I did not see Marton's 1998 performance. I have a tape of a (quite old) gala video at the Met... I'm not sure what it was for (Levine, maybe?). Kiri te Kanawa sang and messed up the lyrics of "Dove sono," if that helps anyone identify the event or the date.
Anyway, Eva Marton sang "In questa reggia" and I thought she was fabulous -- although I have no idea how many years before the 1998 hard-edged Marton you heard (probably at least 10).
And I should clarify what I mean by "stridency," if that's even how to spell it. There is a certain type of "cut" that I hate. I watched the Met's DVD of Scotto doing Manon Lescaut last night, and hated her. I've seen the Met video of her later Musetta, and hated her. In my opinion, Scotto does not achieve the relaxed, narrow, focused "edge" that I like -- instead, she goes for a sideways, smiling position, which gives her a strident, squally sound.
Isabelle B.
> Did you by any chance see the production of > "Turandot" at the SF Opera > in the 1998-1999 season? I think the soprano was > Eva Marton. I > wondered what you thought of her, if you saw it, > because I found her > very hard-edged, though certainly able to cut > through the orchestra.
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y...
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