SAMSON ET DALILA:Saint-Saëns
Dutoit; Domingo, Verrett, Fondary
Original Air Date: 02/17/1990
SID.19470747
This is Verrett’s broadcast farewell which is followed a few weeks later by two Azucenas which concludes her Met career. The first of those Azucenas was Sharon Sweet’s debut as Leonora,one of the great debuts in Met history (not her career, but her debut was every bit the equal of any Met Leonora I’ve heard live). Dutoit is an excellent conductor. Verrett, known mostly for her Falcon efforts had many triumphs as Dalila, but this catches her very late– her Met debut is 1968, and she had been singing for 10 years when she arrived. She has two excellent videos– Covent Garden (1981) with Vickers and San Francisco with Domingo (1980), so she is well represented with outstanding Dalilas. Her Scala debut was a huge triumph, and I saw her with Pier Miranda Ferraro in Philadelphia as well as San Francisco. A strong plea for Bumbry’s 1972 broadcast with McCracken which has not yet been on Sirius. She did Dalila much less than Verrett, and it wasn’t one of her signature roles, but we should hear this one as well.