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Description:
In this intense, beautifully sung but minimally staged melodrama, Verdi ventures into the theme of parent-child relations, a motif that runs through his subsequent work and provides much of its emotional depth. He still has some growing to do, some bel canto clichés that must be rooted out before he can consistently reach the emotional level of Rigoletto, La traviata, or Il trovatore. But in Luisa Miller, connoisseurs have a chance to observe his art growing. June Anderson handles the coloratura demands of the title role with distinction, Eduard Tumagian strikes the proper notes of affection and distress as her father, and the deep-voiced villains' roles are convincingly filled. Taro Ichihara carries off his big moments well in "Quando le sere al placido" and elsewhere. The chorus, however, is not theatrically used or visually convincing. --Joe McLellan
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