As a significant but powerful minority, backed by institutions, corporations and the media, try to convince us that there is nothing very substantive about the differences between men and women, that they are more or less interchangeable, I thought I’d see how that plays out in some of my favourite vocal performances.
Make a cup of tea, put the headphones on, and watch some magic.
Perhaps the most difficult aria in the entire operatic catalogue is the astonishing Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (Hell's vengeance boils in my heart). I have no idea how a human being can make such sounds. It’s extraordinary.
The following version might not be, technically, the best ever - but I like it for its quicker than usual pacing, and for the powerful performance (try to ignore the weird flying daughter in the background).
Weirdly enough, I have seen some men do at least a semi-creditable performance of this aria. But how many men could reproduce the following performance with the same quality and timbre?
The guys do get a look-in on the operatic front, and whilst this next one isn’t a ‘live’ performance, I think, as I understand it, the recording was done in one take. It’s the great duet from The Pearl Fishers
And the performance of Yvonne Elliman here from 1973 always moves me to tears.
Music isn’t always so serious and here’s my favourite rat packer making it look so easy
But the legendary Ella Fitzgerald shows that the girls can ad lib every bit as well as the guys in this great live performance of Mack the Knife from 1960 in Berlin. She forgets the words (although I’m not wholly convinced by this) and what happens is pure magic (including a great Louis Armstrong impersonation)
It’s always hard to cover another artist’s song and bring something new and surprising to it. But, perhaps, the most famous example of how to transform an already great original song into something wondrous is David Draiman of the band Disturbed singing Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence. Here’s a live version of it and, as I understand it, Draiman was suffering a bit from a cold (not covid) which makes this performance all the more amazing. The control and technique this guy shows here is phenomenal.
Again, though, the ladies can do it every bit as well. I first heard this when my other half sat me down and said “just listen to this”. I had no idea who the singer was at the time, but this live performance is breath-taking. An utter show-stopper. It is, of course, Eva Cassidy singing her version of Sting’s Fields of Gold.
Some guys can sing high - although I tend to hate bad falsetto and never really understood how anyone could listen to The Bee Gees. It was like listening to chalk scraping down a blackboard for me (sorry if you’re a Bee Gees fan). A great example of falsetto done well (and sparingly) is The Righteous Brothers singing Unchained Melody. At times you think it could be a woman’s voice - but only at times.
And to close off this departure from my usual postings - and I hope you’ve enjoyed the music - here’s Judi Dench singing Send in the Clowns. No one is going to confuse Judi Dench with, say, Whitney Houston (or Judy Collins), but Dench’s performance here is nothing short of a tour de force.
After watching and listening to these I hope you are thoroughly convinced that there’s really, not at all, any substantive difference between men and women.
Life today is all so rich and queer
Great list Professor Rigger. You and the great biologist Tiger Woods may yet educate the English Speaking world to knock of the bullshit about obvious gender differences.
I would add my current favourite aria by Amira Willighagen, as a 7 year old. If I could add another song it would be Patsy Cline’s Faded Love
https://youtu.be/s9PQ7qPkluM
Beautiful, beautiful music.
No wonder the auto tune generation thinks you can be non-binary.
I have a fondness for old Hindi songs, in which the female singers could be said to give a sharp retort to the insufficiency of falsetto. (A favorite: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oXLzfldeDcM)