Music: Old Horse, New Saddle

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Although all was not yet harmony in the opera house—Arbitrator Goldberg still has not decided how much extra salary the Met will have to pay its orchestra this year—there were still more hopeful omens on the second night of the season. In Mozart's Cost Fan Tutte, Connecticut's Teresa Stich-Randall made a long-overdue Metropolitan debut as Fiordiligi, displayed the purity, fullness and control that have won her ardent fans in Europe and on records. In the same opera, Negro Tenor George Shirley, 27, last year's Metropolitan Opera Auditions winner, filled in on short notice in the role of Ferrando, carried off the assignment with a handsomely rounded voice and natural dramatic flair. The Met was still suffering from shaky finances, but its voices were suffering from practically nothing at all.