Pavarotti's tongue

vmalheiros

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTFUM4Uh_6Y
I noticed that his tongue isn't flat to base of the jaw, like when he sings that marvelous B4, is that another example of last-stage open throat technique? in which the tongue pulls away from the back of the throat to create space?

highmtn

He is doing a terrific job of singing with a covered style, which is different from the open style of more contemporary music.

hubert

He's singing with lowered larynx position and he's covering the vowels. He's trying to achieve the biggest and the darkest sound while maintaining a lot of bright ping in the sound (it's for projection, loudness without pushing). The fact is that this bright ping is so loud that opera singers should not sing right into the microphone because it's shrill and too bright (when the lips are close to the mic). It sounds great acoustically with the orchestra and when the mic is far away from the lips (because the high frequencies carry shorter distances than lower frequencies and the tone becomes balanced (chiaro and scuro, dark sound and loud bright resonance/ping)). His tongue position is the result of trying to negotiate/balance the low larynx position and bright ping (tongue too low and far back = too much dark tone, tongue too high and forward = too much brightness).