Word: otello
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...been all but buried beneath a mountain of spear-carrier costumes. "I was pretty disappointed." he says now, "but I was determined to come back singing the great parts." Last week McCracken came back, and in grander style than most spear carriers could dream of: he sang Otello in the premiere of a lavish new Met production...
From the first note of the Esultate that introduces Otello, McCracken was in perfect control. His powerful portrayal of Otello's fatal jealousy had just the right measure of Moorish grief to provide motive enough for murder, and agony enough for a whole flight of heroic high notes. His voice sailed easily over the orchestra even when the musicians were at excessively symphonic pitch-the one element of real excitement in an otherwise hushed performance...
With some small successes behind him, McCracken went to Washington, D.C., three years ago to sing his first Otello. His mastery of the part won him other bookings in it, and since then he has sung the role more than 50 times in ten different productions. For all his familiarity with the Moor, he still dwells on Otello's mysteries and often the tragedy of it gets to him. ''Sometimes the death of Otello affects me so much," he says, "that tears fall and I begin to choke up. That's no good. The audience gets...
...gave him a three-year scholarship, starting a career that led him at last to Covent Garden and a stunning success as Aeneas in Berlioz' The Trojans (TIME, June 17, 1957). A firm believer in the equal importance of acting and singing. Vickers is passionate and convincing as Otello, Don Jose in Carmen, Florestan in Fidelio and Siegmund in Die Walkure. His big, shining voice, surging over the orchestra, would seem ideal for Wagner, but Vickers is in no hurry to become a Heldentenor. "I love Wagner," says he, "but I want to sing for 25 years...
...register can be glorious, and he often makes up in sheer strength and virility for what he lacks in sensuous sound or vocal finesse. He is at his best in such stentorian roles as Manrico in // Trovatore and the title role of Ernani, and his brilliant Otello is one of the great interpretations of present-day opera...