Pushing

Speaking of pushed down voices, as I was in the Salome review, we have nowadays the tenor problem. To whom it may concern: the search for dramatic tenors should begin in the baritone Fach and not start with lyric tenors whose careers you then destroy.

Rolando Villazon is definitely pushing his voice down to get a thick tone in his recent Handel album. This is sad because it could have been just his thing.

Paul Groves was doing this at Santa Fe, and I thought maybe a couple of the apprentice tenors, too. This is to be on the alert for. If the Santa Fe apprentice program is messing with the technique of their charges, then best to steer clear.

I never hear even a hint of that at Merola.

Being a pushed down tenor worked for Mario del Monaco, but think how much better pushed up baritone worked for Placido Domingo.