The elusive quality of superstars

VERDI: Opera Arias. Thomas Hampson, baritone; with Timothy Robinson and Daniil Shtoda, tenors. Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Richard Armstrong, conductor. EMI Classics 57113. FRENCH ARIAS: Roberto Alagna, tenor; London Voices; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Bertrand de Billy, conductor. EMI Classics 57012.

So, what are we going to do when the superstars decide it`s time to fold their tents and quietly (but alas, sometimes not so quietly) creep away? Not to worry. The wings are filled with excellent singers just waiting to claim superstar status. A few - very few - will reach that exalted level. And although most won`t, that does not mean they will not rank in the top level of their profession.

"Superstar" is a word that often means more than, in the case of singers, a great voice. There`s an aura that goes with the title. A particular type of personality is a consideration. Having had opportunities is another. Simply being in the right place at the right time can present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And, then, of course, it is necessary that the singer be qualified to accept that opportunity if and when it does come along.

Thomas Hampson, American baritone in mid-career, has won operatic success on both sides of the Atlantic. On this disc of Verdi he sings arias from the composer`s "Macbeth," "Ernai," "I due Foscari," "Il corsaro," "Il trovatore," "Les Vepres siciliennes," "I masnadieri," "Stiffello," "La traviata" and "Giovanna d` Arco."

As you can see, the areas are from some of Verdi`s most popular operas and from some that are all but unknown to most operagoers. Hampton has a strong, clear baritone voice. His pitch is excellent. He moves, as though effortlessly, from the mood required in one aria to that required in another. He can sing with great volume, and he knows how to control it until is it called for. Opera still, but now we move from operas by Italian composers to those written by French composers. And there is a difference, demonstrated in the way tenor Roberto Alagna sings these arias from French opera.

Alagna has a beautiful tenor voice and sings with ease, even in his higher register. And, as with Hampson in the recording just reviewed, he seems to move effortlessly as he accomplishes the many demands of such a repertoire. His program includes arias from: "Maitre Pathelin," Bazin; "Le Cid," Massenet; "Les Abencerages," Cherubini; "Mireille," Hounod; "L`Amant jaloux," Gretry; "La Juive," Halevy; "Mignon," Thomas; "L`Africaine," Meyerbeer; "La Damnation de Faust," Berlioz; "Iphigenie en Tauride," Gluck; "Les Pecheurs de peerless," Bizet; "Le roi d`Ys," Lalo; "Joseph," Mehul; "Samson et Dalila," Saint-Saens; and "L`Attaque du moulin," Bruneau. To sing all this and sing it well is quite an accomplishment. Alagna`s sings all of it - very well indeed.

VIVALDI: The Four Seasons; Storm at Sea; Pleasure. Massimo Quarta, violin; Moscow Chamber Orchestra, conductor. Delos 3280.

Vivaldi`s work "Le quattro stagioni" ("The Four Seasons") is from his "Contest of Harmony and Invention" ("Il Cimento dell` Armonia e dell`"). So are "La tempesta di mare" ("Storm at Sea") and "Il piacere" ("Pleasuare"). It is, of course, the violin concerto "The Four Seasons" that has risen to the top of the favored works of Vivaldi in the United States and, I dare say, in many other countries. You can hear people whistling parts of the work who have not the slightest idea in the world where what they are whistling comes from. It`s that popular.

Violinist Massimo Quarta opts for a fast, vigorous pace throughout "The Four Seasons," and conductor Orbelian keeps pace with him step for step, as though he agrees with the soloist`s reading. And, the way it all comes out, one can believe that he does. This is a splendid recording of "Seasons" among many other splendid recordings of the work. This one emphasizes the power of the work, which is not to say Quarta does not do a good job with the quieter passages. Quite the opposite, he does an excellent job. The delicacy with which he reads the less dramatic parts heightens his entire reading. It`s also good to hear "Storm at Sea" and "Pleasure," works we don`t have the opportunity to hear that often.

As far as the orchestra is concerned, the more I listen to recordings by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under it`s American conductor, Constantine Orbelian, the more I am convinced that the ensemble is peerless among orchestras of its kind playing today.

STRAUSS: Die Liebe der Danae. Lauren Flanigan, Danae; Peter Coleman-Wright, Jupiter; Hugh Smith, Midas; William Lewis, Pollox; others. American Symphony Orchestra; Leon Botstein, conductor. Recorded live in Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York as part of Lincoln Center Presents Great Performances. Telarc 80570; 3 CDs.

I am commenting on this work mainly - perhaps exclusively - for those who know the operas of Richard Strauss and who want to have in their libraries every opera of his that has been recorded.

The story of the genesis of the opera is a long and tortuous one. The question could be asked, "Should the opera ever have been released?" And, a following question might be, "Well, why shouldn`t it have been released?" An answer (if not the answer) to the second question first: It`s not a very good opera. More specifically, it`s certainly not a very good opera for Strauss. And, this, of course, is where an artist`s earlier successes actually can do him ill service, because the public keeps demanding something as good as or even better than his last successful work.

As to the first question, should the opera have been released? That question is one that can be answered only be the composer himself. With "Die Liebe der Danae," the composer didn`t even come close to reaching the quality of any of his previous operas. Strauss started to write the work in 1920 - after his great "Die Freu ohne Schatten" of 1919 - developed all kinds of trouble, particularly with the libretto, set it aside during the 1930s and finally completed and performed it in 1944 - to invited guests. It was a failure. Today, the work is rarely performed.

The libretto is by Joseph Gregor, after a scenario by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The notes with this album calls Hofmannsthal`s work a "fragile satire" and declares that it "was well beyond Gregor`s reach." The notes are extensive and tell in detail the things that went wrong in the effort to give birth to this opera that seems to have been ill-fated from the beginning.

I played some of the opera for friends. They are not professional musicians, but they are ardent lovers of good music and experienced opera and concertgoers. This was the remark of most of them:

"It doesn`t sound like Strauss."

I agree. So, for those of you who want, for whatever reason, to have every scrap of music Richard Strauss ever wrote and that has been recorded, here you go. For the rest of us, this opera - which, by the way, is subtitled "A Lyric Mythology" - might best be left in that spot in limbo to which it seems to be confined.

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: King Durkee