Saturday, May 06, 2006

A little note about a favorite voice


If you've been reading for a while, you probably know by my incessant harping that Susanne Mentzer is one of a few singers I consider truly out of the ordinary, and artist and not just a pretty voice. I notice on Chicago Opera Theater's site that she is joining the faculty at Rice after years at DePaul. Lyric, it seems to me, never made much use of her. I wonder if she will now be gracing the stage of Houston Grand Opera, in many ways my home company, the first place I saw a real operatic star turn (Bartoli's US opera debut as Rosina) and the first place I heard Mentzer, as Octavian in 1993. Lucky Houston, if so.

3 comments:

Princess Alpenrose said...

That's an Octavian I'd like to see (and hear)!!!

Apropos of (am I the only blogger who can use the phrase "apropos of" and get away with it?) apropos of Octavians, we've been hammering away at good/historic/memorable (I did not say "definitive"!) recordings & productions of Rosenkavalier, and someone mentioned that Christa Ludwig had performed the Marschallin.

Have you ever heard or heard of that?

Maury D'annato said...

Sure, Ludwig is on the uh...Bohm recording I think. With Troyanos and I think Edith Mathis. Ludwig and Troyanos are magnificent, as is the orchestra. Mathis or whoever it is, well...she doesn't have the sound I love in a Sophie, but mostly I can't forgive anyone who isn't Popp for not being Popp. It's really good. I recommend.

Princess Alpenrose said...

Yikes! Ludwig & Troyanos AND Bohm? That sounds like [another] "must have"!!!