MUSIC REVIEW : Soviet Mezzo at Wilshire Ebell

With virtually no advance notice, one of the major luminaries of the San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera stopped in Los Angeles to give a recital Sunday night at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

Soviet mezzo-soprano Elena Obraztsova, who, according to available records, has not appeared in this city before, made her local debut in recital with pianist Michael Margovsky.

At 53, the veteran singer has retained a powerful vocal presence as well as a stage manner both gracious and commanding. She looks handsome even standing behind a music stand.

There were no printed programs. An announcer gave the agenda, item by item, over a microphone at center stage while singer, pianist and page-turner looked on. When the announcer mispronounced “Gianni Schicchi,”, many in the audience corrected her, loudly. Several times during the concert flowers arrived--between songs--and were immediately placed on the piano behind Obraztsova. It was that kind of evening.

The mezzo-soprano, as witness her operatic performances both live and on film, was ever one to give too much. And her reputation as a hypervocalist remains deserved.

Still, and despite inconsistencies in register and dynamic control, her voice seems to have maintained its strength and timbre. She warmed up slowly, but to good effect.

Sunday, in a dozen Russian-language Romances--by Glinka, Liadov and 20th-Century composers--Obraztsova entertained her audience with touching performances of musical material classy, sentimental, tragic and humorous.

In between--the Romances began and ended the event--she offered operatic excerpts, first the predictable but welcome arias from Gounod’s “Sapho,” Bizet’s “Carmen” and Saint-Saens’ “Samson et Dalila,” then “O mio babbino caro” (!) from “Gianni Schicchi” and “Voi lo sapete” from “Cavalleria Rusticana.”

Oddly enough, the uncharacteristic Puccini aria gave the most aural pleasure of the evening.

Offering preludes by Scriabin and an etude by Rachmaninoff as an “interlude”--the English- fracturing announcer’s description--pianist Margovsky showed himself a competent if uninspiring soloist. As accompanist to the singer, he proved only prosaic.