#5 Top Bass-Baritones

October 31, 2018 / Nick Krsnich

5.) Jose Van Dam

José van Dam is an artist. Out of all the top bass-baritones, he has the greatest legato and every vocal phrase always has beauty. He had power, but his vocal lines never lost track of sounding beautiful. Probably, this was the reason he never took on Wotan. However, this also makes him a greater Escamillo, Figaro, Leporello, and Han Sachs than the rest of the singers in the top ten.

José Van Dam made his operatic debut as Don Basilio, but the his main breakout role was Escamillo which he performed at La Scala, Paris Opera, and Covent Garden. Some might say he is the best Escamillo, considering his recording of “Votre Toast” is used in most CD compilations on greatest opera arias of all time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAdDMxBdplU). After that, his career took off and he sang most bass-baritone repertoire throughout his career.

The most striking part of José Van Dam’s singing is his legato. He had an ability to make all his phrases beautiful. Granted, his voice may have been sweeter than other bass-baritones because he was probably a heldonbaritone, but that is beside the point. Listen to these recordings to understand his mastery of legato (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjyhNQt1078, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMuQcgQ1Shg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-kHG0tJmr4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB-n3ikEylc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVX_Vwq9qQU). A robust voice can sound like velvet in the hands of this artist. He also had a powerful voice and sang many roles such as Jochannan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3L6p6Pzn2M), Amfortas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEdkh1RehEM), Falstaff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2RBXt_vGKo), Dutchman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft8eObK-rC8). Yet, he liked to find the beauty in the music. When talking about singing the Dutchman, José van Dam stated, “When I am on the stage, I am on the stage to sing and not to scream. I’m a singer not a screamer, and it’s the conductor who must adjust”(http://www.bruceduffie.com/vandam.html). His main goal was to sound beautiful and that makes so many of his roles fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAdDMxBdplU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm0OeG8gDTE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAtrPPoetJ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjtUn5BIIh0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccTJviaa1Bc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXWIExb1khA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP11CUEcMMc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjyhNQt1078

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3L6p6Pzn2M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMuQcgQ1Shg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ5yhAPBxmU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVX_Vwq9qQU

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/artists/jose-van-dam

https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2016/4/Features/The_OPERA_NEWS_Awards__José_van_Dam.html

https://colbertartists.com/artists/jose-van-dam/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_van_Dam

http://www.bruceduffie.com/vandam.html

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