: Marina Rebeka sits at the top of the rosters of the major operatic houses in the world, singing a variety of lyric, dramatic, and coloratura roles. She was born in Riga, Latvia in 1980. After studying in Rome, she made her debut as Violetta in Germany in 2007 and quickly booked engagements with the major European opera festivals. She replaced Angela Gheorghiu in "La Traviata" at the Royal Opera in 2010 (and then repeated that feat by stepping in for Sonya Yoncheva in the same production there in 2015). Her Met debut came as Donna Anna in 2011 followed by appearances as Donna Elvira, Violetta, Musetta, Rossini's Mathilde, and Norma. As of this posting, she has four solo aria recital discs to her credit, two of which were produced by her own independent recording label "Prima Classic." Well done, Marina!
THE MUSIC: Luigi Cherubini's 1792 opera "Médée" is a French work. Yes, Cherubini was born in Italy, but at the age of 25 he moved to Paris and lived there for the rest of his life, another 57 years, and only used Louis, the French version of his name. The opera was written in France to a French libretto derived from a French play by Pierre Corneille. It was in the 1950s when Maria Callas discovered the work that its Italian edition became prevalent, though preferences appear to be tilting back to the authenticity of the French version. The title role is a tour-de-force vehicle for a dramatic soprano d'agilita as she fumes with rage at her betrayal by Jason and plots her revenge (murdering their two children, and poisoning his new wife).
Here are three experts:
00:00 Vous voyez de vos fils
06:11 Du trouble affreux qui me dévore
11:31 Eh quoi, je suis Médée & Finale

[@Arrigo1971]

I bought Spontini La Vestale with Marina Rebeca and it's absolutely superb. Can't remember a better cd opera lately. I do hope to watch her live.

[@tukibate666]

Marina's precise singing is very comfortable. thank you!😊

[@Godolia]

Rebeka was not well in those days and perhaps Medea's range is too low for her voice but this recording nevertheless shows that she is one of the best singers today and a very refined musician.

[@smtaz7631]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@BrianJosephMorgan]

"If you sing it slowly, you will lose the intensity." (Arturo Toscanini to Jan Peerce)

[@fabian9566]

@songbirdwatcher Personally, I think that your breathing technique is not correct, the sound you feel when you suck in the air is too noisy, it should be silent or at least not so exaggerated. The Famous #Medea that the #Divine #MaríaCallas exhumed in 1953 is a perfect vehicle for her and only her. #MariaCallas sang it in Italian, just like she sang Wagner, Mozart and Gluck, because at that time, Italians thought in Italian, for Italians. # MaríaCallas, she did not have a perfect technique, but she turned her defects into virtues at the service of expression. Why? Because #Medea requires perfect technique, having a voice that can handle reciting singing, chest register, and the ability to seduce (as in the scene with #Creon where she seduces him to let him be alone for a day), and in the Final Act where a true demon is unleashed. Other #Medeas: The commercial recording of #SilviaSass, her diction was too Hungarian, she never managed in her too short career to achieve a perfect Italian diction and the fact of trying to imitate #MariaCallas at all times hurt her a lot. #GwynethJones, it is a version that wanders between Mozartian and Strauss sounds, it is a boring recording like few others in the history of recordings. #MontserratCaballe, it's pathetic, it's a horrible version with cuts, absence of singing, because the woman couldn't breathe and remained silent. And that lying obsession of saying that she and #MaríaCallas were friends, they were like sisters, and that she spoke with #MaríaCallas ten days before she died, is really pathetic, and not because #MariaCallas was unreachable, but because her death was close. #MariaCallas was sunk in a deep depression, and did not answer anyone on the phone, she was listening to her great recordings and crying uncontrollably for everything she had lost, for a man who used her while she served him and then abandoned her, and When he returned, she welcomed him with the hope of receiving a crumb of affection. #MarinaRebeka, a lyrical voice with coloratura (it's not even a Spinto Lyric), has a medium-flow voice. She has the characteristic that she can sing all the notes, but she has the limitation that she cannot characterize a role, she cannot move the audience, she is simply a note-singing machine, without any kind of emotion. Obviously, she is aware that she can't do more than she does, her chest register is weak. Her register in the middle zone is the best in her, and the acute zone of her is weak. I can only imagine, the Milan audience, thinking about the wonder that the #Divine was in this role and bored to death, with this lady's singing. #MarinaRebeka is a very beautiful woman, her voice is beautiful, but she fails to move the audience. I am a Singing Teacher, Master Repertorist, and Doctor in Musicology, so I have something to base the opinion I am giving on. I am not a "hater", I am a kind, polite and respectful human being.

[@operantly]

In terms of Ms. Rebeka’s breathing, it’s definitely worth noting she had tracheitis (due to inhaling irritants in the smoke during rehearsals, as far as I understand) throughout this run. She sang the first two performances and tried one more a few days later, but had to forfeit after the first act, after she started coughing while singing the end of the first aria. She’s still recovering now, and has had to cancel her second engagement in Milan, where she was supposed to sing the Guillaume Tell. She normally doesn’t breathe like that and I don’t think it’s constructive to determine whether she has good breathing technique based on this performance. I’m terms of her acting and capacity to emote and characterize a role, I must disagree with you, _especially_ when talking about this run specifically. I was there on the 26th and I remember being thoroughly impressed by her vocally - especially since that bout of cough made it obvious she was very much unwell, but really, regardless - and acting wise. I’ve since seen the recording from that day and I stand by my original perception. To each their own, obviously, but I found it an incredibly convincing performance. Maybe one of _her_ most convincing ones, and I consider her to very much exceed the average in general. I can also confirm that the rest of the audience I’ve heard from shared my appreciation, so no need to worry about our impending death by boredom. Lastly, I don’t want to dwell much on something that isn’t relevant to the video at all, but calling things boring, pathetic, and horrible, or other ways in which you’ve worded your criticism, isn’t particularly kind, respectful, or polite. I have no reason to question your qualifications and no intention to tell you you’re not allowed your opinions - even the particularly intense one about Caballé. Still, your approach and wording could be a lot more in line with your description of yourself.

[@VirginieLEVERT]

"She cannot move the audience" ??? Vous êtes donc le porte-parole de tout le public ? Que Marina Rebeka ne vous émeuve pas, je l'entends parfaitement. L'écoute est subjective, la musique est une émotion. Et nous n'entendons pas, nous ne ressentons pas tous les mêmes choses, nous ne vibrons pas de la même manière. Alors, s'il vous plaît, ne parlez pas pour moi quand vous parlez du "public". Personnellement, la voix de Marina Rebeka est l'une de celles qui m'émeuvent le plus actuellement . Et sa Médée (que j'ai vue à Berlin et à Milan ... the proof that "she moves the audience") m'a vraiment enthousiasmée.