100Singers's video: 100 Singers - JAMES McCRACKEN

James McCracken, Tenor (1926-1988) Giuseppe Verdi: OTELLO Act IV: "Niun mi tema s'anco armato mi vede" (Otello's Death) Conducted by Dietfried Bernet My personal opinion: Renata Tebaldi about her Otello's: "In this role, and in many more, no other tenor had the vocal luster and irresistible power of Mario del Monaco. Perhaps a little humanity was missing. Ramon Vinay was a towering singer-actor, but the voice was always a bit shaded. Vicker's access is the most intellectual, and he is wonderful when he suddenly can sing the delicate phrases. James McCracken does it in his own way: Stormy, passionate, brutal." Tebaldi knew her partners, but the question comes up: "Is 'brutal' meant as a compliment? Definitely no praise was the following verbalization, written by an unknown reviewer in 1956 after a Met broadcast of MANON LESCAUT: "In the short role of the lamp-lighter we heard something [sic] that calls itself [sic] James McCracken ..." From this malicious words speaks indirectly the inability to describe the singing of the American tenor with applicable adjectives. McCracken always divided opinions. For some he was an undisputed idol and, as 'The New York Times' wrote, "the most successful dramatic tenor ever produced by the United States." For others, McCracken was an intolerable singer with a vast number of bad vocal manners. Paul Jackson, author of three magnificent books about the Met broadcasts between 1931 and 1976, wrote: "James McCracken is not generally celebrated for the subtlety of his portrayals. He is a power performer. He demands his auditor's attention, to take his audience by force, rather than win them over with blandishments of character and tone. His take-no-prisoners style can be relished for its own sake in many an opera. OTELLO demands something more ..." Normally, a recording (patched together from different takes) reflect singers in their best condition, but not in the case of McCracken. During my long opera years I've heard him in the recordings of FIDELIO (with Nilsson), CARMEN (with Marilyn Horne), PAGLIACCI and LE PROPHÈTE (again with Horne). Impressive is McCracken's vocal power, irritating and disturbing is the way how he used this power. His singing is throughout awkward and crude. There is a lot of energy, but no refinement and no control - two virtues particularly important for the demanding role of Jean de Leyde in the pompous-elegant Meyerbeer opera. Everything is sung with overpressure. High notes explode like bombs. All this can't make understandable the fame of this rude tenor, whose voice seemingly was made of concrete ... On stage, McCracken made great impression with his intense Otello interpretation. In contrast, the 1968 recording, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, is a weak point in the discography of Verdi's masterwork. With Fischer-Dieskau, who has not the vocal build for Iago, and Gwyneth Jones, who lacks with her sharp voice the sensitive feminity for Desdemona, it is only a below-average performance. McCracken's Moor is vigorous, furious and brutal, as Tebaldi said. There is not the slightest trace of sensibility and empathy, instead there are many embarrassing moments of weeping and whining. It is an overacted spectacle on the level of a second-rate theater. McCracken's 'voce soffocata' in the "Dio mi potevi" monolog is excessive; in "Si pel ciel" he is in great trouble: "Sangue, sangue, sangue" is only a scream of squeezed tones. Here even Mario del Monaco is superior, and that is really saying something. Listen, how clumsy McCracken articulates the lovely Shakespeare-phrase "Già la pleiade ardente in mar discende" in the great love duet. Is there truly someone who is saying this is sensitive singing? Also two live OTELLO's under Solti and Mehta do not soften my disappointment. James McCracken's interpretation was without any emotional depth and - please forgive me - artistic value ... After his study, McCracken began in 1953 at the Met with comprimario roles. Frustrated he went to Europe to study anew. His voice grew bigger and so his roles: Manrico in TROVATORE, Alvaro in FORZA, Florestan in FIDELIO, finally OTELLO in Vienna and Zurich. In 1963 he returned to the Met. Rudolf Bing: "Now he was ready. It was time for him to come back." Five years after del Monaco's last Met performances as the Moor in 1958, New York finally had a new Otello. After a broadcast, McCracken became a star and a hero for thousands of devoted fans, who admired his stentorian voice and detonating top notes. The opera singer James McCracken turned into their loudly celebrated idol 'Jimmy'. It speaks for itself, that recordings could not confirm the reputation of this idiosyncratic tenor.