100Singers's video: 100 Singers - GHENA DIMITROVA

Ghena Dimitrova, Soprano (1941-2005) Verdi: NABUCCO (1842) "Ben io t'invenni ... Anch'io dischiuso un giorno ... Salgo già del trono aurato" (Abridged) with Kurt Rydel, Bass Conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli / 1983 My personal opinion: In 1984, EMI issued an album with arias sung by Bulgarian soprano Ghena Dimitrova. In an opera world of that time, where the "soprano drammatico d'agilità" was nearly extinct, the record was warm welcomed by critics and listeners alike. There was only one person who didn't like it: Ghena Dimitrova herself ... "My voice is just too big for the studio ...," she mourned. "When recording NABUCCO, I stood three feet away from the microphones. Mix and balance are so crucial for the success of a recording. For me, the volume of my voice has to be reduced and then balanced with the ensemble." A handicap that was also known to other sopranos: Rosa Raisa, Cina Cigna (teacher of Dimitrova), Eva Turner or Birgit Nilsson. Of course, huge voices make great impression, first of all in large theaters and arenas like the one in Verona, where Dimitrova appeared annually, performing with volcanic energy roles like Ponchielli's LA GIOCONDA, Verdi's Abigaille in NABUCCO and Puccini's TURANDOT. The latter she sang on her Metropolitan debut in 1987 with "trumpet-like" power (Donal Henahan). Was this a compliment or a rebuke? A trumpet is a brass instrument, not exactly known for a comfortable tone. And indeed, in many of Ghena Dimitrova's recordings we encounter this severe pungency in top notes. Her voice had a tremendous richness and extraordinary force, an almost glistening intensity but also a cutting hardness. The 1984 EMI recital under Lamberto Gardelli documents the strenghts and weaknesses of Dimitrova's opulent vocal organ. A German critic wrote, her upper register was formed with too strong tension, "... and each forced note causes the following one to be formed with even more tension in order to come at all. The process can be compared to the pull-ups of an increasingly tiresome athlete, who in the end can only pull himself up with a spasm. This violent singing may still be acceptable in the TURANDOT aria, but it is ruinous in the music of MACBETH. It is, to paraphrase the title of a famous song, 'singing in the pain' ..." Talking about Ghena Dimitrova means, we can't ignore the aforementioned NABUCCO recording under the helm of Giuseppe Sinopoli. Naturally, loyal Callas devotees will immediately point to the famous 1949 live document from the Teatro San Carlos, Naples. It was then that Callas first came to the attention of a larger audience, as she mastered an unparalleled tour de force. In NABUCCO (1842), Verdi mixed the traditional 'canto fiorito' with the vehemence of the vocal attack we know from later operas such as IL TROVATORE (1853) and LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (1862). A telling example is Abigaille's great aria from act II "Anch'io dischiuso un giorno", preceded by the murderous opening "Ben io t'invenni". This recitative is Verdi at his most dramatic with large intervallic leaps and ascents into the stratospheric height. After that, the aria follows: Calm, belcantesque, Donizetti-like. But then Verdi mercilessly strikes again with the rousing cabaletta "Salgo già del trono aurato", demanding a chain of trills rising up an octave to top C. It's impossible not to hear, that Dimitrova (just as Elena Souliotis and Renata Scotto in their recordings) copies Callas in expression and timbre. While Souliotis and Scotto exceeded their limits, the young Callas (still unspent and full of energy in 1949) forced herself to give a performance in which she far surpassed herself. Dimitrova possessed the dramatic weight and attack for the recitative and cabaletta, but her titanic voice was unsuitable to project the delicate mood of the almost romantic aria. In the cabaletta, Callas always sticked to the pure singing-tone, but some of Dimitrova's sounds turned into shrill screams, destroying much of the first fine impression. There was again this piercing "trumpet-like" tone ... But here is a concession: We should not forget, in past centuries operas were written for theaters and stages, and not for recording studios. The relentless revealing of unwelcome vocal characteristics is a negative side effect of modern sound technology. Undoubtedly the colossal voice of Ghena Dimitrova was tailor-made for expansion in large spaces. Many live-videos confirm, especially her full-blooded sung Abigaille and Turandot were spine-tingling events you will not soon forget again. And a legitimate successor still needs to be found ...