CELEBRATING 53,000 Classical CD reviews on-line (Sept 2016); 21,000 page views each day. Return to MusicWeb International
Ralph Moore's review of Pavarotti
Posted by George Melkonian on December 14, 2021, 11:33 pm
Hi Ralph, reading your review of the Pavarotti reissues I can confirm that his voice was a bit lite for some of those roles. The San Francisco Opera house is about 3300 seats so while not the largest it is something of a size. I believe Il trovatore was the opener for the 75 season and it was Sutherland’s debut in the role of Leonora so expectations were high. I remember thinking that his voice was undersized from where I sat but the man knew how to stir an audience. At the end of Di quella pira he held his sword upside down as if it were a cross and from the back of the stage marched to front while ringing out that high C. As the saying goes, the crowd went wild. My wife an I started attending the Opera regularly in 71 and were fortunate to hear most of the greats of the time; Nilsson, Vickers, Sills, Domingo et.al. We were still in our twenties and we assumed it would always be like that. Sigh.
Thanks for those reminiscences, George, confirming the general consensus. We won't see his like again. Opera-goers of a certain vintage like you and me had no idea that we enjoying what now seems like a mini-Golden Age - let alone those who attended in the 50's and 60's.
Previous Message
Hi Ralph, reading your review of the Pavarotti reissues I can confirm that his voice was a bit lite for some of those roles. The San Francisco Opera house is about 3300 seats so while not the largest it is something of a size. I believe Il trovatore was the opener for the 75 season and it was Sutherland’s debut in the role of Leonora so expectations were high. I remember thinking that his voice was undersized from where I sat but the man knew how to stir an audience. At the end of Di quella pira he held his sword upside down as if it were a cross and from the back of the stage marched to front while ringing out that high C. As the saying goes, the crowd went wild. My wife an I started attending the Opera regularly in 71 and were fortunate to hear most of the greats of the time; Nilsson, Vickers, Sills, Domingo et.al. We were still in our twenties and we assumed it would always be like that. Sigh.