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THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! Romanian baritone Nicolae Herlea in this list? Please comment!

Nicolae Herlea, Baritone (1927-2014)

Giuseppe Verdi - Il Trovatore
Il balen del suo sorriso
(Recording date unknown)

My personal opinion: "A second-class interpreter with a first-class voice in the rank of the best baritones after the war" - that´s what I could read some month ago about Nicolae Herlea. It was quite clear to me to have him in the list, but I must confess I can´t deny this review. A giant bariton-voice with lack of empathy, perhaps the male opposite of Birgit Nilsson. Nietzsche once said: "Mit einer lauten Stimme im Hals ist man unfähig, feinere Sachen zu denken". Nobody ever expected fine things from Herlea, he made you amazed with the pure power of his voice.
Herlea was born 1927 in Bucharest, and he studied in his hometown and later in Rome. In 1951 he made his debut as Silvio (Pagliacci). With his great rich voice he became famous in a short time and the most popular baritone of Romania. He toured widely (London, Milan, Napoli, Paris, Barcelona, Moscow, Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin and Hamburg), but the Met was his stage only for a short time.
One of his most well-known roles was Rossini´s Figaro (he´d sung 550 times), but curiously enough that I associate him with Verdi´s great villains. For me, his Figaro is a little bit too weighty and - too loud! But with this, Herlea was in a great tradition: Ruffo, Gobbi, Merrill and Milnes - they all sang Figaro in verismo style (one of the best belcanto-renditions came from Thomas Allen). But who can match Herlea as Don Carlo (Forza), Luna or Rigoletto? No difficulty in singing the high tessitura. He had a wonderful breath-control and a very special sound in his voice, an unique timbré.
Herlea was one of many eastern singers underrepresented in the wide world (and in the shadow of Gobbi). He made some complete and meanwhile rare opera-recordings, but fortunately we have YouTube. If you like his "Il balen" here, search for his "Invano Alvaro" with Bergonzi.
No doubt, he deserves to be in this list! Or do you disagree? Let us know!
Herlea died February 24, 2014.

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