Yes. Yes.

Paolo Ferraro At the moment a similar or even more devastating effect has José Cura in Bonn/ Germany. Absolutely fantastic. Normally I dont watch a performance more than once, but his performance is so incredible that I watched it several times and everytime especially at this scene the complete audience is like under shock.

I think I have an idea, because every time I watch this, I completely break down, out of control, and it's only a video. Thank God for technology!

He was devastating!

Andrew Rudin I also saw Vickers do this at the MET in 1983. And in this scene, all the lights were out in opera house, even in the orchestra pit, except for one from the conductor's stand and two left and right offstage lights showing only Vickers and nothing else. The MET audience was completely silent during this quasi acapella passage as we were smitten and helpless under Vickers' amazing performance of a broken man. Seeing that changed my life. Thank you O' great force of nature! R.I.P. Jon Vickers.

Andrew Rudin Just curious- who else matched the "standard"?

Labienus Ben Heppner was close, but not quite there as Vickers was. Ironically, Britten was said not to have agreed with Vickers' interpretation. But Britten knew that most people disagreed with him.

CFC123 I misunderstood and thought you were talking generally, and not just about Grimes. I didn't see Heppner in Grimes-in fact, it must be a lot like people who saw Chaliapin in Boris, it became impossible to see anyone else in it-as it almost is for me with Grimes. I liked Heppner, and saw him in a few other roles-but in the ones that both of them did-Fidelio, Aeneas, Parsifal, he was fine enough, but no Vickers. Also, his assuming Tristan was a big mistake, and not right for his voice. I thought you were speaking of the standard, and type of performer Vickers was. The only other performer I've experienced who had that almost shamanistic quality, who you felt the voice and artistry served some deeper communication, who seemed to be a vehicle for forces beyond them was, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Oh, Britten hated Vickers' Grimes-but he apparently didn't understand how great his own work is.

@@MrCC379 He may not have agreed with the interpretation, but he could not deny the effect it had on us, the TRUTH of Vickers' performance.

The opposite of the park and bark crowd (Pavarotti, etc.)

@@georgesclermont1911 Pavarotti was not simple park and bark; I'm not saying he was Vickers...who was?...but he gave a lot of expression.

@@coloraturaElise He 'showed' emotions sometimes but didn't express them through his voice. I believe that he became aware of his shortcomings when he was booed out of Otello at La Scala. Afterward, he never tried the difficult roles that require using the voice for projecting emotions.

@@georgesclermont1911 I'm sorry, but your idea of 'projecting emotions' through the voice and mine are completely different, because I think he did that in every phrase. As to the La Scala incident, he was booed for cracking on a high note. Had he cracked the same high note at the MET, he would not have been booed (Domingo in Samson, anyone?). La Scala is famous for its disrespectful behavior; he had sung many, many high notes there brilliantly, as no one else could, and they boo him for one crack? It is true that singing Otello was a risk for a lyric tenor, which no one was more aware of than he, but his experience had nothing to do with not 'projecting' emotions. Had he sung carefully and cleanly (like Alfredo Kraus, for example), with less 'expression', he would probably not have cracked on a high B, but he was going for the very expression that you say he eschewed. How many times did he sing Manrico and "di quella pira" with fire and power? Many, many times. And I disagree with your contention that only "difficult roles" (roles outside your fach?) require using the voice to 'project' emotion.

@Francoise Terrone Thank you! A lot of people do believe that. They've never seen Vickers...or Ferruccio Furlanetto...or Neil Shicoff, and others who can act. I just chose the three who I've always thought were the best actors...in addition, of course, to having excellent voices.

Have you heard him in Camen's La fleur que tu m'avais jetée? I cried....

Apparently Britten and Pears walked out during his first performance at the Garden. But then one colleague of mine who worked with both described the partnership as 'one massive ego and one genius'.

One way to prevent crying while singing is to practice a lot; I used to cry all the way through "Ach, ich fuhls" from Magic Flute, for the first 50 times I sang it, but was finally able to stop after that. And that was also by using another tactic, which is to think about technique and line more than what I was saying. It took a little away from my interpretation, because I couldn't feel it as much as I wanted to, but it allowed me to sing it. When you listen to Vickers here, you don't hear anything lacking in his interpretation, do you? But he has to keep a part of his brain separate from his emotions so that he can allow us, his audience, to feel it ALL, and boy, do we!

The supreme irony is that Britten hated this interpretation. He walked out of the theater on Vickers.

Je souscris à chacun de vos mots. Ai entendu Vickers dans ce rôle à Paris et à Londres. La salle entière comme suspendue au souffle du chanteur, comme empêchée de respirer normalement, tous autour de moi pleurant à la fin...

Not sure I agree. JV sang the notes precisely as written. Britten wrote the opera for a particular purpose, and was successful in that endeavour (in 1948). JV, and the producers/directors of the 1967 met revival, envisaged a much bigger message of the opera (a revelation of rejection and unrequited love in general). As a well known Christian, JV took the heat for Britten walking out of his performance. JV was not alone in this greater view of the opera.

Without JV, the opera would still be gathering dust in some cabinet.

Kym Anthony You sound like a much more expert critic of the matter than I am. But I am virtually sure that I read a piece once where Britten was complaining about certain liberties Vickers took with his score. He was probably irritated that Vickers’ gigantic vocal presence dominated his music. He never had to fear that from Peter Pears.

@@ransomcoates546 True that. There was also the confusion created during the revival of the opera at the Met in 1967. Tyron Guthrie, the producer, and the conductor (I forget who that was) wanted to change a few words and phrases to make it more understandable to the American audience. Everything was cleared with Britten and really had nothing to do with JV. When Britten walked out, due to many reasons but mostly the universality of the interpretation (as opposed to its original purpose) which really had to do with the entire production, including JV. Because of JV’s well known Christian beliefs, he was immediately accused of changing the words (and notes) without permission (not true!). Anyway, the opera had indeed fallen “into the drawer” until the 1967 revival. Interesting tidbit is that opening night of the 1967 production was the day of the funeral of a very close family member of JV’s-adding to the tragedy.