Samuel Ramey sings Opera Arias

View record and artist details

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Hector Berlioz, Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Meyerbeer

Label: EMI

Magazine Review Date: 7/1989

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 63

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 749582-2

Tracks:

Composition	Artist Credit
Ernani, Movement: ~	Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Bavarian Radio Chorus Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Jacques Delacôte, Conductor Munich Radio Orchestra Samuel Ramey, Bass
(Le) Comte Ory, Movement: Veiller sans cesse	Gioachino Rossini, Composer Gioachino Rossini, Composer Jacques Delacôte, Conductor Munich Radio Orchestra Samuel Ramey, Bass
Simon Boccanegra, Movement: ~	Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Jacques Delacôte, Conductor Munich Radio Orchestra Samuel Ramey, Bass
Nabucco, Movement: ~	Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Bavarian Radio Chorus Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Jacques Delacôte, Conductor Munich Radio Orchestra Samuel Ramey, Bass
(I) Vespri siciliani, '(The) Sicilian Vespers', Movement: ~	Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Jacques Delacôte, Conductor Munich Radio Orchestra Samuel Ramey, Bass
(La) Damnation de Faust, Movement: Devant la maison (Sérénade)	Hector Berlioz, Composer Bavarian Radio Chorus Hector Berlioz, Composer Jacques Delacôte, Conductor Munich Radio Orchestra Samuel Ramey, Bass
Robert le Diable	Giacomo Meyerbeer, Composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, Composer
(Il) Barbiere di Siviglia, '(The) Barber of Seville', Movement: La calunnia è un venticello	Gioachino Rossini, Composer Gioachino Rossini, Composer Jacques Delacôte, Conductor Munich Radio Orchestra Samuel Ramey, Bass
Don Carlos, Movement: ~	Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Jacques Delacôte, Conductor Munich Radio Orchestra Samuel Ramey, Bass
Lucrezia Borgia, Movement: Vieni: la mia vendetta	Gaetano Donizetti, Composer Gaetano Donizetti, Composer Jacques Delacôte, Conductor Munich Radio Orchestra Samuel Ramey, Bass

Author:

''Terribly good and terribly boring'', as Philip Hope-Wallace would genially murmur from time to time. On the stage Samuel Ramey cuts a fine figure, commanding, aristocratic, distinguished and distinctive. He is also a good actor (the ideal Nick Shadow for instance) and has, when need be, a comic touch that makes it difficult to take the eyes away from him even momentarily when he is playing Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia. But among his many accomplishments the art of expressing character and emotion through the voice has still to be effectively cultivated. He has a set vocal pose, that of authoritative severity. When this fits the bill in the present recital he is excellent, but of course there is usually some more specific emotion involved, even in the arias that come within this general ambit.
The Lucrezia Borgia aria is both severe and authoritative, but it is also an invocation to vengeance, and there is little that is specifically vengeful in Ramey's expression. The High Priest Zaccaria in Nabucco is also the very embodiment of authority among his people, and he is certainly not in the business for laughs when addressing them in Act 3; but his rhetoric about skulls, bones, snakes and hyenas needs to have some good Old Testament relish about it, and Ramey at this point might be dealing in abstractions for all the colour he puts into it. Just once, near the end of King Philip's monologue in Don Carlos, the sentence ''Elle ne m'aime pas'' does have sorrow in the voice, but it then reminds us of its absence elsewhere. Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra hardly seems to be upset at all in this performance, and even ''Infelice!'' (Ernani) is not particularly unhappy. The tutor in Le Comte Ory betrays no note of satire in his voice as he sings of the trials of his position; and the Devil, whether represented by Mephistopheles in La damnation de Faust or Bertram in Robert le diable, has nothing specifically satanic about him.
Of course the fine voice can still be enjoyed, and for firm, evenly enunciated passage-work Ramey still stands supreme among present-day basses. The record brings just a slight hint that the absolute firmness we have known up to the present is affected somewhat in the lower half of the voice, but he is still in excellent condition. So, 'terribly good' remains one half of the verdict, though tempered by a not very satisfactory ordering of the programme and by what would appear to be a too relaxed approach on the part of the conductor.'