Soon, the perplexed chorus, singing in emphatic, grim block chords, repeats the sad facts of the scene just witnessed: "If he had not been an Adams, he would have kneeled at her feet".
Cigarettes and a months-long case of bronchitis helped, but Dylan's new singing voice — unpretty, emphatic, indeterminately regional, redolent of a shadowy history — was, to a great extent, a choice, an acquired thing.
It reminds me of a Native American chant – a guttural, singing vibrato voice sometimes droning, sometimes emphatic.
Mr. Daniels, who played Caesar at the Met in 2007 for the last run of John Copley's dull 1988 production of this opera, is again remarkable, singing with his full-bodied sound, emphatic delivery and technical command.
Singing for Ms. McDonald is just a more emphatic and articulate way of talking, one that's needed when emotions are so intense they can't be captured without the texture and shading of melody.
She possesses what the James Taylor song calls the "Secret o' Life," a number she sang with emphatic optimism near the end of her set.
Along with an attitude of openhearted playfulness and readiness for adventure, these qualities lend her lyrics and singing (in a voice that's noticeably lighter than the more emphatic style of her pop hits) a bracing folk-pop buoyancy.
Ms. Palmer, singing in her plain but expressive alto, gives voice to those moments with emphatic power.
Ninety minutes later, though, they had presented the doubters with a pretty emphatic riposte – a three-goal victory that lifted them back to the top of the table and had the home fans singing "We're gonna win the league".
