Opera
Summer Season
MASON
By COLIN are very great indeed. She lacks experience still, and much of her musical phrasing, like her acting, was raw. In the first two acts she seemed a like- able but not outstandingly talented singer whom one could hear with pleasure; but would hardly remember, an imprission we shall probably gain of every new Aida while the present production lasts and they have to sing Ritorna vincitor and Fu in sorte dell' armi in front of Salvatore Fiume's distracting drop curtains. But in 0 partici mitt she suddenly got her vocal and musical personality through, in singing' of ravishing quality, soft and appealing in tone, and affectingly phrased. The whole performance improved from this point. The tenor Carlos Guichandut, who had begun like a Filippeschi, got his loud notes under control and revealed himself as a very experienced and musical artist with a splendid voice for the part. His singing in the last two acts was well worth all the allowances that had to be made for it in the first two. Regina Resnik as Amneris maintained the most consistent level, in a performance more distinguished for musical reliability and authority than for beauty of voice, but satisfying and en- joyable. Margherita Wallmann's production is wearing well. Now that its first season is over it should go into English.
Last year's production of The Mastersingers thank goodness began life in English, and con- tinues so. Its success is a strong argument for try- ing to overcome the problems of putting on The Ring in English. Every line in Wagner's librettos is meaningful and important, and to be able to follow the detailed argument of dialogue and monologue contributes to the dramatic experi- ence and enjoyment of his works as in no other opera. The idea of an English audience sitting through a German performance of The Ring, in which most of them can at best just follow the general drift of the plot, and perhaps pick up one line in three, or even one in ten, is so grotesque that if it did not happen at Covent Garden every year no sane man would believe it possible. Wagner would certainly not be flattered at the thought of us all sitting there in a kind of hypno- tised stupor, drunk with his lone-poetry' and only dimly understanding what it is all about. In Erich Witte's production of The Mastersingers we can enjoy an opera,,not a tone-poem, and it is all the better this year for being without Mr. Witte's own very German performance as Walther (though we had cause to be grateful to him then for standing in for Richard Lewis). His place is being taken now by Arturo Sergi, who in spite of his name sings good American, and is vocally fit enough for the part to give a good deal of pleasure, if no thrills. The same goes for the rest of the cast in a performance a little above a good' average repertory standard. Possibly the finest contributor to it was the conductor, Reginald Goodall, who without any fireworks or assertive virtuosity was lively and sensitive, and carried us through the five and a half hours with as little thought of the time as at a Glyndebourne Figaro.
At Glyndebourne, Figaro, Falstaff and Alceste have given way to The Rake's Progress and Le Comte Ory. On the first night the Stravinsky did not go so easily or, so gaily as in previous seasons with the same team (Paul Sacher, Elsie Morison, Richard Lewis and Otakar Kraus). The most notable performance was the dashing and con- vincing Baba of Gloria Lane, who made a musical success of what in the past has often seemed a rather ineffective and ungrateful part.
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