Fond Reminiscence: 'Rosenkavalier' From 1982

Even Te Kanawa. A velvet-voiced vocalist but an often lazy actress, she has never sung better or conveyed such a subtle intermingling of dignity and vulnerability as playing this Marschallin, a princess who has an affair with a teenage count (and does so nearly spilling out of her nightgown in the opening bedroom scene).

Troyanos, the aristocratic mezzo-soprano who died in 1993 and specialized in cross-dressing "trouser roles," is strangely heavy-handed as her lover, Octavian, until Act II. There, her more inward moments convey the transition from boy to man with masterful precision and sublime singing.

Most lovable is Blegen, whose Sophie is emotionally unguarded and more vocally hearty than most light sopranos. The catalyst for the overall performance, though, is Moll's infectiously theatrical, multilayered portrayal of the boorish country cousin, Baron Ochs.

Two things won't inspire nostalgia: The ornate Nathaniel Merrill production, which conveys the almost unimaginable formality of 18th-century Vienna, is seen at clumsy camera angles and with less-than-polished stage direction.

David Patrick Stearns' e-mail address is dstearns@phillynews.com