Music: Clutch Baritone

Whenever there is a tough baritone part to be sung these days, the call is likely to go to a modest 42-year-old Texan named Mack Harrell. In his 15 years as a professional, he has sung such larynx-cracking roles as the lead in Wozzeck and Rabbi Azrael in The Dybbuk; last season he gave more concerts with orchestra than any other U.S. baritone. Last week, at a time when most hard-working men were snoozing in vacation hammocks, Mack Harrell was still at it: singing Virgil Thomson's intricate new Five Songs of William Blake at Aspen.

A careful artist who doesn't believe in...

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