Unbelievable Bjorling: just 18 years old

herrera says:

The 18 year old’s Italian diction is terrible, he might as well have sung in Swedish. ; ) Just kidding.

Seriously, his father was an accomplished vocalist and his first teacher since an early age, and he debuted publicly at 5, so he got good technique very early on his life, and by 18, he’s had as much training and coaching as a 30 year old singer who started at 15.

Like Rafael Nadal trained by his uncle, early training by a family member who knows and cares
for you makes a big difference.

Tully Potter says:

My own favourite ‘Nordic Italian’ tenor is Stefan Islandi. I like Björling when he sings as on these early recordings, but he so often sings sharp later on, and he seems to have been very lazy. If I want to hear a tenor singing sharp I prefer one who really has something to say, like Pertile. Björling, to my ears, also had a sort of ‘dead’ area in his voice caused by pushing his chest register too high, perhaps. Yes, it was often a lovely voice, and I like it when he sings as he did on the session when he recorded ‘Ideale’ and that Tosti song in which he imitated Caruso. But only those two tracks were done that day. He had very few roles in his repertoire when you compare him with Caruso and Pertile (both around 60) and he so often cancelled… Greatness surely demands more variety and not just reproducing the same old templates day after day.