| scaram87 20.12.2009 16:28 |
Hey A few days ago I was watching a report in ORF (Austrian TV) about a Christmas concert in Vienna, where Montserrat Caballe and Al Bano Carrisi (Italian singer) sang a few songs together. There was also a very short interview with Montserrat in German, where she was asked whether singing with Al Bano Carrisi was similar to her experience with Freddie (I try to translate the interview from German). And she answered:" No, that was different. He (and I think, she referred to Al Bano Carrisi there!) has a voice and hits high notes. We are not rock". I don't know whether I misunderstood her or whatever, because this statement is very disrespectful towards Freddie, isn't it? I always thought that Montserrat had a lot of respect for Freddie. What do you think about this? |
| theCro 20.12.2009 16:40 |
i think someone should FIRST TRANSLATE INTERVIEW then say or guess what she meant, and not try to judge not completely understandable interview.. by the way she was never disrespectful towards Freddie, so i don't think she was this time either, you got this wrong probably.. |
| scaram87 20.12.2009 17:14 |
Of course you are right, she was always very disrespectful towards him and that's why I was so surprised about the interview. Maybe I misunderstood something, but I really think my translation is correct. Probably she wanted to express something different with her words, I don't know... I didn't want to offend her or anybody, sorry, but I didn't make anything up. [img=/images/smiley/msn/wink_smile.gif][/img] |
| john bodega 21.12.2009 01:12 |
She's right though. Freddie wasn't an opera singer. People should stop getting offended at the idea of him not being able to hold his own against actual opera singers. As a rock singer trying operatic stuff, he was great, but but if you were to judge him by any real standard ... it's very average. And I liked some of the Barcelona stuff, so I'm not shitting on him or anything. He just wasn't an opera guy. |
| mike hunt 21.12.2009 03:24 |
I'm starting too change my opinion regarding opera singers being superior to other type of singers anyway.....Sure, A rock singer like freddie couldn't sing opera, but what does that prove?....Can you see a real opera guy trying too sing stone cold crazy or tie your mother down?.....Actually, I think a singer like freddie sings way more different styles than a lot of opera singers who basically stick to that one style. |
| dragon-fly 21.12.2009 07:15 |
I'm agree with guys here. Even if she said so, why is it disrespectful? It's a truth. Freddie wasn't an opera singer, and it's not a wonder why he couldn't hit some high notes which that singer can. The difference between rock and opera does mean something. |
| Amazon 21.12.2009 07:28 |
mike hunt wrote: I'm starting too change my opinion regarding opera singers being superior to other type of singers anyway.....Sure, A rock singer like freddie couldn't sing opera, but what does that prove?....Can you see a real opera guy trying too sing stone cold crazy or tie your mother down?.....Actually, I think a singer like freddie sings way more different styles than a lot of opera singers who basically stick to that one style. I don't think that opera singers are superior to other types of singers in any way. Music is more than opera, and arguably many of the most brilliant singers of all time were pop/rock/soul singers. There's this idea that musical forms like opera and classical are more 'artistic' than pop or rock. Personally, I think it's nonsence. Just as I think that Freddie was among the very greatest song-writers of all time, I think he was among the absolute greatest singers of all time. His versatility, his range, his experimentation, his creativity, his voice itself. IMO he was easily among the very greatest vocalists, in all of music, of all time. |
| john bodega 21.12.2009 08:42 |
mike hunt wrote: I'm starting too change my opinion regarding opera singers being superior to other type of singers anyway.....Sure, A rock singer like freddie couldn't sing opera, but what does that prove?....Can you see a real opera guy trying too sing stone cold crazy or tie your mother down?.....Actually, I think a singer like freddie sings way more different styles than a lot of opera singers who basically stick to that one style.It's just a different discipline. People can argue over which is better or what requires more talent ... till the cows come home! But the fact remains they're different and a singer who is good at one will not be automatically good at the other. I think you get a lot more self taught rock singers (that are good) than you get self taught opera singers who are any good. Paul Potts was awful. |
| The Real Wizard 21.12.2009 10:15 |
Let's see Caballe sing a Queen song. Then we'll see who the more versatile singer was. Freddie singing Exercises In Free Love in his operatic falsetto is about the equivalent of her doing It's Late, so she's got her work cut out for her. In my mind, it's all the more amazing that Freddie's take on opera was as good as it was without any institutional vocal training. |
| LordOfAllDarkness 21.12.2009 11:08 |
I'm Italian and have to say that Al Bano Carrisi isnt an opera singer either, he used to sing his poppy songs with his former wife and that's all. i don't like him at all he cannot be compared with Freddie absolutely |
| tcc 21.12.2009 11:26 |
Just to side-track - Aretha Franklin is also very versatile. See her performance of Nessun Dorma: link |
| The Real Wizard 21.12.2009 12:35 |
That was outstanding. She was Freddie's favourite singer, so I bet he would've been proud to see that. |
| Pim Derks 21.12.2009 14:21 |
What a bitch, she should've been grateful for the great Freddy Mercury's willingness to work with her!!!! |
| john bodega 21.12.2009 14:32 |
I like Exercises in Free Love and it's a good example, but there again - I've had that going on my stereo and my mum (a huuuuge opera fan, has God only knows how many recordings by a bunch of names I couldn't recite) says "who is that?" interestedly. I go "that's Freddie doing his opera thing". She looks at the stereo for a second and says : "awful". I wouldn't say it's awful; I quite like his take on opera. But there again, it's a pastiché. It is not the real thing, admirable as it is. (Personally I much prefer what he did at the end of Manmade Paradise). |
| ok.computer 21.12.2009 20:09 |
"But there again, it's a pastiché." And that, my friends, is pretty much it, in a nut shell. A work of drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist, often satirically; A musical medley; An incongruous mixture; a hodgepodge; A postmodern playwriting technique that fuses a variety of styles, genres, and story lines to create a new form medley: a musical composition consisting of a series of songs or other musical pieces from various sources a work of art that imitates the style of some previous work So aside from the incorrect acute accent, Zebonka nails it, and pretty much leaves the rest of you out to dry. |
| mike hunt 22.12.2009 02:49 |
Sir GH wrote: Let's see Caballe sing a Queen song. Then we'll see who the more versatile singer was. Freddie singing Exercises In Free Love in his operatic falsetto is about the equivalent of her doing It's Late, so she's got her work cut out for her. In my mind, it's all the more amazing that Freddie's take on opera was as good as it was without any institutional vocal training. I tend to agree with you're post the most. Of course a opera buff isn't gonna be impressed with Exercises in free love, but as a music buff I think it's great, and sounds much more Impressive than cabelle would in singing it's late, stone cold crazy, and another on bites the dust. Can you imagine that?....cabelle singing AOBTD? |
| mike hunt 22.12.2009 02:59 |
Zebonka12 wrote: I like Exercises in Free Love and it's a good example, but there again - I've had that going on my stereo and my mum (a huuuuge opera fan, has God only knows how many recordings by a bunch of names I couldn't recite) says "who is that?" interestedly.I go "that's Freddie doing his opera thing". She looks at the stereo for a second and says : "awful". I wouldn't say it's awful; I quite like his take on opera. But there again, it's a pastiché. It is not the real thing, admirable as it is. (Personally I much prefer what he did at the end of Manmade Paradise). yea, that's the same style at the end of man made paradise. I like his take on that style, but I could understand a real opera fan saying it's awful. My mother, (not an opera fan) loves when I play Queen songs. Including some of his solo stuff like "exercise in free love" and "love me like there's no tomorrow". she loves his voice. Other friends who arn't huge fans of Queen are Impressed with barcelona and his take on opera. It depends the way you look at it. Most opera singers don't write their own music, so I don't know how they could look down on a mercury or lennon. |
| john bodega 22.12.2009 03:08 |
Indeed! It was, above all, a very interesting project. I'd love it more if I weren't so biased against the 80's production of it, but there are some beautiful tunes on it. |
| Vali 22.12.2009 06:29 |
LordOfAllDarkness wrote: I'm Italian and have to say that Al Bano Carrisi isnt an opera singer either, he used to sing his poppy songs with his former wife and that's all. i don't like him at all he cannot be compared with Freddie absolutely Ah ! this Al Bano is the one from Romina & Al Bano ?? ok, he's got a good voice for high notes but, yes, nothing to do with an opera singer ... and of course comparing him with Freddie is useless. |
| Amazon 23.12.2009 07:25 |
Mike Hunt: "Most opera singers don't write their own music, so I don't know how they could look down on a mercury or lennon." I don't think you need to write your own music to be an incredible artist (Daltrey for example); I just don't think that opera is more legitimate an artform than pop, soul, rock or other musical forms. Mercury was an incredibly vocalist, and so was Pavarotti. While I do prefer Mercury, I don't think that one was automatically better than the other, based on the kind of music he sang. |
| mike hunt 24.12.2009 02:18 |
I know you don't need too be a songwriter to be a great artist, but sometimes it seems like the opera world looks down on other forms of music, When in fact they're no better. |