Sound and fury: Sherrill Milnes was one of the most exciting natural talents of his generation. Yet in restrospect, argues Peter G. Davis, Milnes fell short of the artistic heights once expected of him.

THERE'S NOTHING MORE THRILLING for a young opera fan than an unexpected first encounter with a prodigiously gifted but relatively unknown vocal talent, a singer clearly on the verge of a big career. In the mid-1960s, I heard Sherrill Milnes for the first time, in Orff's Carmina Burana at New York City Opera. Just twenty-nine, Milnes had joined the company in the fall of 1964, and his part in Orff's cantata, Valentin in Faust and Germont in La Traviata were his first assignments. I don't recall seeing him in the latter two roles at the time, but in any case I doubt that those performances would have had quite the same effect on me. The three solo parts in Carmina Burana ...