The good and the good

Here's another pair of videos of two singers singing the same song, in this case it's handel's Ombra Mai Fu.  However, unlike the last time, this is an example of the Good and the Good.  Both singers show exemplary technique in their radically different voices.

The first is the great baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky.  His voice is, in my opinion, magnificent.  I am also told that eighty five percent of women and fifteen percent of men find him to be rather satisfying eye candy as well.



It is easy to see in this video how Dmitri forms his words, and the exaggerated mouth and lip movements which are a part of good singing technique.  My daughter asked me once:  Why don't singers mouths move like when they are talking?  The answer is: because they are not talking, they are singing.  This kind of enunciation, which Dmitri makes look so easy, is critical to good singing for reasons of enunciation, clarity of vowels and projection. 

A different technique is seen here, producing a much. much different sound.



The song really beings around 1:20.

It's easy to make jokes about the countertenor voice (usually about an unfortunate accident)  but it is as difficult and as legitimate a voice as any.  This is an excellent example of the style of voice.  He situates his chin and moves his lips differently that Hvorostovsky, but he is also producing a much different sound.

In my previous post, I ended by noting that not all voices are suited to all songs.  Here are two radically different voices singing the same song, but each beautiful in its own way. In this case, it is natural talent, combined with years of training and polishing, that work to create art of a very high caliber.