[Met Performance] CID:209350



Il Trovatore
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, February 4, 1967




Il Trovatore (364)
Giuseppe Verdi | Salvatore Cammarano
Manrico
Richard Tucker

Leonora
Martina Arroyo

Count Di Luna
Robert Merrill

Azucena
Biserka Cvejic

Ferrando
Raymond Michalski

Ines
Shirley Love

Ruiz
Dan Marek

Messenger
Hal Roberts

Gypsy
Luis Forero


Conductor
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli







Review 1:

Review of Irving Kolodin in the February 26, 1967 issue of the Saturday

Caballé in "Trovatore"

Among "others" who indulged themselves in what legions of Metropolitan audiences at "Trovatore" have heard in the past, and will hear in the future, were Richard Tucker (Manrico) and Robert Merrill (di Luna). Conceivably, if this were a "Trovatore" molded from the outset by the excellent Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, it would have been formed throughout with the same concern for continence and musical sobriety that characterized the Caballé performance. Since it was not, one could only commend him for shaping the orchestral sound to her kind of artistry when she sang alone, and accepting the realities of the marketplace when Tucker and Merrill were "selling."

The Azucena of Biserka Cjevic could probably have gone either way in suitable circumstances, but in these particular ones, she began by bearing heavily on the conventional kind of chest sound and throbby middle in "Stride la vampa!" and the following "Condotta." However, it appears that this artist is gradually losing her inhibitions about appearing in these surroundings, and as the evening progressed she gave as good as she took from Tucker and Merrill. Some of her high register phrases were vibrant as well as powerful, which naturally attracted the response of those to whom such values are paramount. However, she certainly has all the resources to make a fine Azucena in a start-from-scratch production. Should the present well worn sets and costumes be replaced in the next decade or so, Raymond Michalski's Ferrando could still be an asset. He gave conviction as well as good sound to a part which, too often, has neither.



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