#234 The Smell of Victory

It's pretty straightforward and literal: winning and nothing else. No second meanings, just transparent message: Triumph! Triumph!

Böhme debuted in this role in 1930. The recording is from 1959, yet he sings here very openly and civilly.

Composer: Carl Maria von Weber
Work: Der Freischütz, "Schweig, schweig, damit dich niemand warnt!"
Recording: Kurt Böhme, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum

#203 The Smell of Despair

Des Grieux is totally despair. The images of his past are hunting him: It's hard to forget about Manon. His determination is switching to submission, just to win the battle again.

What I like most at Alagna's singing, is how he's able to express his determination. The first fuyez! are not real, he's in two minds. But then, he returns to God. The decision has been made, nobody can convince him back: Fuyez! Loin de moi!

Composer: Jules Massenet
Work: Manon, "Je suis seul!... Ah, fuyez"
Recording: Roberto Alagna, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Richard Armstrong

#149 The Smell of Quiver

Very humble touch with a great upheaval–this is big and very moving. Humility and submission mixed with high expectations.

A famous, well-known aria but always fresh with young Price. Listen to her and you just want a better destiny for Madama Butterfly.

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Work: Madama Butterfly, "Un bel di vedremo"
Recording: Leontyne Price, Rome Opera Orchestra, Oliviero de Fabritiis

#119 The Smell of Dominance

Figaro, pretending he's obliging and ready to please, shows his prevalence here. It's an accepted challenge: Oh, you would like to dance (read: sleep with my wife)? My pleasure! But be prepared, my dear, because I'm the cat and you're the mouse in this game.

D'Arcangelo is a great Figaro (and Leporello). He's combining satire and menace into an amusing mix. All for fun!

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Work: The Marriage of Figaro, "Se vuol ballare, signor Contino"
Recording: Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

#114 The Smell of Everlasting Sleep

There's no hope in the music, no hope in the words. Painful, victimizing love. In this aria, Federico invokes  peaceful sleep but he wants to be punished, he wants to suffer. The only imaginable sleep would be death.

Alagna has a strong voice, sometimes too strong for me, so I've tried to find something soft in his 1995 recital. His voice is sad and beautiful, his passion is self-consuming. You don't need to know the whole opera to guess he'll kill himself soon.

Composer: Francesco Cilea
Work: L'Arlesiana, "Ela solita storia del pastore..."
Recording: Roberto Alagna, The London Philharmonic, Richard Armstrong

#96 The Smell of Knowing Better

Do you smell it? Leporello's predominance, his advantage? How safe he feels he is, how confident? And the music is totally clear: it's a game, it's a twiddling: randy cat and half-dead mouse.

The period instruments of EBS give the aria rough edges; it's wild, not so rounded. Donna Elvira should have known better.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Work: Don Giovanni, "Madamina, il catalogo è questo"
Recording: Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner

#95 The Smell of Sadness

Silent grief: all dead, all dead. Gone are flowers, gone is love. Decent lamentations.

Netrebko keeps the serene way. She's not exalted, yo can smell the resigned sadness in her voice. It's not but it should be raining outside.

Composer: Vincenzo Bellini
Work: La sonnambula, "Ah! Non credea mirarti"
Recording: Anna Netrebko, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Claudio Abbado

#82 The Smell of Shallowness

No surprises here and no words really needed. Neat Lehár's csárdás, seductive, wild, stretching.

Garanča's approach is unsurprising, too. The dark tones are not developed, she keeps it light, affective only in her high range. It just slides down, no marks left.

Composer: Franz Lehár
Work: The Gypsy Love, "Hör' ih Zymbalklänge"
Recording: Elīna Garanča, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Karel Mark Chichon

#70 The Smell of Mockery

Kožená is definitely not your typical Carmen. But listen closely to the energy, how she's hissing out, listen to the broken smile. She's superior and you have no chance.

Minkowski sets fast tempo and keeps bright sound. In the finale, the music goes into a vortex. Carmen flies high with her last whoop, while we route to drowning.

Composer: Georges Bizet
Work: Carmen, "Les tringles des sistres tintaient"
Recording: Magdalena Kožená, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Marc Minkowski

#65 The Smell of Supremacy

This is a proud, absolute claim: I have nothing to lose, death is here for everyone. The music supports the words, it's fatal and fatalistic. Even when Herman also cries, the music is aloof and predetermined.

Herman sings "today it's you, tomorrow it's me" but it's he who will kill himself in the next minute. There's a breakdown in the second verse, we feel how lonely Herman is, we feel cold (1'13''), and yet he stands up again, face up, as strong as never before.

Composer: Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: The Queen of Spades, "Chto nasha zhizn?"
Recording: Gegam Grigorian, Kirov Opera and Orchestra, Valery Gergiev

#44 The Smell of Fragility

Sure, Papageno's aria sounds joyful. But it's so fragile, so subtle, one is afraid to breathe. The music is fleet-footed: hopsasa!

Gerald Finley is pretty convincing as Papageno. Here's a land of good, nothing wrong can happen here. And we just swallow the bait. It really was ein Netz.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Work: The Magic Flute, "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja"
Recording: Gerald Finley, The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner

#3 The Smell of Betrayal

It's a weird situation: Vanessa is expecting her lover Anatol but she doesn't want him to see her face. She has waited for him for twenty years and now she's afraid she's old, not pretty anymore. So she's asking him to declare his love to her shadow (remember, after twenty years of abandonment!) or leave at instant.

Now here's the thing. Vanessa does not know she's not talking to her Anatol but to his son. She knows nothing about the tragedy to come. However, the music knows. It gives you a hint: Something's very wrong. The mirrors will be covered again.

Composer: Samuel Barber
Work: Vanessa, "Do not utter a word"
Recording: Kate Royal, Orchestra of English National Opera, Edward Gardner