That said, Ms. Guthrie's clear, slightly dark-hued soprano suited the music well, and she gave beautifully shaped performances of "Once I Thought I'd Never Grow" and "The Sun Is Coming Up".
The exaggeration wasn't necessary: These are delightful pieces, and the accomplished singers — Geoffrey Williams, countertenor; Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor; Christopher Dylan Herbert, baritone; and Craig Phillips, bass — gave them consistently spirited, carefully shaped performances.
Mr. Goren drew beautifully shaped performances from the two orchestras as well, and if some of his tempos in the Purcell seemed idiosyncratic at first, he was generally able to make them seem persuasive in the context of the production.
The speech Polonius gives to his son, Laertes (Liev Schreiber), has a truth that "Death of a Salesman" can only aspire to and certifies Mr. Murray -- who's been giving fully shaped performances in bad or little-seen movies for years -- as one of the finest actors currently working.
Earlier Mr. Goode had lifted the curtain on Schumann's fantastical inner vision in thoughtfully shaped performances of "Kinderszenen" and "Kreisleriana".
On the fine disc "René Pape: Wagner," Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin in dramatically shaped performances and Mr. Pape offers selections from "Die Walküre," "Lohengrin," "Tannhäuser" and "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg".
