[Met Performance] CID:270210



La Forza del Destino
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, October 11, 1982




La Forza del Destino (188)
Giuseppe Verdi | Francesco Maria Piave
Leonora
Leona Mitchell

Don Alvaro
Carlo Bergonzi

Don Carlo
Sherrill Milnes

Padre Guardiano
James Morris

Preziosilla
Barbara Conrad

Fra Melitone
Gabriel Bacquier

Marquis de Calatrava
Richard Vernon

Curra
Jean Kraft

Mayor
James Courtney

Trabuco
Andrea Velis

Surgeon
Russell Christopher


Conductor
James Levine







Review 1:

Edward Rothstein in The New York Times
Opera: Bergonzi Sings Alvaro in ?Forza?

Only in the final act of Verdi?s ?La Forza del Destino? at the Metropolitan Opera on Monday night, did it seem that Carlo Bergonzi was singing about something. In a cast change as Don Alvaro, the distinguished tenor mostly demonstrated his still powerful voice, ringing out with vigor throughout the second act. But at this point in Mr. Bergonzi?s career, it was mostly stentorian, not supple, singing ? particularly given the pairing with Sherrill Milnes?s stiff Don Carlo; their encounters were like duels than duos.

But when the times actually came to duel, Mr. Bergonzi relaxed his militant stance and brought smooth, introspective phrasings to Don Alvaro?s attempts to avoid a fight. The acting was never worthy of note, but that vocal artistry was. Barbara Conrad, in another cast change as Preziosilla, was, like the production itself, tight and confined rather than voluptuous and imaginative.

In fact, in the four-hour-long stolid excursion in Verdi, only that final scene of Mr. Bergonzi?s remained in mind, strong with Gabriel Bacquier?s spirited and invigorating version of Melitone. The forces of destiny swept the rest of the production out of mind the minute it was out of sight.



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