Word: sopranos
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...silly music to a silly libretto about a fateful faro game and an old countess who is scared to death. That's right, scared to death by a mad gambler named Herman. In this recording, the role of the Countess is fairly well sung by Mezzo-Soprano Valentina Levko, and Herman is less well sung by Tenor Zurab Andzhaparidzye. The other principals validate Russia's pride in its bassos and baritones, and embarrassment for its screechy sopranos. Boris Khaikin conducts the Bolshoi's orchestra with conviction-which is not an attitude easily assumed for this opera...
...Philharmonic and his parents, who moved there in 1964 when his father became a teacher-conductor at U.C.L.A., those interests prominently include, in the words of one of his friends, "girls, girls, girls." A long, tempestuous affair with the "baby Callas" of the opera world, fiery Greek-Canadian Soprano Teresa Stratas, is now stalemated, as much because of conflicts between their careers as between their temperaments. But Mehta has shown no inclination to mope around about it-at least not alone; he is rarely seen without a girl...
...EARTH, PEACE (CBS, 10-11 a.m.). The Christmas music of Central and East ern Europe, with Baritone Igor Gorin, Tenor Jan Kiepura and Soprano Eva Li-kova. Repeat...
Even so, no company can long endure without a Carmen on its list, and last week, after six years' absence, Bizet's supple shocker returned to the Met in a new production. The Carmen was Grace Bumbry, a Negro mezzo-soprano from St. Louis; her Don Jose was Nicolai Gedda, a Swedish-Russian; the Escamillo was Justino Diaz, a Puerto Rican. The conductor was Zubin Mehta, an Indian from Bombay who now conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic-and who last week touched off a furor by denying that he was the least bit interested in conducting...
...Mezzo-soprano Mary Devenport was a disappointment. Her German was garbled and her voice murky, sounding more and more constricted as it rose in pitch. Her singing was four-square and monotonous, and she had the deplorable habit of sliding from high to low notes. The best one can say for her is that she has a fairly rich and well-controlled lower register...