Abstract

Music

It is informed that the Welsh National Opera put on several performances of Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in early February. It is opined that here is little evidence of Verdi's melodic gifts in Falstaff, which relies on busy quasi-Wagnerian patterns and a brilliant final fugue to make its best musical effects. Still, the Welsh Opera's Italian-language production was an enjoyable and appealing affair, a stark contrast with most of the current New York City classical music scene. The Welsh Opera's limitations are immediately obvious. There are no first-rate star performers; in Falstaff the lead role was sung by Donald Maxwell, an excellent actor whose rather small, thin voice could not carry in an auditorium bigger than the cozy Brooklyn house. Of the women, only Suzanne Murphy as Alice Ford was more than passable.