Word: mezzo-soprano
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Songs by Stephen Foster (Mezzo-Soprano Jan DeGaetani, Baritone Leslie Guinn, Pianist Gilbert Kalish; Nonesuch, $2.98). One of the prime movers in the Scott Joplin revival, Nonesuch now appears to be trying the same trick for the composer of Old Black Joe and Old Folks at Home. The company deserves to succeed. Foster (1826-64) was America's first great songwriter, and there is much more in his song bag than just the minstrel ballads with Uncle Tomish lyrics by which he is usually remembered. There is, for example, the sprightly If You've Only Got a Moustache...
...Sept. 19: a new production of Bizet's Carmen, staged by Gentele himself. Before rehearsals begin on Aug. 1, the Met needs to find a new stage director modest enough to carry out Gentele's ideas. Only a week before Gentele went to Sardinia, he wrote to Mezzo-Soprano Marilyn Home, his Carmen: "The production is rolling along smoothly. At this point, the only person who could ruin it would be the director...
Divorced. Grace Bumbry, 35, well-turned mezzo-soprano who progressed from Arthur Godfrey's radio show Talent Scouts to New York's Metropolitan Opera; and Erwin Andreas Jaeckel, 38, German tenor; after nine years of marriage, no children; in Berlin...
...recording is a knockout, fully comparable to London's history-making Ring cycle. Conductor Georg Solti, today's top conductor of Wagner, makes the opera brilliant and unabashedly grand. As Venus, Mezzo-Soprano Christa Ludwig seethes with eroticism, suggesting a world of impossible sexuality. Soprano Helga Dernesch as Elisabeth, Wagner's virginal opposite to Venus, is the perfect embodiment of pinched Victorian purity. Best of all is Tenor René Kollo, a German pop singer metamorphosed into a Heldentenor, who sings Tannhäuser with a gleaming tone, power, and a dramatic force unequaled since Lauritz Melchior...
None of the singers have flawless French diction, but otherwise the Philips cast seems nearly perfect. Tenor Jon Vickers' heroic-sounding Aeneas has both muscle and gentleness; Mezzo-Soprano Josephine Veasey sings Dido with a burnished-bronze quality that can range from love to outrage. As Cassandra, Soprano Berit Lindholm is splendidly equipped to trumpet the doom of Troy, even if her voice is a bit too high for this low-ranging role...