Word: mezzos
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Musically, the performance at the Met is excellent. Possessing a voice that is lithe and ripe, mezzo-soprano Maria Ewing was born to sing the title role, and she delivers a performance of untamed carnality. Slovak bass Sergei Koptchak is outstanding as her lecherous father-in-law, and Russian tenor Vladimir Galouzine is appropriately ardent as the lover. In the pit, conductor James Conlon and the Met orchestra rejoice in the score's raw power...
Familiar from its various stage and cinematic incarnations, Liaisons, sung in English, is an extravagant chess match of check and mate -- and mate and mate. The Marquise (mezzo Frederica von Stade, in top form) is an archmanipulator who wields her sensual allure like a double-edged sword, encouraging her lover's worst instincts as she wreaks her revenge on society. Her foil, the unapologetic knave Valmont (the splendid baritone Thomas Hampson), is a cynical womanizer who makes the fatal mistake of falling in love with one of his victims, unwisely and too well. Who is worse? The amoral rake...
Sources inside and outside the Met agree that Battle's downfall was triggered by her harsh treatment of co-star Rosalind Elias, 64, a veteran and locally beloved mezzo. In one high-comedy scene, Elias, as the Marquise of Berkenfield, is seated at the piano coaching the high-spirited Marie, played by Battle, in a proper old tune. Battle stiffly complained that Elias' piano playing was inept and was adversely affecting her phrasing; she issued a series of ultimatums culminating in a demand that the solo be played by a musician in the orchestra...
...Cecilia Bartoli, a stylish Roman of 26 who is a rare creature in the musical world: a coloratura mezzo. The coloratura refers to her extravagant ease with ornamentation; the mezzo gives her a lush tone, darker than a soprano's, and keeps her from ever -- perish the thought -- squeaking. "I have a natural facility for the coloratura," she says. "It was born in here," she adds, pointing to her chest...
...Progress at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, proves to be an ideal directorial choice. Especially noteworthy is Trina's erotic soliloquy as she lies in bed showered with her gold pieces, a latter-day Danae. And surely the opening scene of Act II, in which the maid Maria (mezzo Emily Golden) hymns the joy of wealth while experiencing the joy of sex up against a fence, is an operatic first...