Crooning

Crooning, to me, in terms of opera, is unsupported singing. It doesn't workin opera because it doesn't project. You cannot use a microphone techniquein an opera house.The true test of an opera singer being able to sing softly without crooningis if the sound carries and echos throughout a hall. A crooned sound in anopera singer is breathy and lacks ping: a true, legitimate soft sound has acore, a halo of resonance that has a bedrock of breath underneath it - andit carries. When I heard Bryn Terfel here in recital a few years ago, hesang Don Giovanni's serenade, "Deh, vieni all finestra," as one of theencores. It was unsupported, breathy, and yes - crooned. It probably soundsgreat in front of a microphone, but in the hall, it was insubstantial andunsatisfying.Niel Rishoi