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Two promising singers made their Met debuts in "Arabella" on Monday night: Julia Faulkner, in the title role, and Mary Mills, as Zdenka. Ms. Faulkner caused a stir when she won the Met's National Council Auditions in 1985, but she has since pursued her career largely in Europe, working in Vienna and Munich, Germany.

Hers is a remarkably warm and substantial soprano, accurate across the whole range, varied and characterful in tone. It was not a perfect portrayal: she captured little of Arabella's proud outward poise, applied a disconcertingly broad vibrato at times and sounded tired toward the end. But her instinctive command of the long Straussian phrase overcame doubts. Among many fine expressive details, her tone of contented surrender in Act II ("Und du wirst mein Gebieter sein") stays in the memory.

Ms. Mills, who sang a memorable Vixen in the Washington Opera's "Cunning Little Vixen" two seasons ago, showed her bright, pure, silvery soprano to good advantage as Zdenka. She was almost too convincingly lithe and boyish for the role of the cross-dressing younger daughter; she should make a fine Octavian. There was a plausibility problem in the pairing of Ms. Mills and Ms. Faulkner; they are not at all of the same build, and it is hard to believe that Mandryka mistook one for the other in a darkened bedroom.

The other new singer was Heidi Grant Murphy, cavorting giddily as the Fiakermilli; her coloratura was on target, perhaps even a bit too refined for this questionable character. Christian Thielemann, in the pit, led a rhythmically vibrant performance, verging on the hyperactive.

Search by season: 1994-95

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