Afternoon on Crete

Revisited Idomeneo this afternoon. A quick rundown...

Röschmann is still perfection. Is she scheduled to sing anything else here in the next couple seasons? I don't understand the criticisms I have heard of her in this role. I have heard from a couple people that she is too dark/heavy for it...what?

Bitch please. I haven't heard singing like this in months.

Magdalena Kozena was, not surprisingly, excellent. She was the real reason for this afternoon's revisit, though admittedly I was thoroughly impressed with the smoov mezzo stylings of Kristine Jepson at the season prima. Kozena, despite her grand-scale emoting, makes the whole thing seem so effortless. She may be the 06-07 Mozart Mezzo to beat.

Kobie Bryant Beef van Rensburg, the second South African tenor we've heard at the Met this week, turned in a perfectly solid Idomeneo. Possessing the required agility for the role, KvR is probably a more successful Idomeneo than Heppner, whose singing is just a bit too labored to really pull off Mozart at this point

Alexandra Deshorties was a fun Elettra. I like her voice perfectly well, though I'm not overwhelmed by it. She was light years better than Olga Makarina, however, which allowed for the principal cast to feel nicely rounded out in a way it previously did not.

Jeffrey Francis and Simon O'Neill as Arbace and the High Priest, repsectively, both sing with greater prowess than one generally expects from these semi-thankless roles. O'Neill in particular was a pleasant surprise.

I'm really glad I went back. I think the whole thing was just a bit more buttoned up the second time around. And I still can't decide on a recording...