Rossini: Semiramide - Bel raggio Lusinghier - June Anderson

Met, 1990.

[@TheLOVEELINA]

Que du BONHEUR Voix fantastique et Interprétation fantastique

[@AllenFigueredo5]

Being objective, in this very aria she surpassed all other singers from the 20th century's second half 🎉

[@opheliumzone4671]

which tells you how bad opera is now

[@hervecarbuccia9929]

Qui pourra faire mieux? Là, je pense que June Anderson a atteint la perfection en tout: précision des vocalises, puissance vocale, style et splendeur du timbre!

[@TaylorHawley-u1j]

Her sparkling Colouratura is spot on flawlessly exacuted. Goosebumps. The Queen of High E's. Right?

[@otyliaostrowska-jouie5455]

I love Dame Joan Sutherland, but this performance was amazing as well

[@azbycx56]

That really is beautiful and tasteful singing

[@mremilvbg]

Never get tired of listening to this. Amazing performance ❤️

[@陳科祕書長]

The staging of Metropolitan Opera always has high standards, and so are the costumes of the artists and the cast of the performers.

[@sebastianomuddolon1617]

Superb coloratura!

[@Vogeln]

Wow. A dramatic coloratura. Amazing!

[@MiguelArcangel-zi7xd]

Maravillosa aria en la voz potente de June Anderson. con sobre agudos claros y brillantes, grandes agilidades. una belleza de presentacion.

[@dorionjones9069]

She sings this aria like it was written specifically for her and I love it! 💐

[@robert111k]

Not really. All those notes above A5 are not in the score. Rossini wrote the role for his then wife, the great Isabel Colbrán, whose voice was already seriously damaged in 1824.

[@bvdswqawe11]

@@robert111k Well, then she made it her own....Brava Ms. Anderson

[@claudioalbanese427]

Che spettacolo di Artista e cantante 💐💐👏👏👏👏👏🎼

[@jaimesagaseta1673]

Allucinante ❤🎉

[@mniambrum]

I hope I have met at least once such a 'voice' queing or walking down the street or in the same city, breathing the same air. Amazing people.

[@arniekevinvalera8166]

Whenever I listen to this aria, June Anderson will always be my gold standard. Thank you for this wonderful rendition.

[@16toulousse]

June Anderson superb. Brava 💕

[@lindsaymilessings]

Absolutely superb!

[@rosaliaspanosinger]

❤ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Grazie, bellissima interpretazione!!! 😍😍

[@jamesmiller6244]

Just simply the greatest

[@kennydhd8198]

Glorious Singing. Her Voice

[@rosy3385]

Sublime June Anderson ❤❤❤

[@wotan10950]

Probably the best Bel Raggio ever recorded, even surpassing Dame Joan. I attended this performance at the Met; it was a Saturday evening performance, and I had already seen the Saturday matinee of Salome, with Hildegard Behrens. A long day, to be sure, but the most extraordinary singing, especially Anderson/Horne/Ramey. James Conlon conducted both operas; I don't know how he had the stamina to do it.

[@fan2jnrc]

​@@Mandolino82You're joking. She's good but nothing even close to Anderson's performance.

[@meltzerboy]

@@fan2jnrc And Anderson is good, very good, but she is no Sutherland.

[@fan2jnrc]

​@@meltzerboyIn this aria, she's better than Sutherland. The timbre of the voice is purer and the coloratura sharper.

[@meltzerboy]

@@fan2jnrc I am no Sutherland fanatic. Although I greatly admire her singing, I am also critical of her in certain roles and arias. However, she was the Semiramide of our time, just as Adelina Patti was of her time. June Anderson is a great singer and she shines in this aria. There is no doubt about that. But I stand by my previous comment with regard to both sheer voice and technique: Anderson is no Sutherland.

[@GLBinNP]

I saw this, the best opera performance I've ever seen, perhaps (the whole opera). ❤❤

[@CallasAfrica]

Back when coloratura still had legato

[@smurf902]

Indeed. Instead of the super fast choppy aspirated bullshit that Bartoli started and everyone tries to copy.

[@opheliumzone4671]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@cadoh8143]

Ninguém é melhor que ninguém. Todas são únicas.

[@sharongreene2482]

SHE'S JUST AGELESS❤❤❤

[@yurorega1148]

Siempre tuvo una voz bellísima!

[@jeanpierredevos3137]

Fantastic

[@joeygodin8861]

This is a home run.

[@danawinsor1380]

Definitely out of the park.

[@antoniogiusti9939]

VERAMENTE STRATOSFERICA!!!!! FORSE RIESCE A SUPERARE PERFINO LA DIVINA SUTHERLAND!!!! FORSE!!!!

[@FranciscoFerrerGaliana1930]

Simplemente maravillosa.!!

[@AlessandroPasotti]

Playing an instrument well is difficult but singing well is much more difficult. My father always told me this. And he was right...!

[@schneevongestern9898]

Better than Callas and Sutherland. She sings this divinely well. Haven't heard any better in this aria.

[@CallasAfrica]

Callas must not even be brought into the context where Semiramide has a concerned…. Had she sung it in 1952 where she did Armida we’d be talking a different story.

[@markdarenvillanueva7740]

@@CallasAfrica true. Callas' Armida would make all Soprano like amateurs.

[@schneevongestern9898]

​@@CallasAfricathe thing is, the prime of callas was VERY short. Her vocal decline started before 1955. In her prime, she was miraculous. Her accuracy and skill were beyond. But I find it debatable to define a singer only by their vocal prime of maybe 5 years, if that. Yes, in those very few years she was almost unsurpassable. But in her career after the mid 50s her vocal decline was immense. In 1960 she was only 37(!). The same age, where Joan Sutherland bathed in absolute vocal glory. Usually singers experience their absolute prime around their mid 30s. Callas experienced hers before 30. And by no means I want to bash or discredit or disregard her. I admire her deeply. But I strictly disagree with calling callas the absolute one best singer. She was miraculous in her own way. So was Sutherland. So was Gruberova. So was Flagstad. So was Schwarzkopf. So was Hallstein. Sutherland slayed Händel. Gruberova slayed Zerbinetta. Schwarzkopf owned Lieder. Hallstein was the epitome of a lyric coloratura. And Callas in her prime incarnated Belcanto. They all were sublime and irreplaceable and beyond competition in their own right. And yes, I still say June Anderson sings this song better than anyone else I have ever heard. How casually and seamlessly she flies through the coloratura fireworks at the end, perfect legato, perfect staccato, perfectly in tune, lovely and even tone of voice, no allures, no exaggerated drama, just perfect and exquisite singing, with a charming smile on her face and looking elegantly gorgeous, that's just outstanding. None of the singers mentioned above could sing this like June Anderson does here.

[@MiguelArcangel-zi7xd]

Es que has escuchado poco.

[@schneevongestern9898]

@@MiguelArcangel-zi7xd if you don't speak English, don't comment on an English comment. It's pretty pointless.

[@РаузалияГиваргизова-ъ3ж]

Брависсимо!!!!

[@vofilangi7829]

May I ask how you got this? I'd love to purchase the opera digitally or a DVD if that's the only option. I really love this, it's incredible. I hope you see this! Thank you.

[@canalsoloparaverunvideodem8451]

You can find it in DVD in ARTHAUS MUSIK, and it's the best film of a Rossini opera I know of. Fantastic singers (June Anderson, Marilyn Horne, Samuel Ramey...), great conducting and orchestra, top-notch staging and costumes... it doesn't get better than this

[@vofilangi7829]

@@canalsoloparaverunvideodem8451 thank you! I looked on the website and tried many different DVD searches but I cannot find one of this opera :(. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[@canalsoloparaverunvideodem8451]

@@vofilangi7829 I don't know if it was discontinued, it's quite old now

[@wotan10950]

2024: there are many copies on eBay for a very good price.

[@gerardmignon700]

C'est aussi beau que Sutherland, mais avec elle on comprends ce qu'elle chante.

[@fan2jnrc]

C'est mieux que Sutherland parce que le timbre est plus pur, et les passaggi absolument parfaits. C'est un laser.

[@frankiewally1891]

who conducted this performance of the Semiramide ?

[@elprimoespinosa]

James Conlon

[@frankiewally1891]

@@elprimoespinosa dzieki/thanks

[@wotan10950]

@@elprimoespinosa And he conducted Salome (with Behrens) earlier the same day! I don’t know how he found the strength!

[@mchsongs]

she is a killer!!!

[@garysmith394]

An excellent performance even if the ending was a little disappointing. This puts the version by Cecilia Bartoli to shame.

[@oliviero.m750]

June Anderson often added a High-E at the end of the aria, but not this time I guess it was the conductor’s requirement

[@foropera]

Maybe she omits it because in Rossini, there is no high note at the end of an aria, following the musicologists of Rossini's foundation of Pesaro. This did not prevent Ramey and Horne from often adding it at the end of their arias and duets.

[@wotan10950]

Since I attended both performances that make up the final tape, I can tell you that she sang a high-E in the first portion on both; sang the high-E at the end of one performance; skipped it in the next one. I don’t think James Conlon had a preference, he was conducting Salome at the same time, sometimes on the same day (matinee & evening). The only explanation is that Anderson wasn’t interested in doing the exact same variants at every performance, or she was simply too tired to take yet another high-E.

[@wotan10950]

Although Anderson’s rendition is my favorite, Bartoli and DiDonato are closer to what Rossini heard in his own time. His wife was not a high-note soprano, more of a high mezzo, and her sustained tones were not good, so the music moves around quickly. Anderson (and Sutherland) may put Bartoli to shame, with all their variants and high notes, but Bartoli is what Rossini had in mind.

[@DukeofDarkCorners]

@@wotan10950 And there are signs of footage from both performances being used for this video. For example a discrepancy in Anderson's hands when the camera angle changes at 5:56. So perhaps we should conclude Anderson, or the producers, were not satisfied with the final high-E as performed the first night. Either that or they didn't get a decent close-up of that moment on the first night.