Conversely it takes a special singer to be able to convince an audience this same officer would be willing to throw everything away, even his life, for one who is merely a slave, especially when he could have the hand of the Princess in marriage. She must be pretty hot stuff for any of that to happen. Together they must be able to show their love is so deep he will trade his country's military secrets for her sake as it turns out she is the daughter of the King Of Ethiopia, the country Egypt is currently at war with.
There is a reason daytime serial television is referred to as an opera with their predominance of star crossed lovers and intricate plots. Larger then life characters and circumstances are other elements that the two forms have in common. In some ways really, Aida is just an even more overblown soap opera than usual whose integrity comes not from any intellectual story line, but from the music.
So it comes down to the singers and the orchestra making the difference in the quality of the performance. While some might question the merits of a live performance, with the risks of sound problems or other unforeseeable accidents that can happen compared to the guarantees of a studio performance, the live version of Aida that Opera D'oro has on offer currently has compensations that make up for any drawbacks in sound quality.
The cast is headed by Placido Domingo, who in 1972 when this production was recorded, was rounding into form as one of the outstanding tenors of his generation. Pavarotti may have become more renowned then Domingo, but that didn't stop him from being his equal as a vocalist. Domingo is convincing and persuasive as the newly promoted General of the Pharaoh's armies.
Aida is performed by one of the lesser known sopranos of the day, Martina Arroyo, but what I liked about her performance was her ability to play the role of the character. This is something few opera singers have the capacity to attempt while delivering on all the musical requirements.
Article comments
1 - Bliffle
When young I thought opera ludicrous. Why would people do all those crazy things for love? But then...
2 - Eileen Pfaff
I am glad you came to appreciate opera. What makes you think that the broadcasts were not in fact live? They were and still are. In fact, one came to a dead stop and was cancelled quite a few years ago when a man jumped from a balcony to his death during an intermission. That's one of the things that makes the broadcasts so exciting, they are happening as you hear them.
3 - Richard Marcus
The annoucement made at the beginning of a broadcast saying that the concert had originally taken place at some other date was usually the give away. No I know that they were mostly live, but some of them wern't as not even the Met will be running a different Opera every Saturday for 52 weeks of the year.
Richard