[Met Tour] CID:150750



Otello
Denver Auditorium, Denver, Colorado, Mon, May 9, 1949




Otello (104)
Giuseppe Verdi | Arrigo Boito
Otello
Ramon Vinay

Desdemona
Licia Albanese

Iago
Giuseppe Valdengo

Emilia
Martha Lipton

Cassio
Leslie Chabay

Lodovico
Nicola Moscona

Montàno
Clifford Harvuot

Roderigo
Thomas Hayward

Herald
Philip Kinsman


Conductor
Fritz Busch







Review 1:

Allen Young in the Denver Post

Dramatic “Otello” Score Eloquently Sung by Met

 

The Metropolitan Opera Company came to Denver Monday evening and gave memorably of its best. The [first] opera was Verdi’s “Otello” which was written by the Italian master at the age of 74. The surging, emotion-packed score finds Verdi at his peak. Since all concerned were close to their artistic heights the performance was one of steadily sustained excitement.

The elemental darkness of the opera’s emotional character is given extraordinary life in Verdi’s orchestration. Fritz Busch directed, holding magnificently in reign a score of unbridled passion. Occasional over-loudness may easily be laid to the hazards of varying acoustical conditions across the land. This performance did gain constantly from the forcefulness of the score’s rendition.

As Otello, Ramon Vinay was both vocally and physically virile. With intensity and intelligence, Vinay portrayed a great figure caught in a strangling web of doom. His singing showed immense resources of volume which nowhere led him to shout over the bombastic orchestration. His control over voice and character was admirable.

The Desdemona of Licia Albanese was a figure who was credibly pure and lovely. She has great purity of vocal quality and exquisitely refined tone. The quiet eloquence of the “Willow Song”  and the “Ave Maria” was ideal, emphasizing the fine development of the final act.

Giuseppe Valdengo’s Iago was sung with a secure conception of the role’s malevolence given fine vocal character. Singing directly and forcefully, Valdengo filled the wealth of the role with clear tones which left no question of vocal skill. Visually his role needs to be given edge. His rendition of the “Credo” was a highly successful moment in the opera.

Leslie Chabay, singing Cassio, had good lyric quality but his characterization is insecure. Nicola Moscona sang with splendor in his brief scene. Martha Lipton’s presence was a fine contrast to the blond Desdemona, singing the vocally thankless role of Emilia. Thomas Hayward’s tenor was briefly heard to good advantage, while Philip Kinsman and Clifford Harvout sang their minute parts with dispatch.

The vivid, sensible staging by Herbert Graf was no surprise to those who have seen his work at Central City. Donald Oenslager, who also has assisted at Central City, designed the most effective settings in which Graf bring to such climatic life the immortal Shakespearean characters. The singing of the chorus was superb, alert full in tone and untroubled by uncertainties of the score.

A. M. Oberfelder is sponsoring the Metropolitan Opera visit to Denver.



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