Great Stars of Opera - Telecasts from the Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1966

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DVD Reviews of Great Stars of Opera - Telecasts from the Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1966

DVD Review: Spectacular group of performances
Summary: 5 Stars

Yes, some of the hair-styles and evening gowns are very dated and some of the acting edges toward semaphore, but it is important to remember that when these performances were broadcast, most opera singers did not have established television technique. They were accustomed to standing on a stage at a great distance from an audience and emoting physically as well as vocally. Rather than criticizing the lapses into histrionic excess - and there really not that many - today's viewers should be amazed that the presentational style is as natural as it is.

Several scenes, Sutherland's technically astonishing and dramatically impressive Mad Scene and Price's intense, gorgeously sung Trovatore aria are fully staged with costumes and elaborate sets; others scenes are in concert form, with the singer in evening dress standing in front of abstract backgrounds or orchestra. Ultimately, however, it is the singing that should, and does, take center stage.
Here is an opportunity to hear a fresh-voiced, dramatically-engaged Birgit Nilson singing one of her signature arias, In Questa Reggia (watch what she does with the cape part of her gown!), to hear Leontyne Price, whom some have called the perfect Verdi singer, in excerpts from two of her acclaimed portrayals, and to hear the lush voice of Eileen Farrell in Isolde's Liebstod. The camera work in Farrell's performance is exceptionally close, catching the depth of feeling in her eyes.
Although the performances are weighted toward sopranos, there is excellent work from tenors Franco Corelli and Richard Tucker as well as from baritone's Robert Merrill and George London who sings an intense scene from Boris Goudonov in English. (One can not help but wonder, in retrospect, if Russian was deemed inappropriate for an American television audience at the height of the cold war.) In one of the few duets (there are no larger ensembles represented here), Simionato and Vickers "eat the scenery" in admirable Italianate style in their Amneris, Radames scene.

The performance by mezzo Rise Stevens is a double bonus, first because there are not as many preserved examples of her performing, and second, because her selection, from Victor Herbert's Natoma is an operatic rarity. Hearing this haunting music performed by a top-notch performer like Miss Stevens will undoubtedly send some opera buffs to the internet to look for more of both.

As an introduction to opera and operatic style, as a retrospective of singers from the second half of the 20th century, or as sheer entertainment, this DVD is a "must." (By the way, navigation is very easy so that one can watch the whole DVD in sequence, or select scenes, one at a time.)

Description of Great Stars of Opera - Telecasts from the Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1966

Leontyne Price looks very young and extraordinarily talented in selections from Il trovatore and Aida; Birgit Nilsson produces great sounds in music from Turandot and Götterdämmerung. The list could go on much longer. The names on the cover of this disc are (except for the unfortunate absence of Maria Callas) virtually a who's who of the leading Metropolitan Opera singers of the late 1950s and early '60s. It would be pleasant to have Galina Vishnevkaya, Christa Ludwig, Cesare Siepi, and Walter Berry as well, but their careers blossomed elsewhere and we must be thankful for what is here--thankful, in particular, that there were once programs on commercial network television that presented material of deep and permanent value. --Joe McLellan

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