Opera Singer Reacts: Polumnia Omnia (Live Version) - Scaramouche Battle Theme

The whole truth and nothing but the truth. Love this theme so much but I didn't like this. It leads to a deeper discussion about what symphonic music is, what a voice type can do for a piece, and leaning too far in one direction.
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Links:

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Chapters:
00:00 listen through
03:42 Breakdown and critique
04:30 Moving away from "instrumental"
06:21 Let us hear the imperfections
07:41 Why voice types matter and how they change emotion
08:24 What is a Fach?
11:37 Keep it organic keep it natural
12:00 Sprechstimme
14:30 My frustrations

[neonseas]

I also think there is something about Yu-peng Chen's not very opera sounding performance in the song where the rest of the singing is clearly operatic that really emphasizes his youth/pain/possibly even immaturity in taking the actions he is taking that is removed by having both someone with more obvious opera intonation as well as a deeper thicker voice.

[mimirtells]

I love Yu-peng Chen's "childish" voice, fits perfectly to Scara's voice imo. I liked this version as well but I'd prefer the original definitely. At least, they brought an Italian singer and even though there are problems, it is clear that he is super talented as well. Thanks for the reaction and explanation Marco!

[dumartist]

The japanese lyrics at 10:47 apparently means "Why did you leave me on the fifth night"

In Japan it's a tradition that the name of a baby will be revealed on the seventh day after they were born. Which means that Scaramouche was abandoned 2 days before Raiden Shogun would have given him a name!

[jamarswope]

A critic or reviewer needs contrast and consistency.

We want to not just know what you like, but also what you don’t like. Even if we disagree with you, that’s fine; that tells us something about ourselves, and helps us further define our own relationship with these songs. We also then know what you identify with, and that helps us not just copy your opinions, but also form our own opinions based on yours.

[bulle]

I’m actually relieved to see I’m not the only one who prefers the original voice, not to put this version down.

[kenbimoramadhana]

With the original, I feel like Scaramouche himself is telling us about his anger, frustration, and story. With the live version, I feel like someone else is narrating the story about Scaramouche.
It's not bad by any means, just feels different (at least for me).

I think the original version is for players who have experienced the story first-hand, while the live version is like a narrator saying "Let me tell you about this character and his story. Mind you, it will be different than experiencing it yourself".

[Modrnccultst]

7:47 You really hit the mark on that one. The voice type of the singer really matters, especially if the song is telling a story.

[legomaple]

To explain the Freddy Mercury reference, because that does actually have a good reason. Scaramouche's character is based on Bohemian Rhapsody. Go through the song and you will find that his character fits it extremely well.
Things like "Any Way The Wind Blows" (He becomes Anemo and Collected Miscellany was called that), "Thunderbolts and Lightning" (Inazuma and his original element), "Will you do the fandango" (His theme is called Ominous Fandango), Wanderer being revealed on 24th of October (Bohemian Rhapsody), etc. There are many more reference you can find and the final bit of the live show where you had that Bohemian Rhapsody reference with the vocalist is just yet another reference to it! So the Bohemian Rhapsody reference is actually the LEAST out of place thing in the video!

[Liz_Bundy]

I think the choose of the singer was more like marketing than musical, He is a very popular actor, tv personality and singer in Japan! so he is able to sing japanese and of course latin(he is italian) Honestly yes, the difference between the original voice from yu peng chen and the singer in this version is huge. And yes, It feels odd the first time you listen this.
I prefer the in game version, but this is excellent too!

[rootiyk]

I would love a cover with both the deeper voice sounding intimidating and the higher voice sounding more emotional, one representing Dottore, other representing Scaramouche

[Kairi-ou]

I think you've hit the nail on the head of what I found so strange about it! I didn't have the vocabulary to express what I didn't like about this version, I didn't have the technical know-how to say anything other than "I don't like this" but to hear what you think is wrong with it gives me great perspective on where I think I didn't like it!

Thanks for posting this!

[hermdude]

In my copium hopes and dreams that they're saving the symphonic version for their annual concert.
I think your criticisms are valid, while still thinking that what Hoyo did was pretty brilliant in the objectives that they had supposedly set up to do with that to which I would call an MV (music video) rather than a true live version. To have a basso cantante instead of a legero tenor was a surprise to many, which generates hype for a piece that we've heard in game to sound totally different with a different voice type.
Actually, I think that the MV is less a reference to Scaramouche, but rather your rendition of the piece, considering that I'm sure they've heard it since they hired you to as the VA for Dvorak, as well as tying up the obvious Bohemian Rhapsody reference they had put for Scaramouche, Beelzebul (Ei), the date of which he was officially released, etc. More of 4th wall references rather than lore reference to Genshin, which Hoyo has always done even before the memes of HSR had gotten hold the masses.
In the end, I've learnt a lot from your video through your experiences in opera, but at the same time, saw how different perspectives and head spaces can shape the enjoyment or the frustration of different renditions of the music that we enjoy.

[ambrielsglobalrange]

As much as I love the singer in this...that flute is slaying it

[brainrot]

I think it would have been 'better' if they didn't label the video as a "live version" but rather a music video. While concert video and live performance usually have some level of production, this one is very prominent and obvious.

[zeroiscubed]

I've gotten used to this version and enjoy it a lot now, but my first impressions agreed with a lot of these criticisms. The singer's amazing voice is not Scara's voice. The composition was not actually transformed into a symphony version, they just showed video of the symphony parts within the existing composition. Trying to be epic undermines how meaningful the original song and context was.
That said, the highlight of this version for me was getting official lyrics, the unofficial upload of the original version has had a wild journey of their closed captions updating to try to guess the lyrics. On day one, the only lyric was "*ominous laughter*", and turns out even that was wrong xD

[tulahlk]

i heard your voice in a genshin hangout quest yesterday and was like “omg! that’s Marco!” it made me smile :) thank you for the video, opera mechanics are so cool to learn about

[CentrisianArmsCo]

Note: the Japanese kana ゑ (we) is an obsolete character, but is still used in traditional names of places or companies (yebisu beer for example is ゑびす). There are more modern ways to mark that, so it’s deliberately a choice to hold onto the past in that regard.

[ImRoosevelt]

This is an amazing video. I always thought that version is inferior to everything I have heard so far from Hoyo's live-versiona, but I never could explain why exactly.
Now with you saying that they choose a different voicetype and that it just feels not "live"

[tulahlk]

4:29 I was once in a choir that sang an Eric Whitacre piece (his stuff is some of the coolest out there imo) that was obviously meant for studio only because the instrumentation was literally just synth, and not only was it hard to sell as legitimate in a performance hall, it was hard to sing with. there’s so little a choir can get across when overpowered by a synth, the nuances just can’t exist. the director literally told us “it says piano here, so just go forte” lmao

[ahamilaag]

So that's what that poll was about.
I totally see where you're coming and do see the value in doing it your way.
It would be cool for sure to see it happen.
As for the queen reference I'm not sure if you know but scaramouche is heavily inspired from bohemian rhapsody(you can look up some of the references they put) so I can see why they put it there.