Word: nicolai
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...because of a veiled timbre and somewhat muted personality. Jon Vickers, 52, can match Pavarotti's intensity and puts more serious thought behind his performing, but his is an entirely different kind of voice: rugged, heroic, best suited to dramatic works such as Otello, Les Troyens and Peter Grimes. Nicolai Gedda, an elegant, unfailingly attractive singer, is a supremely versatile stylist, at home in several languages; at 54, however, he is understandably not a powerhouse. Perhaps the challenge ultimately will come from a younger singer like Jose Carreras, 32, though to date he has shown neither the strength...
Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, Tenor Nicolai Gedda, Bass Dimiter Petkov, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich conductor, Angel; 3 LPs). Soviet critics thought they heard a masterpiece when this, Shostakovich's second opera, was premiered in 1934. Then Stalin walked out of a performance and they listened again. This time they heard "din, gnash and screech" (Pravda). The work was withdrawn, and Shostakovich pursued more orthodox ways. A sanitized version, unveiled in 1963, found its way to the West on records, but this is the first recording of the original score. Harsh, erotic...
...Bartered Bride, April 28. The Met's new production of Smetana's bouncy peasant drama boasts great singers but a botched translation and presentation. Teresa Stratas, Nicolai Gedda, and Jon Vickers (who cancelled his Tuesday Otello performance and may not show here) all are first-class artists, but some miscastings mar their contribution...
Take Romania: "an island of Latin-speaking people in a sea of Slavs," as they like to see themselves. Its flamboyant leader, Nicolai Ceaucescu, has brillantly grafted this sense of identity to buttress his regime. A steady stream of contacts-mainly with Third World countries-and visits from non-Soviet bloc leaders (the most recent being Chairman Hua of China) underline a foreign policy independent of Moscow but now where Romania keeps her presence if not her troops within the Warsaw Pact...
Throughout his pontificate a procession of world leaders visited the Vatican, including some key figures from Communist countries: Yugoslavia's President Josip Broz Tito, Rumania's President Nicolai Ceauşescu, Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. Of all the Pope's many diplomatic initiatives, including a long and fruitless attempt to mediate peace in VietNam and similarly frustrating efforts in Biafra, Northern Ireland and the Middle East, his Ostpolitik was the most successful. His overtures to the Communist world helped to win the church such concessions as limited freedom to teach, nominations...