THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What´s your point of view about Ramey? Please comment!
Samuel Ramey, Bass (basso cantante) (born 1942)
Gioacchino Rossini - L´Italiana in Algeri
Gia d´insolito ardore nel petto
(Recorded around 1980)
My personal opinion: Sometimes it takes time to find out, how great a singer is. Most careers came late, perhaps too late. In case of Samuel Ramey it was clear from the very first moment, he was something very special, a basso cantante who seemed to come from another age of singing. He made his first steps with the New York City Opera House and his idol there was Norman Treigle (we can hear in the "Tales of Hoffmann"-recording with Sills).
Rameys repertoire spannend an immensive wideness, from belcanto Rossini to Mozart (Don Giovanni, Figaro) to Berlioz and Gounod (Mephistophélès in both), even to Stravinsky.
I would like to present you the fine but very difficult Mustafa-aria from Rossinis L´Italiana. It´s one of Ramey greatest showpieces. Please notice how lissome he slides through the coloratura lines.
He was one of the very few basses with a sense for demonic and erotic undertones.