Word: powerful
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Fanny, La Plume de Ma Tante), "depend on a good review from Atkinson." Says Producer Alfred de Liagre Jr. (J.B.): "In terms of influence, Brooks is worth any four of the other critics." These awed testimonials go to a man who shifts uneasily beneath the burden of his influence ("Power bothers me; I'd rather not have it"), and who says he got into drama criticism for purely mercenary considerations: "I got interested in the theater mainly, I'm afraid, because you got free tickets when you wrote about...
...Viking figurehead. In the long, angry denunciation of Tristan that followed, she displayed a big, flashing, vibrant voice that galvanized her audience and conveyed an immediate sense of the turbulent passions that animate the role. As the opera unfolded, Soprano Nilsson continued to dominate the stage with such ringing power that she cut without difficulty through the opulent textures of the Wagnerian orchestra-particularly in the climactic Liebestod in Act III. Perhaps because of debut stresses, the voice also had its marked drawbacks; at times it sounded strained, took on a steely glitter when more opulent warmth was called...
...production as a whole was less exciting. German Tenor Karl Liebl, substituting as Tristan for the ailing Ramon Vinay, had neither stage presence nor the power to match the Nilsson salvos. Baritone Walter Cassel as Kurvenal and Bass Jerome Hines as King Mark both turned in workmanlike performances, and Soprano Irene Dalis was impressive as Brangaene. Conductor Karl Boehm led his orchestra through a methodical reading. As for the decor, with the world's best to choose from, the Met had again picked the second-rate. The sets by German Designer Teo Otto were pedestrian and confusing: starkly realistic...
...Soprano Varnay refused to watch from the wings because "I dream about such things." Reported TIME Correspondent Paul Moor: "For a non-German-speaking audience, this opera has long, boring stretches because the music is so subservient to the text. Nevertheless, Orff has created a theater work of gripping power...
According to some critics, Orff devotes so much attention to choreography, staging, and what he calls "language power" that he slights musical values. But the accusation bothers genial Composer Orff not at all. "I belong to no school," says he. "It doesn't give me a headache...