Word: sopranos
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Producing an Ionesco is usually a choice between doing it straight and emphasizing the naturalistic elements, or stripping down or beefing up the text and emphasizing the absurd. The Hub theatre in their production of The Bald Soprano choses naturalism, and proves quite effectively that the Absurd can be played like drawing room comedy...
...second part of Acis he supplied both magnificent solo technique (best in his martial "Love sounds th'alarm" aria) and at other times a capacity for blending in with the chorus. Bressler's voice is impressively agile while his manner is wholly engaging. The same cannot be said for soprano Jean Hakes. Singing Galatea's role, too often she allowed superfluous dramatic gestures to interfere with the music. She does possess an exceptional grace of execution, proving again her mastery of all manner of vocal embellishments...
...remarkable climax to a successful inaugural week. When it comes to piling horror on horror, Ginastera outclasses anyone now writing for the operatic stage. Beatrix Cenci can best be described as Renaissance Gothic. Based partly on history, partly on the Shelley tragedy, it tells how a young Roman noblewoman (Soprano Arlene Saunders) is seduced by her choleric, morally corrupt father. Count Francesco Cenci (Bass-Baritone Justino Díaz), then revenges herself by arranging his murder. In the end, she is found out, tortured on the rack, beheaded. Not a libretto to every composer's taste, naturally, but just...
Songs by Hugo Wolf (Seraphim; $2.98). A single LP made from off-the-air tapes of one of Soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's finest and most famous hours as a lieder singer- her recital in the Salzburg Mozarteum on Aug. 12, 1953. Words and melody blend the way they do partly because of her eminent piano accompanist, Wilhelm Furtwangler, who on this record plays the way he usually conducted: rounding phrases majestically, seeing to it that voice and instrument are blended perfectly...
Acoustic Research Contemporary Music Project (Deutsche Grammophon, 6 LPs; $2 each). The makers of AR loudspeakers and other audio equipment are offering records devoted to 16 American composers largely ignored so far by the record-industry majors. Especially worthwhile are Milton Babbitt's Philomel, for soprano (Bethany Beardslee) and synthesized sound, and an airily atonalistic set of madrigals by Pulitzer Prizewinner George Crumb. The records are available by mail from AR, Inc., 24 Thorndike St., Cambridge, Mass.02141...