Word: sopranoes
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...sacred dramatic festival" to be performed and where the acoustics are ideal-even, unfortunately, for coughs. Knappertsbusch slowly and hypnotically weaves the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Chorus into a rich tapestry of sound against which budding Heldentenor Jess Thomas as Parsifal, Baritone George London as King Amfortas and Soprano Irene Dalis as the tortured Kundry eloquently play out the medieval legend of renunciation and redemption...
...Ansermet, conductor of 1'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, deftly evokes visions of the Poe-like castle and moon-bright grotto of Debussy's poetic opera. Musically light-textured, the opera is philosophically dark: early death is the destiny of the young lovers, appealingly sung by Dutch Soprano Erna Spoorenberg and French Tenor Camille Maurane...
...their story in almost continuous melody rather than long declamations. Conducted by John Pritchard for the Glyndebourne Festival, this is a cut-down version, but it includes all the scenes leading up to the triumph of immorality. The able cast includes Tenor Richard Lewis as the love-struck Nero, Soprano Magda Laszlo as Poppea and Soprano Frances Bible as Ottavia...
Yannatos' score, especially as interpreted by soprano Chloe Owen, exhibits perfect understanding of every line of the poem and an ability to transform this understanding into music. The audience stopped looking at the translation of the text during the first poem, but it continued to respond, with comprehension and laughter, to the music itself. The work is humorously, but thoughtfully, refreshing...
Miss. Owen's musical personality, expressed with restraint in the Yannatos work, blossomed in the Verdi Bolero, "Merce dilette, amiche." She sang the aria with perfect intonation and virtuosity, and the audience demanded that she repeat it. The second time around, Miss Owen was every inch the soprano. Flowers in hand, she sang to the audience, to the orchestra, to Yannatos and, quite possibly, to Verdi himself. She was obviously enjoying herself and her joy was contagious...