On 5 June 1971, he conducted a matinée performance of Tosca with Grace Bumbry in the title role, Franco Corelli as Cavaradossi and Peter Glossop – also making his Met début – as Scarpia.
[5] Neil Crory reviewing the gala on Laserdisc in the Fall 1997 issue of Opera Canada, stated that the programme booklet's cancellation list alone deserved a mention in the Guinness Book of Records.
Instead, Birgit Nilsson gave the closing speech, which Martin Bernheimer in The Los Angeles Times felt was the "most exhilarating tribute" of the night,[8] ending with some unaccompanied Valkyrie war-cries from Die Walküre.
Tim Page called it a “glorious, crazy, songful party”,[4] while Martin Bernheimer described it as a "mega-monster concert", a "shameless, shapeless, formless smorgasbord of arias and ensembles", "a parade of disparate singers striking poses in competitive evening attire" in which "the assembled women blew a crescendo of kisses to their beaming boss out front".
To Page, Alagna had "a light, sweet and supple voice of moderate size (some high notes that were both delicate and ringing) and a not inconsiderable dramatic ability", but it was far too soon to bracket him with Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti.
[5] Bernheimer made light of Eaglen's appearance, as "a Wagnerian diva straight from a New Yorker cartoon", by means of stressing that it did not much matter what Brünnhilde looked like if she had a voice as overwhelming as a tsunami.
[8] Crory singled out for praise "radiant" Deborah Voigt, and "appropriately sun-filled" Ruth Ann Swenson, while noting Dolora Zajick "brought the house down" in her "O don fatale".
[8] Silverman praised Jerry Hadley, Richard Leech, Heidi Grant Murphy, and von Otter, while saying Dawn Upshaw was "typically simple, silvery and winning" in Mozart's "Deh!
[7] Bernheimer gave praise to "strident" Sharon Sweet in La forza del destino and the seductive, flirtatious Watch Duet for Karita Mattila and Hakån Hagegård.
Bernheimer opined that Deborah Voigt, Bryn Terfel, Ruth Ann Swenson, Aprile Millo and Gabriela Beňačková were equally impressive in their celestial wattage, that Carlo Bergonzi was touching and elegant in Luisa Miller, and Alfredo Kraus amazed with his suavity and staying power as Werther and Hoffmann, while Raymond Gniewek played an exquisite violin solo in I Lombardi.
Finally, he felt that Catherine Malfitano and Dwayne Croft provided one of the evening's most successful passages of authentic music drama in a "pyrexic" scene from Eugene Onegin.
Also outstanding, he felt, were Carlo Bergonzi and Alfredo Kraus, skillfully making the most of resources depleted by old age; Ileana Cotrubas, "ripely and irresistibly nostalgic" in Giuditta; and Ruth Ann Swenson, compensating for her technical deficiencies in a coloratura showpiece from Roméo et Juliette with character and intelligence.
Silverman found Meier's performance "thrilling" but added that he felt she was a mezzo-soprano venturing into soprano territory, and the stress evident in her highest notes made one anxious as to whether she was pursuing a path that was right for her.
For example, Jane Eaglen's noble rendition of the immolation scene from Götterdämmerung was followed by the broad comedy of Frederica von Stade in the tipsy aria from La Périchole; the effect was to "dissipate the solemn afterglow of the one and make the other seem goofy and tasteless".
Page further argued that Håkan Hagegård and Karita Mattila were guilty of "campy snickering" in Die Fledermaus, Jerry Hadley perpetrated "vulgar Mario Lanza-isms" in The land of smiles, and that Ghena Dimitrova, Franco Farina and Juan Pons were "third-rate" in Un ballo in maschera.
Jessye Norman perpetrated the evening's "most mannered" selection in a "crooned, roared and sighed" performance of "D'amour l'ardente flamme" that was so erratic in pitch as to present Berlioz as bitonal.
As far as clothing was concerned, the contributors most deserving of an award were Ileana Cotrubas for sporting a "gigantic Christmas bow", Mark Oswald for losing his tie and vest in Don Pasquale and "the various cleavage divas who lent new meaning to the concept of heaving bosoms".
Thirteen excerpts were released on a 72-minute CD (catalogue number 449-177-2), accompanied by a 24-page insert booklet with an essay by Cory Ellison in English, French, German and Italian, and with production photographs of Alagna, Terfel, Fleming, Domingo, Ramey, Cotrubas, Zajick, Te Kanawa, Hong, Hadley, Robbins, Swenson, Mattila, Hagegård, Kraus, Bumbry, Voigt, von Stade, von Otter, Murphy, Nilsson and Levine.
[1] Twenty excerpts were issued on a 161-minute pair of CLV (constant linear velocity) CX-encoded Laserdiscs (catalogue number 072-551-1) with 4:3 NTSC colour video and digital audio.
[9] In 2005, Deutsche Grammophon released thirty-three excerpts from the gala on a 293-minute pair of DVDs (catalogue number B0004602-09), with 4:3 NTSC colour video and audio in PCM stereo and an ersatz 5.1-channel surround sound upmix in both DTS and Dolby Digital.