Two slices of panis

[jhnbrbr]

"Panis Angelicus" has become one of those musical cliches - a song better known than its composer - and it goes without saying that every up-and-coming classical singer will want to make a recording of it. But in spite of the endless repetition, it never quite loses its simple magic. Here are two interpretations which could hardly be more different. Renee Fleming turns in an absolutely flawless performance -even the smile is perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a11YheB2zM

The same cannot be said when Irish rock chick Dolores O'Riordan takes a crack at it, attracting scathing criticism for her voice, her breathing, her phrasing - not to mention her Latin pronunciation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9pkWOI6CGE

Why is it, then, that I find myself rapidly bored by Fleming, but I keep listening to O'Riordan over and over and over ..... ?

[wljmrbill]

Maybe " One Beer to many"....LOL... For me would be Fleming any time. To each his own I always say....

[Krummhorn]

O-Riordan needs to seriously take some voice lessons ... her intonation is okay, but the extremely short phrases and "gasps" for air, at least for me, disrupt the presentation. If she were to sing from the gut more, something that a tutor would emphasize and work with her on, it would steady her voice alot.

I also think it would be much better if she wasn't trying to eat or swallow the microphone, too.

I liked the tempo they used for O'Riordan ... a little faster than what I think is the norm, but it was a nice variation from the usual standard slower presentations.

[marval]

Well out of the two it would have to be Renee Fleming. But I do think Dolores could have a resonable voice, given proper voice coaching.


Margaret

[dll927]

If the song is better-known than the composer (Cesar Franck), it must be leaving some organists out of the picture. To say nothing of several non-organ pieces.

As for Latin, that's how the church did things back before John XXIII, so the music was written to fit the Latin wording. Trying to put such things into English is the typical 'something lost in the tranlation'. Case in point, the "Sanctus" from Gounod's Mass for St. Cecilia's Day. At one point the "pleni sunt caeli et terra" becomes "Heaven and earth show forth Thy Glory", instead of "Heaven and earth are FULL OF Thy glory". That doesn't diminish the music, but it sort of makes one wish for stayng with the Latin.

At one point, You Tube had a clip with, I believe it was Leontyne Price, and a choir singing the "Sanctus", which was actually written for tenor. It was a rather old tape, but she did a masterful job on the rendition. And along with that, it's interesting how various conductors can vary the tempo. In this case it was quite slow, which made it all the more a showpiece for Price's voice.

Maybe some of you remember the PBS broadcast with the late Pavarotti singing the "Panis angelicus" at Notre Dame up in Montreal, Canada. That is some cathedral.

[jhnbrbr]

I can't deny Dolores's singing is technically very flawed (as even some of her fans admit in the Youtube comments) but in other ways her approach is like a breath of fresh air, and I certainly prefer it to the syrupy sweet Chloe Agnew (also on Youtube). I love the way she sings "O res Mirabilis" in a thoroughly Irish style which no classically trained singer would ever do. Sometimes the classically trained voice can almost seem like a barrier to communication. (I'm no opera lover!)

If the song is better-known than the composer (Cesar Franck), it must be leaving some organists out of the picture. To say nothing of several non-organ pieces.

Yes, I was thinking of the music-loving public in general. He's always had a higher profile in the organ world.

[JHC]

In my (purely pedantic) mode, If Latin is a dead language you can't really say which pronunciations are right or wrong