Word: rossini
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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When the New York City Opera Company stops trying to compete with the Metropolitan and sticks to lighthearted masterpieces or frank innovations-Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Rossini's Cinderella, Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges, Berg's Wozzeck-it is hard to beat. But it has had trouble keeping its conductor-managers. The man who runs the City Opera, like any opera manager, must be diplomatic, versatile and tough; he must convince the public that his programs are worthwhile, his singers that they are getting parts worthy of their talents, his board of directors...
...Rossini: Stabat Mater (Maria Stader, Marianna Radev, Ernst Häfliger, Kim Borg; RIAS Symphony conducted by Ferenc Fricsay; Decca, 2 LPs). The composer who was once advised by Beethoven to stick to comic opera, here turns up in a churchly (if not always churchlike) mood. The chorus sings some lofty and properly devotional counter point, but the lovely solo voices have arias that bounce and flow with the joyfulness of the Barber of Seville. Performance: elegant...
...Rossini: L'ltaliana in Algeri (Giulletta Simionato, Cesare Valletti; La Scala Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini; Angel, 2 LPs). A gay, foolish romp through romantic North Africa, featuring a harem, a love-bored bey and a high-spirited Italian girl. Hardly an ounce of musical passion, but plenty of pretty coloratura parts and some elegant singing by the principals...
...entire New York City Center (opera, ballet, theater), tried to make it work. Through a $200,000 Rockefeller grant, he helped commission such modern operas as Aaron Copland's The Tender Land and the daring stage designs for Von Einem's The Trial, revived such confections as Rossini's Cenerentola. The Center was losing some $100,000 a year, but Kirstein often helped with money fromhis own pocket...
Since the Rossini work has been on tour since last year, it runs with amazing case and pace. The Marriage production, still new, has not yet acquired the same polish, but both provide evenings of operatic charm all too rare in Boston...