The last couple of days I listened to Merlin by Isaac Albeniz. Well... Let me say it like this: I am glad that I have the CD so I can play it once or twice a year - when I am in the mood for real camp. To be fair: no composer, not even the big bosses, would have had a real chance against this monster of a libretto. The singers have to utter sheer nonsense from the first moment on. (And they utter this English nonsense with the most Spanish of Spanish accents.) Hofmannsthal, da Ponte, Illica: I apologize for ever thinking low of you. The music is very Wagnerian, very. It is okay, there are fine passages. But when I am in the mood for Wagner (even I am sometimes attacked by this strange longing) I take the original not an unintentional parody. And what about the artists? Jose de Eusebio and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid play with enthusiasm and brio, much more than this strange stuff deserves. Carlos Alvarez sings Merlin with a muffled and boring baritone. When you are tired of his never-changing intonation you can listen to Jane Henschel and Ana Maria Martinez as Morgan and Nivian: shrillness has got new names. Henschel is not as nerve-racking as Martinez who sounds terrible: during her last words on the disc you really fear that she will collapse. She sounds like a lyrical soprano who brutally shrieks herself into a dramatic one. Ah, but there is Placido Domingo as Arthur. His tenor is as powerful and clear as ever, he really gives us a convincing portrait of a naive youth with a good soul. The only problem is that this youth is 60 years old. Nevertheless Domingo is (together with the orchestra) the only reason, besides curiosity, to listen to this very, very strange piece. It's like watching Jeremy Irons playing young Romeo in a B-movie version. Robert Peters [log in to unmask]