Word: arias
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...subplots of revenge, lust and political hanky-panky. What makes the opera worth the salvaging is the vigor and sheer melodic beauty of the score. Though Verdi the patriot worked at odds with Verdi the composer, the fervor of his convictions could occasionally inspire him as well. The opening aria "Let us be free," for example, is charged with the kind of youthful brio that was to come to full flower in Rigoletto, written five years later. Fresh, forcefully direct, the Attila score was polished for six months by Conductor Amaducci, until each facet sparkled. The result was worthy...
...dialogue is snug in aria or recited in this simple, banal story of young love interrupted by army draft, of a pregnancy left behind, and of a heroine's face-saving marriage to a wealthy older man. Mechanics sing "Did you check the carburetor?" An old lady sings "My varicose veins are much better, thanks...
...Umbrellas is filmed in the most violent, least muted colors you're apt to see in a movie of the 60's. One aria scene between young lovers Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo takes place in an alley walled in pink, chartreuse, and flaming orange. By cutting various camera angles, Demy gets background colors to underscore whatever mood happens to be flooding the sound-track in song...
...semifinals, which none of a ten-man U.S. contingent was able to reach, the remaining 13 candidates were put through a musical obstacle course: they had to conduct the first movement of Berlioz' Symphonic Fantastique, Debussy's First Rhapsody for clarinet and piano, a recitative and aria from Beethoven's Fidelio, and a surprise modern piece-Andre Previn's Overture to a Comedy-for which they were given only 30 minutes to prepare. Said Concertmaster Gabriel Banat: "It was a harrowing experience for them and a merry-go-round...
...Russian symbolist writer Valery Bryusov, Angel is set in 16th century Germany and revolves, or rather, rolls around a fetching young damsel named Renata (Soprano Eileen Schauler). Unfortunately, she has an advanced case of the screaming meemies. In the first act she bares her problem in a long aria while writhing around the stage on her stomach...