King Marke: Mika Kares (Munich) has a warm bass-baritone of what sounds to be medium size, with which he sings smoothly. He preserves his dignity and executes staging that has him perambulating about for the sake of perambulating—Warlikowski does not seem to have helped these people much. The veteran Franz-Josef Selig (Aix) I have always found to be an uneven singer, and so he is here. But he makes a powerful effect. His timbre has bite and true bass low notes; the middle and high ranges are a mix of solid tones with some that are straight or of uncontrolled vibrato. But he seizes hold of his scenes with declamatory authority and wounded urgency. While he holds the stage, the overwritten absurdities recede.

Among the others, Plumb’s Melot, already cited, is outstanding. The tenor who doubles The Sailor and The Shepherd for Aix shows a healthy tenor when he sings out; it turns tremulous when he attempts softer phrases.

Unjustly uncredited: The living mannequins! They are at times as prominent as the leading singers, are given some hard, thankless work to do, especially in Act 3, do it well, yet don’t get a line in the credits. Why not?

The auteurs are full of ideas, full of their subjective fantasies and sand castles of intellectualization built from them. As to the future of opera in their hands: “Wetten . . . dass?”

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NEXT TIME: I will be surveying recordings by a few contemporary artists I have reason to believe can help to lift the level of the singing scene. My target date is Friday, October 1—but the deadline for the Lawrence Tibbett project for Marston Records takes priority. If the date needs revision, I’ll notify in this space.

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