Jay Nordlinger, managing editor of the National Review and classical music critic for the New York Sun, is a man of passion; among his loves, George W. Bush ("a Rushmore-level President") and Angela Gheorghiu (with Dick Cheney as a commedia dell'arte-type of terzo incomodo).

We appreciate the sentiment behind Nordlinger's ode to the "beauty, musicality and endless charm", quote unquote, of Angela Gheorghiu -- because, famously, love is blind, and it must be deaf, too.

He's totally smitten by the Gheorghiu's Scala recital CD (heavily manipulated by sound engineers, we guarantee, since unlike il signor Nordlinger we were actually there at la Scala in the, ahem, flesh to listen) and, really, who are we to interfere with a blooming love story there (one hopes Jonas Kauffman Roberto Alagna is not jealous of Nordlinger, but still, love is love, so more power to the Jayster).

It's all good, as we said, until Nordlinger goes on a tangent about the big meanies in "the chatroom world, the opera-gossip world, the kingdom of the snarks" that hate on poor Angela because, obviously, "she is the target of considerable resentment and envy".

Now, this is the part that, sadly, just doesn't fly. Envy of... what?

There are singers working nowadays who are so evidently much more talented than Gheorghiu (Devia who has 100 times the technique Angela will ever have; Voigt), classier engagements (Bartoli, Mattila), more serious crossover appeal (Fleming), deeper scholarship (Bartoli), singers who sell faster and are much richer (appallingly, Katherine Jenkins, but numbers are numbers and Jenkins beats Gheorghiu there, she's the fastest selling classical recording artist since Callas, the horror, and one of the wealthiest women in Britain to boot) and, frankly, there are many singers who are prettier (Kozena, Garanca, Antonacci, long list unfortunately), thinner (Netrebko), taller (Nadja Michael), act better (Rinat Shaham who, we fear, one day will be permanently stolen by Hollywood), and, let's be practical here, have bigger b00bs (Dessì, who could also give Gheorghiu voice lessons every day of the week, twice on a Sunday; and Daniela Dessì -- whose initials are, appropriately, DD -- is a concert-level piano player, to boot, we are told from reliable sources. Dessì is also secure enough that she routinely sings with her very talented companion; even a declining Alagna would wipe the theater's floor with Angela nowadays, if the Scala Traviata is anything to go by).

We could go on.

So, really, what could people could possibly be envious about here? Where's the beef? (see photo above)

Of Gheorghiu's smallish voice? Her wildly unprofessional cancellation record? The fact that she's married to a clearly more talented, better singer who outshone her every time they sang together (actually, they don't anymore, one wonders why)?

If we are to judge her dispassionately, she's an intense (if sometimes hammy) actress, with a good -- if smallish -- voice who chose carefully her roles and has been marketed smartly by the recording industry as the Traviata/Puccini fierce brunette and she does have -- yes, that's her main virtue, and it's an important one -- megadoses of guts & chutzpah, and a bulldozer's vigor -- she ignored the Scala trademark booing during her Traviata, unlike her way-too-sensitive husband who just lost his peWp during Aida; she's a singer who can take the hazing of an unruly audience, and that means something. But let's be realistic here -- her best Traviata is from 1994. And Georg Solti is not here anymore to lead her by hand (not that she'd listen to an old dude now that she's a megastar).

Her arrogance (sulking off a Muti-conducted Pagliacci because she refused to go back and study the score at Muti's request) and the gleeful refusal to acknowledge great singers from the past (the memorable interview where she denied she could learn anything from Callas) could only fly if she had Callas's voice, or Tebaldi's.

She doesn't.

People will take the tantrums as long as your voice holds, and it's worth the trouble. Then, you end up where Kathleen Battle -- a uniquely talented singer, unlike the not-so-gifted Georghiu -- ended. It's not a good place.

And envy has nothing -- nothing -- to do with it.   

Comments

[Evgeni V. Pavlov]

ahhh the drama! i was beginning to wonder where it went - nice link to Rick Rubin's piece in the previous post as well, i think looking like rubin will be my life goal...

[pk205]

I don't have a strongly held opinion of Angie - I'm most certainly not a "fan". I do enjoy her recordings, mostly, but have never heard her live, having found out only recently that "Sold Out" on the Covent Garden website doesn't necessarily mean what it says. The fact is I like her voice on the CD very much - in fact, just as much as I hate Alagna's (sorry, but there you go, there's no accounting for taste). Which brings me to your comment about Angie's voice on the CD being

"...heavily manipulated by sound engineers, we guarantee, since unlike il signor Nordlinger we were actually there at la Scala in the, ahem, flesh to listen".

So what, I ask? It's a CD. It's not live opera (any more). So what if what we get on the CD is a product of microphones, filters and overdubs by clever engineers? We don't mind all that on studio recordings, not to mention the inevitable fifteen different takes per track. Obviously I would be pissed off if she walked on stage holding a mike, but for a recording, even of an originally live recital, who cares?

Recordings in my book are an entirely different animal to real, honest-to-God, properly acted & sung live opera. I'm not saying an inferior animal necessarily (although I prefer live myself), just different. The list is very long with singers who are blocks of wood or hams on stage, or have voices who barely reach Row M. They can still be excellent recording artists. Similarly there are wonderful singing actors who send live audiences into raptures but whose recordings are boring or even technically poor. To use the example of *another* eastern european brunette soprano, I was doing backflips of delight when I first heard Netrebko live but her albums (the Russian one excepted) bore me to tears.

[jpcd]

Up until a few months ago, I would've championed "AG" on personal grounds alone. In the meantime howver, I have ample proof that surfaced, that she may make Wagner's personality and traits look like an angel, in retrospective. One could assume that the RA-AG union was for business purposes.... and that that's not the only one in her sights! Old habits, etc... One should also assume that RA-AG is fini - see the public records....

"Visi D'Arte" - my a§§!

Arrogance and worse is why the public
- especially the cognoscenti - will increasingly avoid the live performances..... in favor of the recodings...the genre had its day, but its dying, largely due to the antics of arrogance, temper, and selfishness...of various poseurs such as AG..... I speak from all-too-painful personal experience....

[jpcd]

I will never understand the spider-lady,
but I pity and even say a little prayer for her. I hope she has a conscience, is all...

[Voce di Tenore]

Geesh! What a lot of venom. It appears that Angela Gheorghiu is now responsible for the decline of opera as an art form too. I have seen her perform on the stage many times - Faust, La Rondine, Simon Boccanegra, Tosca, etc. etc. - not because I'm a particular fan, but because I attend virtually every production The Royal Opera House puts on. They were thoroughly enjoyable performances. She's being honest when she says she can learn nothing from Maria Callas. They have completely different voices, temperaments and approach to the repertoire. She can never sing like Callas, so why shouldn't she try to sing like Gheorghiu instead? Her idol is Virginia Zeani, by the way. Not to everyone's taste, but I hardly think that makes her the devil incarnate. And as for stomping out on Muti, I fear she is not the first singer to have found him imperious and rude. Alagna and Gheorghiu are singing together in the world premiere of Marius et Fanny this week (Marseilles). I eagerly await the verdict as to who wipes the floor with whom. Won't it be disappointing if it's a tie.;-)

[fignaz]

I seriously question the critical faculties of anyone who thinks Blownose McChimpface is Rushmore worthy. That being said, I don't think he's too far off the mark in his review of the CD. There is a big difference between the Gheorghiu you hear on record & the Gheorghiu you hear live these days, as OC rightly noted. Her voice is very "phonogenic" & displays more color & variety than is audible in the opera house (and audibility is a MAJOR problem live). And I'm sure, as OC also noted, that the engineers have tweaked the live material in the interim. Similarly, if you had heard her broadcast of the La Scala TRAVIATA, you would have wondered what much of the fuss was about in the papers & online forums. But those who heard her live over the course of the run echoed many of the critiques made after opening night. Where I think Nordlinger goes overboard is in his setting up the straw man of chat room critics etc. in order to dismiss valid criticism, as if everyone online has an ax to grind. Though he insulates himself with some concluding boilerplate demurrals, I think he really does agree with the hyperbole from the anonymous singer he quotes. If that's the case, then he's off in his own private Rushmore...

PS-- As the diva herself revealed in an interview on Italian radio this past Spring, the proper way to pronounce her name is "Angèla" accent on the "e" if you please. Take note all ye mortals & obey ! ;-)

[Sloth Loves Chunk]

i h8 her.

i pronunce her name "ange-LER" ala' tony (tony danza) saying his boss's name (judith light) in 80s sitcom "whos da boss". put that in your pipe and smoke it :-P

[Il Principi Studenti]

I disagree with almost everything you say about Angie, she fills opera houses everywhere, just try and get a ticket. You should see her at close quarters before you criticize her looks, unworthy of you OC.

[pas0lin]

Adoro la Callas - who doesn't nowadays? I think however that in considering AG's words regarding Maria we could bare in mind the system that AG grew up in. It did not encourage close acquaintance with even the finest artistic treats that were widely available in luckier parts of the world. Or with the artists who were responsible for them for that matter. It was more keen on building on national artists, some of which were actually good. Others just sucked up to the Communist Party to further their career. Consequently, I wonder just to what extent la Callas was a reference at the Bucharest Music Academy in the 80's.
I used to be a huge fan of AG. Her singing doesn't move me as much lately. The Scala Traviata, which I listened to on the radio, left me ice-cold, but I do not blame Angela Gheorghiu for it. That production was so lame that Angela's poor performance paled in comparison to it.
So, not a huge fan anymore, but I still have some respect for her as an artist. Though not exactly eager to, I'm willing to listen to her again.
What worries me, OC, is not that you seem to have lost all respect for AG, but the fact that you are never beefier than when writing about her - no, not even in reporting Pavarotti's death. Now that's what worries me.
PS: Must you or the distinguished critic from the NY Sun, or anyone else for that matter even bring up the subject of 'charm' or lack of it when discussing any singer? Are we auctioning off tomatoes in the market?

[jpcd]

I retract anything ungentlemanly that I said about AG. I was relying only on _public_ information. It appears to have been a wholly imaginary poseur that I encountered. Be _careful_ on the net!!! The actual AG may well be a very sweet person, when offstage, for all I know!!!

[jpcd]

I give you her looks. But the exterior
clearly belies a 180-degree different
interior, and personality....I repeat: "Diva" may have been coined with her high-faluting
public personality, and poisonous private persona in mind.....and both capricious in the extreme!.....don't believe me, talk to her colleagues!...and, I went from a state of complete adoration of AG, to a more realistic perspective, after about 3 years of close observation....

[jopera]

I was with RA in Bologna, and he said AG canceled that Marius piece because they decided not 2 sing 2gether any more. Sorry 2 disappoint U, but Angela will not step foot in Marseille, I can promise that.