Word: mezzos
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...than the film was for Bette Davis. Absent from the New York stage for more than a century, the opera was revived especially for Sills by the company's director, Julius Rudel. He conducted it adoringly and surrounded his prima diva with an all-star cast headed by Mezzo Beverly Wolff, Baritone Louis Quilico and, of course, Domingo. Amply returning the favor, Sills proved again that she is unsurpassed as a coloratura. With gestures ranging from near-hysteric twitching to imperious slaps, she brought the Virgin Queen's tragedy to dramatic life. More important, she turned Donizetti...
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...
Last week New York's Metropolitan Opera offered a new Norma production with Joan Sutherland in the title role. Hardly had she finished her first duet with Mezzo-Soprano Marilyn Horne (as Adalgisa) than the audience began to cheer and occasionally stamp and yell. The enthusiasm was fully justified. Sutherland's voice warmed toward a soaring, languorous tenderness. Horne, making one of the greatest Met debuts, showed a vocal reach and richness that exceeded nearly anybody's gasp. In Mira, O Norma, closing Act III, the two together floated along like two strings of a violin being...
...raised an inevitable question: why had it taken her so long to get to the Met? The often suggested answer is Rudolf Sing's well-known preference for European singers. But the truth is that Home was not interested in making her debut in such customary mezzo roles as the bitch (Amneris) in Aida or the witch (Azucena) in Trovatore. What she wanted and got was a role demanding enough to show off a voice already broader in stylistic range than that of any soprano singing opera today...
...incident. But despite its effectiveness, The Devils seemed episodic, eclectic, and the complex Penderecki (pronounced Pen-der-ete-key) score sometimes trod meekly behind the drama instead of forcefully alongside it. What gave absolutely no grounds for complaint were the performances of Baritone John Rear don and Mezzo-Soprano Joy Davidson. As a sensual priest who is burned at the stake, Reardon in particular gave the production just the sort of personal force it needs...