Word: vocalization
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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MEDEA (London: 3 LPs). Despite its powerful theme-the myth of the murdering mother-this 'opera has been infrequently performed since its composition 171 years ago. One reason is Cherubini's static, pedantic score. Another is the sadistic vocal demands of Medea, the lead role. In this album Gwyneth Jones lamentably fails to match her magnificent voice to the emotional exigencies of Medea, and Lamberto Gardelli's conducting is scandalously lethargic. The Callas version of Medea, released by Mercury in 1958, is an infinitely better listener's choice...
...grimmest complexion filtered through the week concerning the imminent disintegration of the HRO's impending Beethoven Ninth concert. The Choirs, supposedly stripped of their talents by the reorganization of the Glee Club, were said to be less than protean musicreaders, and in general hopelessly inadequate to the almost insuperable vocal difficulties of Beethoven's masterwork. And so, as I entered the hall I remembered Robert Scott's famous lament at the end of his diary, written as the merciless Antarctic finally buried him: "We took risks; we knew we took them...
Some folk singers are both less and more than singers. When they themselves are the folk who compose the songs, their performances do not depend merely on vocal skill. What matters is a unique fusion of material and manner that ul timately projects personality and point of view. Four recent albums by composer-singers attempt this projection with varying success...
...Exequien looks forward to the cantatas of Bach and the oratorios of Handel. The work is characterized by an evangelical passion which perhaps only Bach and Verdi, in his singularly tumultuous idiom, were able to equal; and also by a supreme melodic beauty which is the result of consummate vocal understanding. It is maddening to hear Schutz only once every several years, while legions of Preservation Groups disgorge the complete Corelli and Telemann, as well as more ghastly antiquarians, with implacable remorselessness...
...main choir, symbolizing in Schutz's words "the joy of the blessed souls in heaven." TheGloria, a quodlibet of Lutheran chorale melodies was precisely thought out and excellently proportioned among the voices. As for the seven soloists, the men were more distinguished than the women in regard to vocal blend if not phrasing, with Daniel Collins, the countertenor, David Evitts, the baritone, and Mark Pearson, the bass-baritone, producing the finest singing. The mezzosoprano and soprano, Jan Curtis and Susan Stevens, sounded totally alien, much as if one were simultaneously listening to a barrel-organ and a celeste. The choir...