Neil Shicoff

The Juive performance that you have is excellent for Shicoff's standard. I heard him twice, and on both evenings, he wasn't half as good, and not either in the (third) performance broadcast by the Austrian radio. In the two performances I heard, he always cracked the final top note in "Rachel"; on one of the two evenings, he thought he had it and repeated it twice, thus trying that note three consecutive times – he always cracked. (However, to do Shicoff justice, it must be said that he was above all a singing actor, or more precisely: first an actor, then a singer. And he is actually one of the most impressive and most intelligent actors I've ever seen; had he chosen a film career, he'd have won lots of Oscars no doubt. Whenever his singing wasn't as bad as disturbing his acting performance, I enjoyed seeing him tremendously; which was the case in Peter Grimes – Shicoff alone was the reason to attend this performance, of an opera I don't absolutely care for –, in Tosca, in Madama Butterfly, quite surprisingly, in Evgenij Onegin, in Don Carlo and in Roméo et Juliette, a role he didn't just act but also sing really well.)
Robert Schlesinger

I wish to thank Imogen Norcroft for the recording (Turandot).

I would like to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the recordings (Juive, Ernani) and picture.