MUSIC International Class
THE concert performance of The Capture of Troy, first part of Berlioz's opera The Trojans, ended with tumults for Colin Davis, the New Philharmonia Orchestra, the NPO Chorus and especially, so far as the soloists were con- cerned, for Josephine Veasey. Technically a mezzo, Miss Veasey sang the Cassandra music, which is for dramatic soprano, with rich brilliance up to top B, its 'ceiling,' and, what is more, with an impetus and an authority that put her perfor- mance (although sung in a mercifully touched-up version of Dent's translation from Berlioz's French) in the international class.
Miss Veasey's performance was, to say the least, equally responsible with Davis's conduct- ing, the chorus's fiery singing and much orchestral glory for the distinction and excite- ment of the night as a whole. That two or three of her notes below the stave were underpowered is neither here nor there. An artist who sings not only Cassandra but also the more exacting Part 2 role of Dido with the élan and beauty that Miss Veasey brings to this music is an exceedingly rare bird. One has only to think of various Cassandras and Didos heard in London since the war to be convinced of this. What are the recording companies doing about her? Why isn't more made of her at Covent Garden and by the impresarios? Are we still so besotted by foreign personalities and foreign voices (in- cluding certain deficient ones) as to be deaf or fatuously patronising to our own?
Do not assume, merely because I have spoken of brilliance and élan, that Miss Veasey's per- formance was just another high-class firework.
(sung with warmth and dramatic truth by
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