[Met Performance] CID:333621



Ariadne auf Naxos
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, April 14, 2001 Matinee Broadcast
Broadcast Matinee Broadcast


Debut : Lyubov Petrova, Waldemar Kmentt




Ariadne auf Naxos (71)
Richard Strauss | Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Ariadne
Deborah Voigt

Bacchus
Richard Margison

Zerbinetta
Lyubov Petrova [Debut]

The Composer
Susanne Mentzer

Music Master
Wolfgang Brendel

Harlekin
Mark Oswald

Scaramuccio
Eric Cutler

Truffaldin
Paul Plishka

Brighella
Gregory Turay

Najade
Joyce Guyer

Dryade
Jane Bunnell

Echo
Korliss Uecker

Major-domo
Waldemar Kmentt [Debut]

Officer
Mark Schowalter

Dancing Master
Graham Clark

Wigmaker
John Fiorito

Lackey
Patrick Carfizzi


Conductor
James Levine


Production
Elijah Moshinsky

Designer
Michael Yeargan

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Stage Director
Laurie Feldman





Ariadne auf Naxos received three performances this season.
Rebroadcast on Sirius Metropolitan Opera Radio

Review 1:

Jay Nordlinger in The New Criterion

A word about James Levine's schedule: On the night of Thursday, April 12, he conducted Berg's? Lulu? (about four hours); on Friday night, he conducted Wagner's? Parsifal? (about five and a half hours); and on Saturday afternoon, he was back in the pit for Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos." Who knows how many other things he accomplished in this time? With apologies to James Brown, this other James may be 'the hardest-working man in show business!'

There were two main reasons to see and hear the ?Ariadne:? Deborah Voigt, soprano, and Susanne Mentzer, mezzo-soprano. They are a couple of youngish Americans, and they are among the very best singers before the public today. Mentzer, as The Composer, turned in a stirring performance, full of character and life. There is iron in her mezzo ? and a thrilling top ? and every note she sings commands attention and respect She was even able to sound like a young man (this is a trouser role), though she looked like the beautiful woman she is, dressed up butchly. There are, in fact, two astonishing young American mezzo- sopranos before the public now, and they are easy to confuse: Susanne Mentzer and Susan Graham. No matter which you think you're going to hear, you're unlikely to be let down.

Voigt is celebrated for many things, not least for her Chrysothemis (?Elektra?), her Sieglinde (?Die Walk?re?), and her Aida (guess where?). Ariadne is another role right up her vocal alley, and on this afternoon she did several beautiful things in it. Her voice is extraordinarily big and opulent, but she sometimes uses too much of it; she might husband it, ration it; a little more wisely. She, lucky girl, has so much to spare: why not keep some in reserve? More seriously, she is showing some signs of wear and tear, which ? particularly at this stage of her career, meaning, her prime ? are alarming. But she ended the opera well, and she had managed her great aria ("Es gibt ein Reich") admirably.

Singing Zerbinetta, the soubrette with a soul, was Lyubov Petrova, a Russian soprano making her Met debut. (She replaced the French sensation Natalie Dessay, who withdrew, citing vocal distress.) Petrova has a strong, clear voice, although one wanting for give, or pliancy. She didn't melt much, and in her most unflattering moments she was strident. But she acquitted herself without embarrassment.

As for men," Ariadne auf Naxos" has them, but Strauss didn't much care about men, so drunk on the female voice was he, so why should we?



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