Word: mezzos
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...vocal typecasting that prevails in opera, sopranos play the heroines, winning the glory as often as they win the tenor. Lower-voiced mezzo-sopranos, on the other hand, usually end up on the limelight's fringes, portraying a disappointed rival or a sister-and wishing they were sopranos. As a result, the soprano field tends to be overcrowded. Two decades ago, Bronx-born Regina Resnik, a dramatic soprano with a rich lower range, found the field so overcrowded that even her widely recognized abilities were not taking her to the top. "I was just a talented youngster compared with...
Against all advice, she reversed the usual pattern and switched from soprano to mezzo in 1957. Making the most of her big, warm voice, mature musicianship and canny flair for stagecraft, she was discovered all over again in the character roles of the mezzo repertory. Today, at 45, she has arrived at the point where she can not only steal the show from high-flying prima donnas but also carry an entire production herself. In recent seasons she has frequently done both, demonstrating the versatility as well as the power of her portrayals by encompassing the quirky pathos...
...down to put silly music to a silly libretto about a fateful faro game and an old countess who is scared to death. That's right, scared to death by a mad gambler named Herman. In this recording, the role of the Countess is fairly well sung by Mezzo-Soprano Valentina Levko, and Herman is less well sung by Tenor Zurab Andzhaparidzye. The other principals validate Russia's pride in its bassos and baritones, and embarrassment for its screechy sopranos. Boris Khaikin conducts the Bolshoi's orchestra with conviction-which is not an attitude easily assumed...
Even so, no company can long endure without a Carmen on its list, and last week, after six years' absence, Bizet's supple shocker returned to the Met in a new production. The Carmen was Grace Bumbry, a Negro mezzo-soprano from St. Louis; her Don Jose was Nicolai Gedda, a Swedish-Russian; the Escamillo was Justino Diaz, a Puerto Rican. The conductor was Zubin Mehta, an Indian from Bombay who now conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic-and who last week touched off a furor by denying that he was the least bit interested in conducting...
...Mezzo-soprano Mary Devenport was a disappointment. Her German was garbled and her voice murky, sounding more and more constricted as it rose in pitch. Her singing was four-square and monotonous, and she had the deplorable habit of sliding from high to low notes. The best one can say for her is that she has a fairly rich and well-controlled lower register...