October 25, 2005
Next Stop: Rinaldo
Prepare yourself for some high opera! Below you may listen to a "triumphant entry" from Handel's Rinaldo featuring Gerald Finley, who is for my money the best bass on the classical music scene right now, and maybe the best over the past 30 years.
Sibillar gli angui d'Aletto,
e latrar vorace Scilla
parmi udir d'intorno a me.
Rio velen mi serpe in petto,
né ancor languida favilla
di timore pena mi diè.
Translation:
All around I seem to hear
the hissing of Alecto's serpents,
and the barking of hungry Scylla.
An evil poison creeps into my breast,
and has stung me with the dull spark
of fear.
Not to sound pedantic, but Gerald Finney is a baritone. For my money, too he's the best baritone of his type singing now. He's not the most famous, but as far as I'm concerned the best. Definitely has the best recording of this aria available on the market.
Posted by: Andy at May 16, 2008 04:05 PMYou're right, he's a baritone, but like most baritones he sings bass parts in productions so I referred to him as a bass for that reason. I'm not sure I know of any "true" basses to be honest, though I do not profess to be an expert on knowing all the talent in the opera world by any means.
Oh, and for other readers, the "Andy" who replied above me is not me. Ha.
All of the special characters that I used in my lyric reprints are MIA right now as well... I'll have to see about fixing that apparently.
Posted by: Andy at May 16, 2008 08:30 PM