They're playing a tape of Lyric's Cosi from this season (which I did not attend out of extreme lameness) and it sounds kick ass. I guess Erin Wall's 'Come Scoglio' sounded a tad out of control at points (and whose doesn't), but the 'Per Pieta' was phat...like Babs-Frittoli-memory-inducing-phat.
The real knife turning is coming from Eric Cutler's very very hott sounding Ferrando. If I were part of a fantasy opera league (and I'm not sure why such a thing doesn't exist) I think I would be devoting a sizeable chunk of my salary cap for up n' comers to drafting him for all my 08-09 Mozart tenor slots.
I'm not listening to the orch so much, but I will note that the Lyric horns nailed that nasty little exposed figure in 'Per Pieta' that everyone always manages to f up.
Speaking of Cosi, I came to a revelation the other day that I don't really like the main one I listen to: the benchmark Bohm/Schwarzkopf/Ludwig/Kraus/Taddei show. I mean, it's objectively good and all, but just runs contrary to my Cosi tastes on a bunch of levels: Kraus' Ferrando sounds effortful, Schwarzkopf's Fiordiligi sounds kind of icy and abrasive, the tempi get ploddy in places, etc.
The recording that really made me fall in love with Cosi, which I've mentioned before, is this set on L'oiseau Lyre which I have on (deteriorating) tapes. It seemed to be out of print for a while, though it looks like it's been reissued on the ArkivMusic private label. Way to be.
Anyhow, methinks I need to do some serious homework on Cosi discs. The wishlist goes something like this: an outrageously honey voiced Ferrando who sounds like he's about 19, a Fiordiligi who milks her big songs for all they're worth, an orchestra with some of that light and fast period flava, a Don Alfonso who doesn't sound too elderly, and solid people filling out the rest of the cast. Is that really so much to ask?
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Pork and Destiny
J: oh, pork in pork gravy
A: porkity porkity pork
J: it's a little like eating in Southern Illinois
J: like, Pork with white gravy
J: and a chicken/potato/mayonnaise casserole
J: it's actually sort of awesome
A: you should try to explain to the Latvians about Carbondale
J: hah
J: or that I ate something similar in a place called Palestine.
J: hmm, I got a bottle of wine but I have no opener. duh.
A: ha
A: the wine thing is unfortunate
A: what sort of a place are you staying in?
J: it's decent. it has a nice-ish restaurant
J: maybe I will ask reception
A: is latvia more cost effective than Sweden?
J: wine mission accomplished
J: latvia is more cost effective
A: oh good
J: they were very nice about the wine
J: which is good cause the minibar wine would have been really hard to drink while my cheap liquor store wine was sitting there staring at me
A: seriously
A: FYI
A: in Texas, its against the law to have liquor in the minibar
J: jesus
A: how gay is that
J: total gay
J: I won my dinner money from a slot machine tonight
A: way to go!
J: it is such a good thing there is not gambling in New York
J: I freaking love slot machines
A: I was about to say
A: there's a reason we don't have such things lying around in this country
J: tomorrow....Helsinki
A: it's like your date with destiny
A: did you see there's a jenufa in st. petersburg on sunday?
J: arggh
A: the Andrei from one version of the Mazeppa casts is in it
A: Oleg Balashov
A: wait--is that the crappy guy we saw?
J: oh maybe
A: indeed it is
A: weak
A: porkity porkity pork
J: it's a little like eating in Southern Illinois
J: like, Pork with white gravy
J: and a chicken/potato/mayonnaise casserole
J: it's actually sort of awesome
A: you should try to explain to the Latvians about Carbondale
J: hah
J: or that I ate something similar in a place called Palestine.
J: hmm, I got a bottle of wine but I have no opener. duh.
A: ha
A: the wine thing is unfortunate
A: what sort of a place are you staying in?
J: it's decent. it has a nice-ish restaurant
J: maybe I will ask reception
A: is latvia more cost effective than Sweden?
J: wine mission accomplished
J: latvia is more cost effective
A: oh good
J: they were very nice about the wine
J: which is good cause the minibar wine would have been really hard to drink while my cheap liquor store wine was sitting there staring at me
A: seriously
A: FYI
A: in Texas, its against the law to have liquor in the minibar
J: jesus
A: how gay is that
J: total gay
J: I won my dinner money from a slot machine tonight
A: way to go!
J: it is such a good thing there is not gambling in New York
J: I freaking love slot machines
A: I was about to say
A: there's a reason we don't have such things lying around in this country
J: tomorrow....Helsinki
A: it's like your date with destiny
A: did you see there's a jenufa in st. petersburg on sunday?
J: arggh
A: the Andrei from one version of the Mazeppa casts is in it
A: Oleg Balashov
A: wait--is that the crappy guy we saw?
J: oh maybe
A: indeed it is
A: weak
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Latvia!
J: Latvia!
A: awesome!
J signed off at 9:48:06 AM.
J is offline and will receive your IMs when signing back in.
J signed on at 12:27:05 PM.
J: Riga is neat. let's maybe move here.
A: are the people good looking?
A: I feel like Latvians are good looking
J: they are actually
J: the men moreso than the women
A: huh
A: they aren't really Slavs, nor are they Scandanavians
A: Scandoslavians
J: hah
J: Slandovanicans
A: that makes them sound like Satan worshippers
J: I just ate at this restaurant that was like an Epcot version of Latvia....but in actual Latvia
A: dude
A: how is Latvian food?
A: I am picturing like reindeer kielbasa
J: it's like a lot of pork and stuff. and I had borscht
A: tasty
J: there are little casinos all over here
A: are they gross?
J: I can't tell. They're small-scale
J: but I think I may attend one
J: there is a note in the bathroom in my hotel room about conserving water and it says "please help us save the nature"
A: awesome!
J signed off at 9:48:06 AM.
J is offline and will receive your IMs when signing back in.
J signed on at 12:27:05 PM.
J: Riga is neat. let's maybe move here.
A: are the people good looking?
A: I feel like Latvians are good looking
J: they are actually
J: the men moreso than the women
A: huh
A: they aren't really Slavs, nor are they Scandanavians
A: Scandoslavians
J: hah
J: Slandovanicans
A: that makes them sound like Satan worshippers
J: I just ate at this restaurant that was like an Epcot version of Latvia....but in actual Latvia
A: dude
A: how is Latvian food?
A: I am picturing like reindeer kielbasa
J: it's like a lot of pork and stuff. and I had borscht
A: tasty
J: there are little casinos all over here
A: are they gross?
J: I can't tell. They're small-scale
J: but I think I may attend one
J: there is a note in the bathroom in my hotel room about conserving water and it says "please help us save the nature"
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Stockholm Syndrome
A: dude
J: dude.
A: there is this foreign guy over the cubicle wall from me who sounds exactly like Jar-jar binks
J: haha
J: is he black and gay?
A: no
A: maybe gay
A: I have no idea where this accent is from
A: but white somewhere
J: huh
A: where are you now?
J: still in Stockholm
J: I just took a long nap
J: I have sort of slept half the time
J: but oh well
A: so it goes
A: maybe you will be adjusted for the rest
J: I went to a good Rigoletto the other night
A: bonus
A: what's the opera house sich there?
J: it's really old and pretty
J: a king of some sort was killed there
A: ooh
J: I'm not sure how many it seats
A: is that what Ballo is based on?
J: but I am gonna go for like huge broadway house....1900 people maybe?
J: Ballo is based on the killing of some Swedish king, but he was actually killed at a masked ball
J: I think
A: I mean, it's plausible that more than one Swedish king was assassinated
A: despite that seeming a little too malicious for Swedes
J: oh wait
J: I think you're right
J: maybe the Ball was at the opera house?
J: ok same king
J: some accounts say opera
J: some say maske ball
J: all say Gustav III
A: actually having it at an opera might have been a little too complicated staging wise
J: hah
J: let's say he was at a masked ball they were holding AT the opera house.
A: the librettist is all, so we should do it at the opera?
A: Verdi: "Nah, too meta. Let's make it a masked ball"
A: off to meeting
J: hah
J: enjoy
J: dude.
A: there is this foreign guy over the cubicle wall from me who sounds exactly like Jar-jar binks
J: haha
J: is he black and gay?
A: no
A: maybe gay
A: I have no idea where this accent is from
A: but white somewhere
J: huh
A: where are you now?
J: still in Stockholm
J: I just took a long nap
J: I have sort of slept half the time
J: but oh well
A: so it goes
A: maybe you will be adjusted for the rest
J: I went to a good Rigoletto the other night
A: bonus
A: what's the opera house sich there?
J: it's really old and pretty
J: a king of some sort was killed there
A: ooh
J: I'm not sure how many it seats
A: is that what Ballo is based on?
J: but I am gonna go for like huge broadway house....1900 people maybe?
J: Ballo is based on the killing of some Swedish king, but he was actually killed at a masked ball
J: I think
A: I mean, it's plausible that more than one Swedish king was assassinated
A: despite that seeming a little too malicious for Swedes
J: oh wait
J: I think you're right
J: maybe the Ball was at the opera house?
J: ok same king
J: some accounts say opera
J: some say maske ball
J: all say Gustav III
A: actually having it at an opera might have been a little too complicated staging wise
J: hah
J: let's say he was at a masked ball they were holding AT the opera house.
A: the librettist is all, so we should do it at the opera?
A: Verdi: "Nah, too meta. Let's make it a masked ball"
A: off to meeting
J: hah
J: enjoy
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Friday, June 01, 2007
'06 - '07 Reviews
- Butterfly (Ravinia)
- Il Trittico (Met)
- Walkure (WNO)
- Barber (Met)
- Ägyptische Helena (Met)
- Carmelites (Lyric)
- Onegin (Met)
- Jenufa (Met)
- First Emperor (Met)
- Trovatore (Lyric)
- Idomeneo 2 (Met)
- Don Carlo (Met)
- Butterfly 2 (Met)
- Salome A/J (Lyric)
- Gioconda (Met)
- Idomeneo (Met)
- Die Tote Stadt (NYCO)
- Iphigenie (Lyric)
- Butterfly (Met)
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