Martti Talvela
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Martti Talvela (born in Hiitola, Finland February 4, 1935 – died in Juva, Finland July 22, 1989) was a Finnish operatic bass. He studied in Lahti and Stockholm, and made his operatic debut in Helsinki in 1960 as Sparafucile. At 6' 7", he was the tallest singer of his century. He was especially acclaimed as Boris Godunov and as Pimen from the same work, as Paavo Ruotsalainen in Viimeiset Kiusaukset, as a Wagner singer (King Marke, Hunding, Fasolt, Fafner and Titurel), as Sarastro and as Prince Gremin. His last recording is also the most moving[citation needed]: terribly thinned out by illness, he left a memorable version of Schubert's Die Winterreise.
He had one of the most remarkable bass voices in opera history: for the combination of depth and timbre few have ever matched him[citation needed], and his bass seemed to extend effortlessly without the "break" that most basses have to resort to hit their low notes, and without the unmusical quality often found with those basses capable of the lowest notes.
