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Show Review SufrheoieDinid Comice&i" leiuiHiffuB, Buff Flawed cne of them in Maureen Forrester last November. And the Utah Symphony, Sym-phony, fine as it is, played rather poorly under the uninspired hand of Mr. Bonynge. Opening the program with Handel's Han-del's obscure overture to "Berenice," "Bere-nice," Bonynge displayed his mus-icological mus-icological theories in practice. To a reduced string section Bonynge added a full complement of double-reeds double-reeds and an amplified harpsichord, producing a clear and somewhat sharp sound that suited Handel well. But the drynes and regularity of the performance, combined with a poor conducting technique were not complimentary to the' spirit of the music. Mozart Disappointing After the brilliant "Al tuo seno Fcrtunato" from Haydn's "Orfeo ed Euridice," which Miss Sutherland Suther-land sang with control and the most remarkable polish, Bonynge and the ensemble played Mozart's Divertimento, Di-vertimento, K. 136. In my opinion, it was an awful disappointment. Early Mozart may not be the most profound music, but Bonynge, probably prob-ably unconsciously, turned the work into a bouncy, mechanical sequence of cliches. Meyerbeer's "Au beau pays" from "Les Hugeunots," Schubert's "Little" Symphony in C and the Mad Scene from "Lucia di Lam-mermoar," Lam-mermoar," sung with added embellishments, em-bellishments, concluded the program. pro-gram. Miss Sutherland sang beautifully, beauti-fully, and her Mad Scene was one of the maddest I have ever heard, filled with bravura and grace. And while the Schubert symphony displayed dis-played Mr. Bonynge 's conducting in a more favorable light, his accom-panyments accom-panyments to the Meyerbeer and Donizetti arias did not. An orchestra needs a chance to accustom itself to a new conductor. conduc-tor. A coloratura vocalist generally sacrifices nuance to technique, but even with these facts in mind, one cannot 'ignore Wednesday's night's limitations. The "prima diva" of the day gave a magnificent performance; per-formance; what a pity that we heard her in such circumstances. By Mike Saffle When any music critic hears a concert like the Sutherland-Bon-; ynge concert with the Utah Sym phony Orchestra Wednesday eve-! eve-! ning, a concert so filled with re markable beauties and yet flawed, ; he feels compelled to make his views known, even if those views conflict with popular opinion. Jean Sutherland and her husband-con- ductor Richard Bonynge received the greatest ovation I have ever heard in Utah, but I do not think that ovation told the entire story. The commanding vocal ability and warmth of Miss Sutherland cannot be reasonably argued: she is undoubtedly one -of the finest singers in the world. In three bril-'. bril-'. liant bursts of vocal pyrotechnics she brought to life three grand op-eratice op-eratice arias, two little known to. the general public. Utah has probably prob-ably never heard a technique to equal hers. But one should not therefore conclude con-clude that the entire concert, was of unequalled merit. Miss Sutherland Suther-land is a great singer, but there are more artistic and expressive singers alive today, and Utah heard |