Search - Anthony Michaels-Moore, Christopher Purves, Roland Wood :: Verdi: Masked Ball

Better off not knowing

Tom Lawrence | Cambridge, MA USA | 01/31/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"While I am a fan of the Opera In English series, it is hard to like A Masked Ball in any language. Hearing it in English only emphasizes how lame the plot is. Chandos restores the setting to Sweden as originally intended by Verdi, but it doesn't enhance the story much. King Gustavus III is making a move on his best friend's wife; Amelia is torn between two lovers; when her husband finds out there is blood to pay. It's hard to find a sympathetic character or any noble moments in this melodrama. I have to skip the first scene of Act I when listening to this opera. I find the melody of the choral opening, which starts with the dominant chord moving to the tonic and back and forth, to be klunky. Gustavus' chromatically winding love melody sounds contrived and not Verdi's best work.



As for the cast... It is hard to believe that there is not another dramatic tenor in the English-speaking world that Chandos can sign other than Dennis O'Neill. His tone is strained and his vocal line inelegant. He is ready for retirement and I look forward to new talent in future recordings. If I am indifferent to Susan Patterson's Amelia, Jill Grove's Ulrike leaves me cold. She uses technique to sing all the notes of the fortune teller, but she is not connected to the text. This is puzzling since she is singing in her native language.



Anthony Michaels-Moore is fine as Count Anckarstroem (Amelia's husband) but after wading through so much tediousness his performance is lost on me. Linda Richardson has a plummier voice than I would have expected for the trouser role of Oscar, but again I'm not paying much attention by the time her/his arias come around. The only performer who seems to inhabit his role is Roland Wood as Cristian, a sailor in the King's Navy. His brief scene in the fortune teller's cave is compelling but you have to dig eight names down on the list of principal singers to find someone who is fully "there".



The orchestra under David Parry gives some fine shaping to the overture, but since this is a precapitulation of the above-mentioned melodies in the first scene it pains me to listen. This recording is also not up to the usual production values of Brian and Ralph Couzens. Gustavus retreats to a corner of Urlike's cave and never seems to reemerge for the rest of the scene; his recording level is undermixed. Also, the singers are continually a quarter beat out of sync with the offstage band in the final act.



In summary, this is a disappointing rendition of A Masked Ball. I recommend instead the RCA Victor performance of Un ballo in maschera with Carlo Bergonzi, Leontyne Price and Robert Merrill. It is a dream cast of classy, elegant singers. On top of that you get Shirley Verrett making a meal of the role of Ulrica, and Reri Grist as a laser-sharp Oscar. Just be sure to throw away the libretto and start with Act I, scene 2."

No.....

Johnathan Flanders | New Orleans | 11/06/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Verdi should never EVER be performed in English (or any other language besides Italiano for that matter. It's like reading Shakespeare in Chinese. Just doesn't work. Awful."