James King as Bacchus in Ariadne Auf Naxos 1/2

1988, James King as Bacchus & Jessye Norman as Ariadne. Digitally re-mastered by Dave King.

[@georgepbucklin189]

After having seen the two in a few performances of one of my favorite Strauss works..this is the dream duo thanks

[@art7695]

Who, nowadays can sing at this level, with a voice such as King and/or Norman?

[@tenorschofield]

Bravo!!!!, James King is superb in here!!!.I heard the version of this of 1976, and after 12 years he sounds even better!!!!, marvelous a real real model to follow for all lyrical artists. And Jessye Norman is a as good as him, wow, incredible two artists on scene.Bravo!!!!!!!, thanks for sahring this divine music with so wondrful artists!!!

[@VERONAcd]

Amazing performance ❤❤❤❤❤

[@mk5244]

.....a wisely managed and cultivated tenor voice, never tried inappropriate characters of the tenor repertoire. And a truly sympathetic person off stage. Mi piace moltissimo

[@gaytenor]

I believe this is a 'Live from the Met' telecast and King was in very, very good voice for a 63 year old tenor. The role of Bacchus is damn near unsingable. And Mr. King still had all the notes for the role, and a few strained top notes aside him and Norman are really wonderful.

[@jefolson6989]

@@gaytenor that mean he was 70 or older the last time I heard him! ( as. HEROD in Salome)

[@PedVocal]

They both are awesome singers. D:

[@davidsimmons654]

Love this giant!

[@reginaldsawyer2945]

Yes this is the Met Opera telecast of April.27,1988 , it was taped from the broadcast of March.12,1988, the1st Met telecast of this opera live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, and i own it on dvd.

[@bruckner4444]

4:40, sublime, celestial...

[@GermanOperaSinger]

I have this performance on DVD, he is far past his prime here and I don't really think it does justice to how great he was in the 60s and 70s.

[@MrAristaeus]

I don't mean to be facetious or combative, but I think this clip most definitely does do justice to James King in that it captures him at the age of 63 (as others have commented here) and shows him as the exceptional singer he was, period. By anyone's standards, this is phenomenal artistry and singing. Saying he is past his prime and was better in the 1960s and 70s is a bit like saying he had more wrinkles on his face at 63 than at 20 years prior to that...

[@biancacastafiore8760]

quite a performance, and remember the rest of the cast: battle and troyanos.

[@jordipanadesribera6890]

❤️❤️

[@wTrevorh]

Gripping! Jessye enters another world at 4:25--"Gibt es kein Hinuber?"

[@panajody]

Absolutely right! She is transformed from the man to the divine in that one sentence.

[@ransomcoates546]

Mr. King was always convinced that Levine disliked him.

[@jefolson6989]

Could be. I experienced Levine working at the Ravinia festival. One day he would lavish attention on you the next day you were out and he was on to some one else. Levine died friendless and alone.

[@NYCOPERAFAN]

Levine's artistic judgments were far from impeccable (he disliked Gwyneth Jones as well), not to mention his morality.

[@art7695]

Jessy Norman has been one of the best soprano on XX century

[@Agorante]

King came to SF in 1969 to sing Bacchus. He was double cast with Jess Thomas doing the role too. The press went crazy over King but I heard Thomas in my series. I loved Thomas in other parts but King was the world's best in this part and as the Emperor in Die Frau. I had heard King as Florestan - never to forget that night. What a voice!! I never liked Jesse Norman. Her voice was misshapen . She sounded OK on records but live she had this heavy lower mezzo-like sound with thin high notes tacked on top. And she behaved oddly on stage.

[@grr8048]

Thomas did not have enough voice for whatever he claimed. He was just one hxxx of those lucky ones.

[@bolomayweg7680]

Ü

[@pilouetmissiou]

cette musique est affreuse....je trouve....