I get it, diction is Important

Gigli
He has a very dramatic way of singing, but I don't think it's too over the top. In drama, we were always told to act more than what we thought was appropriate, because the audience wouldn't understand unless we over emphasized our actions. His voice has the smooth, easy sound of great singers which I am beginning to notice corresponds with diction, although many famous singers fudge on diction and escape the consequences. His [o] sounds are balanced between open and closed, but I don't think it's an elision, I think that's just how he pronounces his [o]. The natural rhythm is more noticeable and the way he connects his words certainly helps with phrasing and shows good breathing.
DiDonato
She's better than Burgess. Her diction is not as clean as Gigli because she changes the sounds of her vowels instead of remaining constant. Her [o] in her higher range is more forward and closed while her lower range [o] is more open and in the back.

...wow.

I'm going to tear straight into this one. Burgess vs. Pavarotti.

Pavarotti:

He was hitting every word with almost perfect diction. His "e" and "a" vowels had the right placement in the mouth, not far back but bright. His "i" vowels were straight and all of his vowel sounds were constant. The word "notte" was beautiful, from his open "o" to the way he stuck that double "t". He's also not afraid of the consonants or "gn"; he uses them to build his sound instead. His voice carried a much different color and wider range of emotion, and diction definitely had a part in that. It was like his voice floated effortlessly out and was riding on his breath and vowel shapes. After the Burgess rendition, I had to listen to this recording to soothe my ears. 

Burgess:

Where to begin...

Just at the second word "ti" his "t" was not dental, and when we get to "pace" his vowels are spread and sloppy. The "a" is not to bad in this word but throughout Burgess' rendition, he has his "a" vowels placed too far back in the throat, and his "e" sounds are too far back as well. It's like he's swallowing the notes instead of sending them out to us. His "o" sounds and "i" sounds are less dark but sound less pure than Pavarotti's. And who told him to say "notte" with a schwa instead of an "o" sound?????? It is a schwa, right? How would you IPA that without a schwa the way Burgess sings it? Either way, I've never heard that word pronounced like that. His "t" sounds are really bothersome, and he doesn't really hit the "i" in "dei" before "fiori". And "tuoi". How did he work an "a" sound into that? Second stanza, second word "te" sounds like "to". I could go on and on. His voice would carry much more smoothly if he could find the right placement for his sounds and change the shape of his mouth and stop singing from the back of his throat. 

Tenore. Tenore. Rip my heart out Tenore.

They both sound very similar in placement and brightness of vowels but the way they phrase is different, but that may be just a difference in style. I can't get over how amazing their sound is. I know vowel shaping is important for projecting sound and producing a specific color, but these tenors, they make me wonder why sopranos get all the comments about being divas. Man, those guys can stretch like there's no end in sight.

I love this aria!

The first thing I noticed about the pieces, other than the beautiful melody lines, was that one had a darker vowel sound while the other was brighter. I think that the difference in the [a] sound was not as noticeable as I expected but there was a difference in placement. I was slightly confused when they dropped the last vowel, usually the "e", off of the ends of some words but I remember you mentioned in class that it was normal for the vowels to be left off of musical texts. I think the way most Americans sing Italian must sound atrocious to the Italians though, because their purity of vowels and mixing of diphthongs is seamless but I don't understand how they know when to have a straight vowel and when to mix them. I suppose we'll learn that later though.