But too many opera singers are overly focused on making beautiful sounds and sending notes soaring at the expense of crisp diction and textual clarity.
This week, Billington gave the production's West End transfer five stars, declaring that it "has lost none of its visceral excitement, political resonance or textual clarity".
But in its move from the Minerva Chichester to the refurbished Gielgud, Rupert Goold's spellbinding Macbeth has lost none of its visceral excitement, political resonance or textual clarity.
This was her first Wagner role at the Met, and she was glorious, singing with sumptuous tone, unforced power and textual clarity.
As usual, Mr. Hillier achieved marvels of balance and textual clarity that most choruses would envy but that was here, it seemed, only a starting point.
His has long been considered a benchmark small-scale interpretation, noted for its musical and textual clarity, its drive and drama, and the way it captures the score's elation and joy without losing sight of its deeper resonances.
