Glass Shatterers! Elina Nechayeva - Adam: Ah! vous dirai-je, maman Variations, Tel Aviv 2022, High G

~The "Glass Shatterers!" series focuses on sopranos who sustain High F, or sing higher.
THE SONGBIRD: Elina Nechayeva was born in 1991 in Estonia. She is best known for appearing in several popular televised singing and song contests. Necheyeva graduated from Tallinn French School in 2011 and participated in the ETV singing competition Klassikatähed 2014. In 2016, she graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with a master's degree in classical singing. Her stage debut came in 2015 as Adina at the Estonian National Opera. Other roles there include Juliette in Lehar’s "The Count of Luxembourg" and the high soprano roles in Ravel’s "L'enfant et la Sortilèges." She represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 and sang in Eesti Laul in 2022. Nechayeva also made an appearance in the 2020 Will Farrell comic film "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga." Her crossover engagements include frequent concert appearances.
THE MUSIC: Adolphe Adam's "Le toréador" is an opera-comique that premiered 1849. The character Coraline is an opera singer and she sings thesse famous variations on a theme of an old French children's folk song "Ah, vous dirai-je, maman" (known in English as the melody of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"). This tune has been referenced in over a dozen classical works by composers including Haydn, Liszt, Saint-Saens, Montsalvatge, John Corigliano, and most famously in variations set by Mozart for piano (K.265). Whereas Adam's aria is most often heard a free-standing concert showpiece with soprano and flute interplay -- and a long cadenza -- in the context of his opera, it is actually a performed as trio.

[@ritahunterlafavorita]

Whether "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "Baa Baa Blacksheep"...she sings it better than most of us I would bet :D

[@ritahunterlafavorita]

Well? I think it's lovely tbh....it's nice to sit back and just enjoy it :)

[@michaelfrohlichstein3489]

This is like listening to War and Peace. Will it ever end?

[@Leamichellefan2244]

I don’t mean to be rude, but why does that sound like twinkle, twinkle, little star and a lot of other children’s nursery rhymes?

[@danielng7795]

i think the modern nursery rhymes adopted Mozart's version. i am not sure myself.

[@albertcombrink3717]

It feels rather labored and often not in tune

[@songbirdwatcher]

It does lack the exuberance and razzle-dazzle that other sopranos have brought to it -- mostly I think because the tempo being so slow and deliberate robs it of a sense of spontaneity. It feels more like a voice exercise than a concert showpiece. Also she sings the variations as written and doesn't really embellish them or sing them up an octave as others have done (except for her final High G, of course!). I was not bothered by any significant pitch issues here. I tend to give singers the benefit of the doubt on minor pitch variance in recordings like this -- I find sometimes without the live overtones in play, a voice might sound a bit off, whereas in the venue live, it may be fine.

[@edwardamosbrandwein3583]

@@songbirdwatcher Generally acceptable but there are better interpreters of this piece