Leopold Stokowski's interpretations of excerpts from
Saint-Saëns' Samson et Delilah and Tatiana's "Letter Scene" from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin with the Metropolitan Opera's leading stars of the '50s is absolutely irresistible.
Risë Stevens is unbelievably hot as Delilah.
Jan Peerce is incredibly heroic as Samson.
Licia Albanese is wildly passionate as Tatiana. And
Leopold Stokowski is all those things and more.
Stevens,
Peerce, and
Albanese are stars and they turn in rich, vibrant performances, but they are acting in a
Leopold Stokowski Production.
Stokowski vastly expands
Saint-Saëns' opera a widescreen, Technicolor, 3-D Biblical epic full of flaring nostrils, jutting jaws, and heaving bosoms.
Stokowski switches Tchaikovsky's tender heroine into a hysterical neurotic. And yet both
Stokowski's interpretations are absolutely irresistible precisely because they are so extravagantly colorful, so emotionally heightened, so extraordinarily passionate that they will not permit themselves to be ignored or denied or refused.
Gala's remastering of half-century-old sound is truly stunning. There are times when
Stevens and
Peerce seem to be standing two feet in front of the listener singing fortissimo e molto espressivo at the top of their range with the orchestra going full blast two feet behind them. This is not always a pleasant listening experience.