Word: bassos
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...this is the opera's only recording. Mosè is closer in spirit to the oratorios of Handel and Haydn than to Rossini's own sparkling Barber of Seville, though a few light lovely Italian airs occasionally creep into the repertoire of the Egyptians. Basso Nicola Rossi Lemeni, as Moses, sounds too muffled and unfocused to convince anyone to follow him into the Red Sea, but the orchestra and chorus of the Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli play and sing splendidly. Tullio Serafin conducts...
...people who were working on this week's cover story could return the compliment with sincerity. For Artist Boris Chaliapin, the assignment brought warm memories of family: his father, the great Russian basso Feodor Chaliapin, was a close friend of Rubinstein's in Europe many years ago. Between them, for reasons only they really know, painter and pianist decided on the rather unusual garb of red coat and vest for the portrait. And why is the piano green? "You don't have to see it green," said Chaliapin. "It is black; perhaps it was an artistic liberty...
During its last season in its storied and gloried old house, New York's Metropolitan Opera offered some superb new singers, including Italian Soprano Mirella Frem, Spanish Soprano Montserrat Caballe and Bulgarian Basso Nicolai Ghiaurov. The Met also launched its new national touring company, whose performances ranged from a fine Cinderella to a terrible Carmen. Opera companies in other cities tirelessly found out-of-the-way things to do, for instance, the Kansas City production of Handel's 241-year-old Julius Caesar and the Boston premiere of Italian Composer Luigi Nono s starkly modern Intolleranza...
...Roger Dunwell, as the principal narrator (a role Thomas took when the play premiered in New York) both understood his part and spoke it clearly; if he has conquered opening-night nervousness, his reading ought to set a standard for the rest of the cast. Patrick Diehl, a splendid basso, made the lusting quack, Mr. Waldo, seem a lovable rogue. And Mary Moss, playing a variety of loose women, could hardly have been improved upon (her singing was off-key, but there again, one suspects nerves). Her question -- "Oh, isn't life a terrible thing, thank God?"--gave me chills...
...soared to either end of his register with effortless ease, deftly switched from sustained pianissimos to quaking explosions of wall-to-wall thun der. But for all his raw power, the brightly burnished timbre of his voice carries a built-in caress. Ghiaurov, at 36, is unquestionably the best basso singing today...