Here she sings Un bel di vedremo from Puccini’s “Madam Butterfly.” It’s an unbelievable performance where she keeps her warm mezzoish tone from bottom to top and has a legato line like nobody’s business. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D2iGTo49bs
What do you think of it?
Well first thought hat comes to mind is WOW. The way that she navigates this song makes me think not of pitches and rhythms, but words and pure vowels. The legato is surely stunning, while she balances the low notes very securely and tenderly. She sings into them while not pressing for a color change but allowing the space and focus to resonate into the lower notes.
Here Ella sings My Funny Valentine, a song from the musical “Babes in Arms” by Rogers and Hart.
How are her vowels?
Her vowels throughout have a tendency to be a little shallow and spread. Overall, they are clearly an affect of her voice.
— “stay” and “day” with an open e instead of an open a.
—The “weak” “speak” “greek” all of them are a little spread [i] instead of a more open e.
— “valentine” and “yet” have a real bite to them
— “figure” is also strange with the schwa instead of a natural oo vowel.
How is her tone as she gets higher and lower?
She gets more spread and softer as she gets higher, and when she’s lower it suddenly becomes more fluid and heavy.
Lastly there is Eileen Farrell again singing My Funny Valentine.
How does she stack up against Ella?
To be completely honest it sounds fuller but there is a flutter in the vibrato that comes from the pressure, as well as less legato sounding in the entirety of the song— it sounds more vertical in its approach.
How is this different (vocally) from the Butterfly aria?
Tremendously different! Different because the voice doesn’t sound even through the upper and lower register, it is more affected and pinched sounding on the top. Also, the vocal line just isn’t the same.
How is her [a] vowel in both songs?
To me it sounds like the [a] vowel is fuller and rounder in the Butterfly. In the jazzy piece it sounds somewhat unsupported because there is more evident in the sound a flutter.
How is it different than Ella’s?
It is much louder and broader in dynamic approach. Ella tends to use less voice which makes for a softer recording, I’m sure what Eileen brings to a performance, however, is a completely different approach to the stage presence.
Which do you prefer and why?
Of the two I probably would say that Ella’s is more pleasant to listen to, despite the vocal tendencies of being spread, it sounds like Ella understands the lyrics with more clarity, while Eileen more or less seems to affect the voice a simple but more.
Or do you?
OK, the truth is that for this song I’d say is Chet Baker or alternatively the Sinatra version, they really captures the best of it, but in Chet’s case the arrangement is more sparsely populated which allows his voice to really shine through— he doesn’t try to hard but lets the smoothness just ride into your aural cavities. As great as Ella is hailed to be, I guess I just simply haven’t listened to enough of her to form an accurate opinion or say I REALLY like her. But hers, of the two, were probably the best.
CHET BAKER
What are your thoughts?
As a classically trained singer, it can be difficult in the case of contemporary music and jazz where to put your technique aside. Personally, the whole point of the training is to aid it in making decisions, not throwing it all out of the window. If one is singing musical theatre, for me, it becomes more about choices and colors than straying from technique. In my estimation people like better quality singing if it makes sense in the context of a performance. As always, as a performer in a show, it’s definitely always easier to dial down the classical than the otherwise if a director so chooses.
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