Word: nicolais
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...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...
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (Bass Martti Talvela, Tenor Nicolai Gedda, Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra, Jerzy Semkow conductor, Angel; 4 LPs). At long last, here is the Boris Godunov that Mussorgsky actually wrote. For too many years the work was heard in the brilliant, often gaudy revision of Rimsky-Korsakov, who in the guise of correcting a friend's mistakes dispelled much of Mussorgsky's haunting, earthy musical originality. This new recording measures up to both the music and the debt owed Mussorgsky. Martti Talvela is rich of voice (less a black bass than a walnut) and unforgettable...
...Scala opened with Macbeth, considered one of its best new productions. Typically, the company offered a cast of Italian and non-Italian singers, notably Italy's Piero Cappuccilli as Macbeth, the U.S.'s Shirley Verrett as Lady Macbeth and Bulgaria's Nicolai Ghiaurov as Banquo. On the podium was Claudio Abbado, the company's former music director who, at 43, is a conductor of international stature. The production was conceived and staged by Italy's Giorgio Strehler (see box). For Strehler, it was one of three moments in the spotlight. His staging of Figaro...