Ombra mai fu

How about everyone singing "Ombra mai fu" from Handel's Xerxes.


In response to a complaint is this miraculously beautiful rendition by my favorite baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky.



It transforms into something completely different when he sings it.  He doesn't ornament.




Old timers who never ornament:

Jussi Björling who sings it like it was Puccini.



Kathleen Ferrier.



Enrico Caruso.



Éva Marton accompanied by harps.



Modern people who don't ornament:

Olga Borodina.

Jennifer Larmore.



Ornamenters and other free thinkers:

Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson. She ornaments just a bit.



 Renée Fleming



Joyce DiDonato



I enjoy the ornamenting, but I don't know if I'd want to grade them.