Word: arias
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Raymond Murcell as Polyphemus displayed a perfect combination of grotesque rage and pathetic impotence. His love aria--with an amusing piccolo obbligato solo--was especially well-ornamented and had a healthy rhythmic bounce supported by the continuo. A Scotch snap rhythm (more formally known as inverted dotting) was used for the aria. Though this is missing from some recordings of Acis, the obbligato solo clearly calls...
Lieder-singing tenors often find the transition to early music difficult, but Charles Bressler is an exception. In the second part of Acis he supplied both magnificent solo technique (best in his martial "Love sounds th'alarm" aria) and at other times a capacity for blending in with the chorus. Bressler's voice is impressively agile while his manner is wholly engaging. The same cannot be said for soprano Jean Hakes. Singing Galatea's role, too often she allowed superfluous dramatic gestures to interfere with the music. She does possess an exceptional grace of execution, proving again her mastery...
...Calumny' Aria...
...Barber, written by Rossini in 1816, comes after Figaro chronologically, but the action of the play is a prelude to that of the Mozart opera. In his role as Don Basilio, Gill will be called on to sing one of the most memorable parts of the opera, the "calumny" aria...
...compose duos and other ensembles that would have been impossible on the stage. Time and again, with closeups and soft focuses that blurred out other actors, he added visual detail to characterizations without the customary operatic formality of bringing singers to stage center for old-fashioned recitative and aria...