On the beat: Forza-ready Guleghina likes it loud; Daniels, from Baroque to Harold Arlen; Sills's new role as Madame Chairwoman; Bartoli's triumphal march.(Maria Guleghina)(David Daniels)(Beverly Sills)(Cecilia Bartoli)

"Sometimes, critics come for performance and don't know what is good or what is bad," says MARIA GULEGHINA, "and sometimes they say, `No, no, no! Is too loud!' What does that mean--`too loud'? An opera singer should be loud. Too many times, people come before performance of someone they're told is the greatest soprano or mezzo or bass--and where is the voice?"

Well, honey, as MARY WICKES says in the old BETTE DAVIS movie June Bride, if you want an argument, you're going to have to pick another subject. Guleghina is loaded with confidence most of the time, as she is now, while discussing her upcoming appearance (Jan. 23) at Carnegie Hall, as Leonora in the Collegiate Chorale's concert presentation of La Forza del Destino. Chorale music director ROBERT BASS leads the Orchestra of St. Luke's. The Forzas mark Guleghina's only New York appearances of the season.

Guleghina calls Leonora "for me, no challenge. Not at all. I was so lucky the Lord gave me real dramatic voice. For me, it is much easier than other roles, Lady Macbeth, Abigalile or Aide. Aide is written for two voices--very dramatic and very lyric! Forza has always been lucky for me. `Pace, pace'--I win all my competitions with this aria." Guleghina didn't get started as a dramatic soprano. "First I was contralto, and mezzo-soprano. My professor told me, `With mezzo voice, you will have Amneris, Azucena, Carmen, Eboli. That's it. No big challenge. But with dark color and capacity of high notes, you can take in dramatic repertory.' He promised me lots of work, and a lot of sacrifice, but he also told me that it will make some special results. And I am really very happy that I did this."

Guleghina's teacher was right: she's had no trouble getting work at the world's leading theaters, in some of the most challenging roles of the soprano repertory. It's a kind of mission of hers, in this era when too many people's tastes are shaped by pipsqueak recordings, to persuade the public that big voices are not necessarily the enemy. "In the triumphal scene of Aide, for example," she says, "the soprano should dominate even the trumpet. Some people try to blame singers with big voice that something is wrong. But it's not. It's like blaming a big diamond for being a big diamond. Big diamonds are more interesting, yes? More color. More grains. More expensive. Diamonds is diamonds. Rhinestones is rhinestones."

Recently, when I telephoned DAVID DANIELS in Paris, he didn't hesitate to let me know that I had called at an inopportune moment. "I'm watching The Talented Mr. Ripley," he sighs. "No, I haven't read the book. I don't read. I always wait till the Lifetime movie comes out with MEREDITH BAXTER BIRNEY." He did push the "mute" button long enough to talk a bit about his future plans. Daniels has managed to press the boundaries of countertenor stardom farther than just ...