Metropolitan Opera Archives

Some stunning elements gave impetus to the revival of Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" (heard March 10), again under Levine's baton. He had the Met orchestra playing with gleaming sensitivity and warmth, while he has now realized a thorough view of this treacherous score. With Leontyne Price able to sing only two of the scheduled performances (Feb. 17, March 15, the first on Feb. 13 having been canceled due to no one to fill the title role), the bulk of Ariadne's fell to Miss Meier, whose powerful, glowing soprano and superior sense of style and line, coupled with handsome looks and stature, made her ideal as the abandoned princess. Tatiana Troyanos, again the Composer, embodied the part so fully that she firmly took her place in the noble lineage from Jeritza through Seefried, Jurinac and Ludwig. New, and a brilliant addition to the ensemble, was Edita Gruberova as Zerbinetta, The Slovak soprano is everything one could hope for in this soaring, most demanding role, for she acts enchantingly, sings with great skill and musicality and possesses a voice that not only sails easily to the top, but is filled out with sweetness and quality; she had a triumph, predictably, not only in her big aria, but in the touching duet with the Composer in the prologue as well. Dale Duesing, who had made his debut as Harlekin on February 22, revealed a focused, warm baritone with a delightful personality; and Monk's equally warm, natural baritone added luster to the Music Master. Like most tenors, Rene Kollo found Bacchus hard going, for he cracked on certain exposed high tones and seemed to labor through his music, even while looking dashing as the god. Igesz' production still makes the mistake of confusing the public by adding in "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme's" M. Jourdain instead of sensitively sorting out the main action.

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