SAINT-SAENS: “Samson et Dalila.” Jose Carreras, Agnes...

SAINT-SAENS: “Samson et Dalila.” Jose Carreras, Agnes Baltsa, Jonathan Summers, Simon Estes, Paata Burchuladze, others; forces of Bavarian Radio, Colin Davis, conducting. Philips 426 242-2. Rarely has this score been conducted with more probing insight than that offered by Davis in this herculean two-disc effort. He musters voluptuous color in the lyric moments, tautly disciplined fervor in the dramatic ones. Unfortunately, not one singer, with the possible exception of the acceptable if undistinguished High Priest (Summers), is properly cast. Carreras seems bent on returning to the heavy repertory that early on compromised the bloom of his lush, lyric tenor. His singing here is labored, wobbly and beset with pitch problems. The seams that separate the various registers of Baltsa’s smallish mezzo show alarmingly; the sound could be that of three different singers. One might say that because Abimelech is a nasty character, Estes’ tone is appropriate, or that Burchuladze’s atrophying voice is right for an “old” Hebrew. Common sense tells us that here must be a better solution to characterization. Chorus and orchestra respond superbly to the singular leadership of the patrician conductor.