Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-02

dIlQ WIleIl LIE rains CdIl6-dS
they will in Salzburg-the
thunder Of water in the drain
pipes made concentration on
the music equally hard.
Neither Sad Nor Mad
Lisa della Casa's pretty black
hair had vanished beneath a
blond wig and with it her
usually sympathetic projection
Of a role. Her Donna Elvira
was neither sad nor mad. but
an elegant lady who had fallen
in with a parcel of strange
characters and was embar-
raised by them.
Elizabeth Gruemmer, the
Donna Anna. was vocally inn
pressive but did not show
enough steel and stubborn
vengefulness.
Cesare Slept, a 1.-the, hand
some Don, gave a sturdy and
quite audible performance, but
the deeper attractions of his
voice were lost and his feats of
athleticism (leaps from walls,
slow pushups) did little to
tighten the evenings gloom.
The dlffuSeness. the semi
darkness, seemed to swallow up
the singers. When they all
came to the center front OF
the stage, stood still, and just
sang-as in the two sextets-
everything was all right. But
generally speaking, what
Bernard Shaw called the "Sa-
tanic gaiety" of the opera was
replaced by macabre sadness.
SimOneau a Sensation
The one member of the cast
that seemed undisturbed by
these hin ORANGES was the
French-Canadian tenor, Leo
pold Simoneau, as Don Ottavio.
He has a most admirable
voice. rich, clear and without
a trace of vibrato. Nor were
there any tricks; it was just
straightforward beautiful sing
ing and the best performance
of the two great arias within
memory. Simoneau, new to
Salzburg, was one of the SEN
sations of the festival.
The shortcomings of the
Don Giovanni" performance
are reported here at some
length because they sum up
the present failings of Salz-
burg productions. These lie
entirely with settings and di-
rection and inevitably provoke
a comparison with Glynde-
bourne. where the light, elegant
scenery is absolutely up to
date and the stage direction
tightly knit. Salzburg's roster
of singers remains far superior.
Viva Almaviva
If Don Giovanni" was not
successful, Figaro" was. It
assembled the most powerful
and brilliant cast of all the
festival operas with two of
Europe's greatest singers,
Elizabeth Schwartzkopf and
Dietrich Fischer-DieSkau, as
the noble AlmavivaS. Their
opposite numbers, Susanna
and Figaro, sung by Irmgard
Seefried and Erich Kunz, have
been happily married to these
roles for some time. They
were supported by other lu-
minaries all down the line,
Elizabeth Hoengen, Peter
Klein, and Christa Ludwig, the
mpetuouS, attractive and
wildly applauded Cherubino.
Karl Boehm, ex-director Of the
Vienna opera, conducted-and
was met by salvos Of applause
at the end.
Orchestral Concerts
The Vienna Philharmonic Is
one Of the worlds great orches-
tras and though the individu-
alism Of its virtuoSo members
sometimes makes itself felt, the
general effect is one Of unity
and glowing warmth and color.
The men obviously like and re-
spect Dimitri Mitropoulos NOW
. great Salzburg favorite) and
respond to his baton with
alacrity.
Starting with the Titus"
overture, Mitropoulos had the
help Of Robert Casadesus in
Mozart's C mirfor piano con-
certo, K. 49l. One is tempted
to say that CasadeSus' Mozart
playing is the most satisfying
to be heard today.
Where MitropouloS' more
emotional approach might
have produced a rubato here
and there Casadesus' discipline
kept a fastidious proportion
throughout. The singing of a
slow melody under his fingers
is the greatest miracle of all.
Richard Strauss Alpensym-
phonie is magnificent trash.
The orchestra produced a blaz-
ing welter of sound and the
audience an almost equal vol
ume of applause Salzburg
! ugoc still ht4y1fy,0 urifh an