Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-02-10
NEWS OF MUSIC
opero Society Offers
A Mozort Failure

words mean. libretto In hand
or not.
While there are wonderful
arias, there are others that are
no better than routine.
And the whole piece is static
as a post, lacking in any drama
and frequently ompletely
pointless.
In order to overcome the
handicaps built into "Idome-
neo," the OSW would have had
to come through with one Of
its most brilliant productions.
Unfortunately, I cannot re-
port that this is what happened
last night.
The stage direction, eSpeci-
ally in the opening act. was
quite inadequate. The sight Of
singers standing around in
poses like wooden Indians or
prsncing pointlessly up and
down StaircaSes was hardly
calculated to inspire.
| The costumes were not espe-
cially attractive. either in color
or design. Even the usually
imaginative Robert O'Hearn
did no more than a workman
like job on the sets, except for
those Of the final act.
Orchestra Fastest
Musically, too, things were
not always up to OSW par.
During the length Of the entire
first act, Mr.. Galloway and the
orchestra seemed to be running
q horse race with the singers.
The conductor and his men
generally won. There were
ragged entrances, slips and poor
vocalism beyond what would be
expected from normal first
night filters.
So far as I could tell, the
only member Of the fine young
cast who consistently sang well.
moved with grace and acted
convincingly was Judith Ras-
kin, whose lovely second act
aria, "Se II padre perdei." came
close to stopping the show. Un-
fortunately. her great moment.
the ~ efftretti 1uSinghieri,"
failed Of making its full effect
because Of an over leisurely
tempo. Nevertheless, Miss Ras-
kin's lila was q fine effort and
she emerged from "Idomeneo"
with considerably e enhanced
stature.
Both John Alexander's lido
meEeo and Helen Vanni's Ida
nantes had moments Of glory,
but both singers were uneven.
Maria Ferriero sang Electra
with great passion and a wide
vibrato, and astonished all by
her flaming red gown which
made her look like a swagger-
ing Carmen lacking the combs.
The Arbace Of James Wainner
was inadequate vocally and his
ironically.
One Of the plusses Of the
evening was the chorus, well
trained by John Moriarty,
which sang It's important part
excellently.
Service to No One
In all candor, I must say
that I do not feel the OSW is
doing a service to its audience
(both actual and potentiaD, to
Mozart or to itself by main
tanning the narrowly puristic
attitude demonstrated in this
production.
To doggedly insist on reamS
Of secco recitative In Italian
beyond the comprehension Of
80 per cent Of the audience Is
bad enough, but to treat the
notes Of q score as If they were
holy and untouchable is worse
Snobbery. II opera is to mean
anything more than a fash
ionable and unavoidably boring
night out, the dead score must
be shaped into q meaningful
experience by someone with
ideas, technical know how and
daring.
The people who worked over
"Idomeneo" to salvage its best
pages and to bring 1t to life
on the stage-Richard Strauss,
Ermanno Wolf Ferrari., Boris
Goldovsky, Mozart himself
were no fools or tinkerers. Their
cuts were purposeful. not wan