Ronstadt’s Excitement

Music possesses that soulful, incandescent universality that transcends any ethnic boundaries or language barriers, and when Linda Ronstadt presented a tribute to her own Mexican-American heritage (her father is of Mexican descent) in her “Romantic Evening in Old Mexico” at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on March 20, she enthralled the capacity crowd with her vibrant singing and captivating presence.

She strikes genuine sparks of excitement with a voice that is strong, pitch-perfect, yet capable of the most delicate sensual shadings and colorations in balladry. She glides effortlessly to the upper reaches, as in “La Cigarra,” displaying a falsetto appropriate to the musical genre.

As a lifelong opera aficionado who has heard most of the greats in this art since the middle ‘40s, I salute Linda for the splendor of her voice and the technical expertise she exhibits in using it as a communicative instrument. She sings with remarkable depth and fullness.

I must differ with reviewer Mike Boehm (Calendar, March 22) on several points. I don’t see the exclusion of all English from the program as a serious flaw. Song introductions and explanations of the cultural backgrounds would really have destroyed the sense of unity and flow of interwoven history and romance that emerged from the fine mariachi musicians and folkloric dancers who paid idealized homage to the culture in front of spectacularly elaborate backdrops.

The audience, I’m sure, sensed the fierce sunlight, the swirling color and the aroma of desert flowers! Tour-guide incursions, as those “super-titles” high above the proscenium in operatic performances by some companies, would have been the most serious flaw of all and distracted from the tremendous dignity, pride and emotional generosity of the enchanting evening.

FRANK R. WYNNE

Los Alamitos