This, boys and girls, is how one chews up the scenery . . . and spits it out again!! After listening to a rather lackluster Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Giuseppe Verdis 1871 masterpiece, Aida, I found myself thinking of the Princess Amneris great and powerful Judgment Scene from this work, one of my very favorites in the entire operatic repertoire. The great Italian dramatic mezzo-soprano, Fiorenza Cossotto, who will celebrate her 80th birthday this coming April, was a true force of nature when it came to this role and this particular scene. Nobody could curse those priests like Miss Cossotto! Here, the mezzo outdoes herself in a live, 1981 performance from Italys famed Arena di Verona. Verdis theatrical genius is on full display in this music, so much so that it is virtually impossible to mess it up. However, when one has an artist Miss Cossottos larger-than-life caliber performing it, the scene is quite literally knocked out of the park.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 01:21:11 +0000
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