A: *link*
J: haha
A: dude
A: the palin interview on fox right now is ABSURD
A: there is a huge bear head behind greta van susteren
J: haha
J: hah
J: ridiculous
J: is it live?
A: no
A: they are all over the place
A: she is going to cook moose after the commercial, I think
A: and make GVS eat it
J: wait
J: really?
A: i half heard a promo for it last night, and I swear to God i heard "moose stew"
A: and a teaser definitely had a kitchen in it
J: good lord
A: that is sad about shitty opera
J: dude.
J: like, the end
A: how do you bounce back from that
A: maybe they should do a "make your own opera" thing
J: like, build a bear workshop?
A: ha
A: exactly
A: like "make your own opera" Thursdays
A: and they just open up the state theatre
A: and you get to come and yell onstage and stuff
J: and have like costume bins lying around
J: and like some old boxes of scores
A: yeah
J: perhaps some paint, and some boards, nails, etc
A: "alaska has so much to offer the nation in terms of national security"
A: and
A: "alaska is the richest state in the nation...in terms of its natural resources"
J: haha
J: no one gives a fuck about your state Pei Lin
A: Why you no go away Pei Lin, no one like you no more
A: "moose chili"
A: seriously
J: I'd eat that
Monday, November 10, 2008
Ouch
Some brutal news for City Opera. I mean...damn. Even the Republican party has to be thinking "at least we didn't have as bad a year as NYCO" right now.
I for one was certainly enthusiastic about the gamble they took--as Chair Susan Baker (who ought to stay out of dark alleys filled with Parterre commenters today) reiterated in the Times piece, the NYCO formula, aka everyone's favorite programmatic whipping boy, has been "financially broken" for some time. Against that reality, its hard to see how they could drop down to just their bread-n-butter-sad-excuse-for-the-Met stuff and retain any pretense that they had a mission beyond picking off calves from the herd headed next door.
The alternative "BAM-icization" plan was clearly a gamble, but it was the honest gamble. Those BAM types have money to burn on more challenging fare, but City Opera is hardly on their radar at present. Cut down the performance commitments to something closer to a regular regional house and aggressively chase those people as the core of a new, more committed audience. And if you program it, the younger and more adventurous in the Met audience will come, too.
But I suppose all that is moot for the moment. Blarg. Such a mess.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Well, that kicked ass, didn't it? Here's one of those fun red/blue state maps that accounts for where all the people in the country actually, you know, live. That's a lot of blue, yo.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Pollini at Strathmore
Anne Midgette saves me a bit of trouble with her spot-on review of Maurizio Pollini's recital at Strathmore two nights ago:
Its a hard thing to describe, as AM duly acknowledges, but when he is really successful, the feeling is akin to the revelations one is used to feeling more often in literature or architecture: when you really understand a work as the sum of its parts, and the genius in their relations. Achieving this--making that architecture audible to an audience--requires an absurd level of consistency and control. The second things fall out of proportion, the audience goes back to understanding a piece as simply melody plus harmony, color plus tempo, etc. Anyone not at the pinnacle of virtuoso technique wouldn't be able to even consider such ambitions for the repertoire he plays. Again, AM hits it when she says that his performance was hardly note perfect, but conveyed the "concept" of perfection.
Now, sometimes his interpretations require a lot of work on the part of the audience, because to express the design that he wants to, he needs to contradict the CD playing in our head. Sometimes its successful, sometimes its not. It's a tricky business. But we shouldn't assume for a moment that what we're hearing is anything as mundane as an "effect" that didn't come off right or didn't get enough attention. Pollini is a man with a project, and his interest lies in a very different space than isolated effects.
I could rundown the different pieces in detail, but I really ought to go back to work, so I'll just say: the Appasionata was probably the pinnacle in all around mind blowingness; the Tempest bores me these days but it was good; the C Major Fantasy reading was probably the most 'challenging' by the meaning above, but perhaps the one that will stay with me longest; Pollini's Chopin, which closed the concert and accounted for all the encores is a really unique and special thing, and I'm not going to ruin it by going on about it anymore.
Also notable from the department of ironic bad concert etiquette: some classical music dork's cell phone went off during the Beethoven, and I'm pretty sure the ring tone was from some other Beethoven piano piece. Is that more or less embarrasing than "Who Let the Dogs Out"? Not sure...
Update: Great rundown from Charles Downey at Ionarts here.
Pollini thinks in phrases, not in notes...If music is made up of sentences, these were translating the content into a whole new language. And yet it never felt as if the pianist were being whimsical, imposing a point of view simply for the sake of being different.Contrast this to Allan Kozinn's NYT review of the same show at Carnegie Hall the other week:
If you like this aspect of Mr. Pollini’s style — his forcefulness and muscularity, and his ability to create the sense that the piano is inadequate to the music’s demands and his own — his tendency to apply the same expressive effects to every work on the program was not a deal breaker...the sameness of his interpretive approach from work to work struck me as a flaw that even the great — and very real — Pollini aura could not overcome.Kozinn has every right to find Pollini not his cup of tea, of course, but I fear he is trading in the fairly tired Pollini "debate". Pollini is a challenging artist, but not because he offers extreme perfection at the expense of warmth or sentimentality. Rather, it is because he challenges his audience to think "bigger" about the works he plays, for lack of a better word.
Its a hard thing to describe, as AM duly acknowledges, but when he is really successful, the feeling is akin to the revelations one is used to feeling more often in literature or architecture: when you really understand a work as the sum of its parts, and the genius in their relations. Achieving this--making that architecture audible to an audience--requires an absurd level of consistency and control. The second things fall out of proportion, the audience goes back to understanding a piece as simply melody plus harmony, color plus tempo, etc. Anyone not at the pinnacle of virtuoso technique wouldn't be able to even consider such ambitions for the repertoire he plays. Again, AM hits it when she says that his performance was hardly note perfect, but conveyed the "concept" of perfection.
Now, sometimes his interpretations require a lot of work on the part of the audience, because to express the design that he wants to, he needs to contradict the CD playing in our head. Sometimes its successful, sometimes its not. It's a tricky business. But we shouldn't assume for a moment that what we're hearing is anything as mundane as an "effect" that didn't come off right or didn't get enough attention. Pollini is a man with a project, and his interest lies in a very different space than isolated effects.
I could rundown the different pieces in detail, but I really ought to go back to work, so I'll just say: the Appasionata was probably the pinnacle in all around mind blowingness; the Tempest bores me these days but it was good; the C Major Fantasy reading was probably the most 'challenging' by the meaning above, but perhaps the one that will stay with me longest; Pollini's Chopin, which closed the concert and accounted for all the encores is a really unique and special thing, and I'm not going to ruin it by going on about it anymore.
Also notable from the department of ironic bad concert etiquette: some classical music dork's cell phone went off during the Beethoven, and I'm pretty sure the ring tone was from some other Beethoven piano piece. Is that more or less embarrasing than "Who Let the Dogs Out"? Not sure...
Update: Great rundown from Charles Downey at Ionarts here.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Norn 3: Cut the damn string already...
Cute video from the New Yorker here. I was initially skeptical of the Palin-Brunnhilde angle (has she learned anything, really?) but I do like Pal-hilde as downfall of the Republican party, her zealotry igniting the flames of wingnuttery to engulf the once god-like party, now undone by the hypocrisies etched on its speer.
McCain as Siegfried is pretty good, but he of course can't blame a magic potion for turning out to be kind of a dishonorable asshole (I suppose they still have a couple days to float that, tho). Also, god willing, the press will not be charitably inclined towards any 'redemption in defeat' BS after he eats it on Tuesday...
McCain as Siegfried is pretty good, but he of course can't blame a magic potion for turning out to be kind of a dishonorable asshole (I suppose they still have a couple days to float that, tho). Also, god willing, the press will not be charitably inclined towards any 'redemption in defeat' BS after he eats it on Tuesday...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
New Violetta...New Atomic
Someone please talk me out of faking sick so I can take in one of the non-sold out Harteros Violettas. Only another Traviata one hears oneself saying, but then there is the terribly overwhelming b-cast the other night, and this awfully tempting review from JSU:
In other news, sounds like Dr. Atomic's fundamental crappiness is not succumbing to the Met's shiny new production, despite our fondest hopes.
Watching the neat trailer video, I am re-intrigued the way I was before I actually saw the thing, and entertain ideas of seeing the new production and enjoying it and finding all the disappointment in between has just been a bad dream. But then I try to decide whether I was more bored in 2008 by Dr. Atomic or John McCain's acceptance speech, and I find myself choosing Dr. Atomic. And damn...that is just a tough, tough burn right there.
PS...A: For those of you who have not seen it yet but do have tickets, be warned: close to the end, when you will be praying for the end to come, there will be a countdown bit to the atomic bomb detonation. This countdown is not, I repeat NOT, in real time. It will say 5 minutes, but you still have 20, easy, to endure. Do not be fooled. Thanks to commenter E at Maury's place for reminding us of this. We had clearly repressed it.
To my mind it's a miracle that one who can be the rare sort of person Harteros' Violetta is onstage, opening long-unheard sonic-expressive vistas in the part, can also sing well and powerfully enough to be a star in this house.Dang it.
In other news, sounds like Dr. Atomic's fundamental crappiness is not succumbing to the Met's shiny new production, despite our fondest hopes.
Watching the neat trailer video, I am re-intrigued the way I was before I actually saw the thing, and entertain ideas of seeing the new production and enjoying it and finding all the disappointment in between has just been a bad dream. But then I try to decide whether I was more bored in 2008 by Dr. Atomic or John McCain's acceptance speech, and I find myself choosing Dr. Atomic. And damn...that is just a tough, tough burn right there.
PS...A: For those of you who have not seen it yet but do have tickets, be warned: close to the end, when you will be praying for the end to come, there will be a countdown bit to the atomic bomb detonation. This countdown is not, I repeat NOT, in real time. It will say 5 minutes, but you still have 20, easy, to endure. Do not be fooled. Thanks to commenter E at Maury's place for reminding us of this. We had clearly repressed it.
Friday, October 17, 2008
What to do with the rest of the year?
A: were you there tonight?
J: duh
A: damn
A: it sounded awesome on the radio
A: KM brought the A-game
J: for serious
J: she was fucking nuts
A: bonus
A: they better not do that shit again for a while if this is it for her
J: I know
A: not many people are going have patience for an adequate salome with this in recent memory
J: I wish I could get a recording of tonight
J: she did some crazy physical things
A: ?
A: huh
A: her debut at the Met was as Donna Elvira
J: I know
A: natch
J: weird
J: she didn't do anything new tonight I guess, it was all just a little more over the top
A: i'm need to come back for those Onegins
J: totes
A: what are you going to do with yourself now?
J: I don't know!
J: worry about the election I guess
A: at least there is still that
J: duh
A: damn
A: it sounded awesome on the radio
A: KM brought the A-game
J: for serious
J: she was fucking nuts
A: bonus
A: they better not do that shit again for a while if this is it for her
J: I know
A: not many people are going have patience for an adequate salome with this in recent memory
J: I wish I could get a recording of tonight
J: she did some crazy physical things
A: ?
A: huh
A: her debut at the Met was as Donna Elvira
J: I know
A: natch
J: weird
J: she didn't do anything new tonight I guess, it was all just a little more over the top
A: i'm need to come back for those Onegins
J: totes
A: what are you going to do with yourself now?
J: I don't know!
J: worry about the election I guess
A: at least there is still that
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Last Salomai
Almost at a close. The final "Kopf Des Jokanaan" was marvelous--apparently she's a bass when she wants to be.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Surprises
A: catherine and her brother went to see it last night
J: it was way way good last night
A: him: "It was pretty good...I didn't know we were going to see box"
J: hah
J: it was way way good last night
A: him: "It was pretty good...I didn't know we were going to see box"
J: hah
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Things I never got around to posting this summer
July 2
Got to see the last DVo Ariadne at Covent Garden last night.
You know what? I think I'm officially done writing about how new Voigt holds up against old Voigt. Trying to gauge whether a voice is living up to expectations generated by CD recordings of nearly a decade ago is no way to watch or assess a show. Is there a different sound today? Clearly. But time passes and voices change, and unless it's an outright decline issue, there's no use agonizing over the differences.
Anyhow. I enjoyed her a great deal last night. The sound was powerful and big and rich, and far more present than it felt in the Frosch at Lyric. The middle was a bit choppier relative to the soaring top, but one hardly gave a damn by the finale.
As for the less thanked Frosch transplant, Robert Dean Smith: I don't know what was wrong with him in Chicago last year, but you know, between this and his Tristan showing, I may just start going to stuff only because Robert Dean Smith is in it. Is it weird to go to Strauss for the tenor? Be honest.
Zerbinetta was one Gillian Keith, a name I haven't heard before--she served up an admirable enough "Grossmachtige...", but it lacked a certain finesse and didn't inspire that giddy "HOLY SHIT" feeling one hopes for. Life lesson: showpieces only work when they look completely effortless, other wise you kind of just want to tell them there's no need for all the fuss.
I was very partial to Kristine Jepson's Komponist (you may recognize her as a Stefano for a Met R&J). I've been more intrigued by the role since hearing the Troyanos tape on Sirius a few times this spring, and it was fun to hear it live with that in mind, though my opera buddy thought her big notes left a bitter aftertaste.
PS, Covent Garden cheap seats SUCK. They are just armless chairs squeezed as close as possible together and the air conditioning in the upper reaches is pathetic. Plus it is London so everyone has a jacket on because British July is like New York October. Clearly it wasn't enough for the Victorian lower classes to get cholera and spend their childhoods making articifial flowers, they also deserved to be super uncomfortable at the opera. If one can stomach the nausea inducing exchange rate, it is seriously worth it to spring for a lower balcony.
Got to see the last DVo Ariadne at Covent Garden last night.
You know what? I think I'm officially done writing about how new Voigt holds up against old Voigt. Trying to gauge whether a voice is living up to expectations generated by CD recordings of nearly a decade ago is no way to watch or assess a show. Is there a different sound today? Clearly. But time passes and voices change, and unless it's an outright decline issue, there's no use agonizing over the differences.
Anyhow. I enjoyed her a great deal last night. The sound was powerful and big and rich, and far more present than it felt in the Frosch at Lyric. The middle was a bit choppier relative to the soaring top, but one hardly gave a damn by the finale.
As for the less thanked Frosch transplant, Robert Dean Smith: I don't know what was wrong with him in Chicago last year, but you know, between this and his Tristan showing, I may just start going to stuff only because Robert Dean Smith is in it. Is it weird to go to Strauss for the tenor? Be honest.
Zerbinetta was one Gillian Keith, a name I haven't heard before--she served up an admirable enough "Grossmachtige...", but it lacked a certain finesse and didn't inspire that giddy "HOLY SHIT" feeling one hopes for. Life lesson: showpieces only work when they look completely effortless, other wise you kind of just want to tell them there's no need for all the fuss.
I was very partial to Kristine Jepson's Komponist (you may recognize her as a Stefano for a Met R&J). I've been more intrigued by the role since hearing the Troyanos tape on Sirius a few times this spring, and it was fun to hear it live with that in mind, though my opera buddy thought her big notes left a bitter aftertaste.
PS, Covent Garden cheap seats SUCK. They are just armless chairs squeezed as close as possible together and the air conditioning in the upper reaches is pathetic. Plus it is London so everyone has a jacket on because British July is like New York October. Clearly it wasn't enough for the Victorian lower classes to get cholera and spend their childhoods making articifial flowers, they also deserved to be super uncomfortable at the opera. If one can stomach the nausea inducing exchange rate, it is seriously worth it to spring for a lower balcony.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Not dead yet...the blog, that is, not Jokanananaan
As expected/hoped for/dreamed about incessantly for the past 3 years, Karita Mattila (that's Katrina Ma-TEE-la for the two guys next to me on the way out) TEARS SHIT UP in the Salome on view at the Met right now. Saw last night's perf, and was sorely not disappointed: and its not just that all those things we love about her were in effect--that brilliant pealing put-your-stomach-in-knots and die from the beauty sound soaring over the Strauss-sized band--but also that her Salome is a real KM original. I mean, did anyone doubt that it would be? Her Salome is NASTY. Not like mean nasty--like Britney Spears with no hair or underwear leearing at the paparazzi nasty. She fearlessly internalizes the fundamental grossness of the piece and it pays off in an experience of the work that is leaps and bounds more visceral and thought provoking than other Salomes on the market right now. I mean, that last scene is not just "priddy" and "awesome" with KM at the helm: it is INTERESTING. I'm going back in about a week. J is going to be there every night. Remember: empty seats at Mattila Salome make baby jesus cry, so go get yours now.
P.S. I don't want it to corrupt the basic greatness of KM, but there is a serious snooze fest going on in the pit with replacement Patrick Summers, as Sieglinde discusses here. Like, isn't this a fun piece to conduct? Even a little bit? Throw as a bone, man. You kept waiting for the good moments to pop as intended and all that came out was dreary academic time beating. Orchestrally it was just non-stop Salome blue balls the whole evening. BLARG.
P.S. I don't want it to corrupt the basic greatness of KM, but there is a serious snooze fest going on in the pit with replacement Patrick Summers, as Sieglinde discusses here. Like, isn't this a fun piece to conduct? Even a little bit? Throw as a bone, man. You kept waiting for the good moments to pop as intended and all that came out was dreary academic time beating. Orchestrally it was just non-stop Salome blue balls the whole evening. BLARG.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Politics...
A: i'm finally watching the obama speech from yesterday
J: it's good
A: in what kind of universe does he not totally slaughter mccain in november
J: I know, it's so upsetting to think there's even a chane
J: chance
A: i mean
A: i understood about not voting for kerry
A: like, i understood that a lot of people just didn't totally get it yet
A: that it was somehow a little too early
J: right and Kerry was old and boring
J: so like, some peeps weren't motivated
A: right
J: I love how last night all the cable news except for fox bailed early on McCain's awful speech
A: like, i know you don't really spend your time on this stuff, which is fine, and the nightly news version of it just wasn't compelling enough
A: yeah
A: so gracious towards HRC
A: man
A: he is so classy
A: great boo for "Republicans"
A: I swear to god someone just shrieked "gross" when he said "John McCain"
J: really?!
J: haha
J: it's good
A: in what kind of universe does he not totally slaughter mccain in november
J: I know, it's so upsetting to think there's even a chane
J: chance
A: i mean
A: i understood about not voting for kerry
A: like, i understood that a lot of people just didn't totally get it yet
A: that it was somehow a little too early
J: right and Kerry was old and boring
J: so like, some peeps weren't motivated
A: right
J: I love how last night all the cable news except for fox bailed early on McCain's awful speech
A: like, i know you don't really spend your time on this stuff, which is fine, and the nightly news version of it just wasn't compelling enough
A: yeah
A: so gracious towards HRC
A: man
A: he is so classy
A: great boo for "Republicans"
A: I swear to god someone just shrieked "gross" when he said "John McCain"
J: really?!
J: haha
Monday, June 02, 2008
Plans...
A: i want to see another live parsifal
J: man
J: me too
A: i could be ok waiting to see the outer acts, but that act II was awesome in person
A: it didn't seem to be anywhere next year
J: I'm checking Dresden
J: April '09 in Dresden if we get really desperate
A: birthday trip...
J: for serious
J: we are turning THIRTY after all
A: oh shit
A: i forgot about that
A: that might require crossing an ocean
J: oh and it's Klaus Florian Vogt as Parisfal
A: ooh
A: nice!
J: and Dalayman as Kundry
A: well let's keep that in mind
J: let's.
A: I got wasted in cancun for my 30th, what did you do?
J: hung out in Dresden. took in a music drama.
J: a gesamtkunstwerk. you know, the usual.
A: ha
J: man
J: me too
A: i could be ok waiting to see the outer acts, but that act II was awesome in person
A: it didn't seem to be anywhere next year
J: I'm checking Dresden
J: April '09 in Dresden if we get really desperate
A: birthday trip...
J: for serious
J: we are turning THIRTY after all
A: oh shit
A: i forgot about that
A: that might require crossing an ocean
J: oh and it's Klaus Florian Vogt as Parisfal
A: ooh
A: nice!
J: and Dalayman as Kundry
A: well let's keep that in mind
J: let's.
A: I got wasted in cancun for my 30th, what did you do?
J: hung out in Dresden. took in a music drama.
J: a gesamtkunstwerk. you know, the usual.
A: ha
Tony's soon...
J: check this video from the In the Heights recording session---future of broadway!
J: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSTjRUMfOKI
A: huh
A: i suppose the Marie's crew will have to learn to beatbox
J: haha
J: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSTjRUMfOKI
A: huh
A: i suppose the Marie's crew will have to learn to beatbox
J: haha
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Troyanos
As is his wont, Maury responds to our idle questions like "What Troyanos do you like" with something as simple and surpassingly splendid as this YouTube clip of "O Don Fatale" from 1980 that we cannot stop watching for the life of us. Perhaps this is well-known to many of you, but if not please stop what you're doing for a moment and partake. Breathtaking.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Strange things afoot at the Circle K...
A: yo
J: YO
A: my internet is wierd, so this may bitch out
J: hah ok
A: what up
J: nothin'
A: saw a nice college Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi this evening
J: what up with you?
J: oh nice
A: DePaul's opera
A: it's kind of great to see amateur versions of these things
J: oh DVo bailed midact tonight
A: !
A: whoa
J: greg got some texts about it
A: holy shit
A: she doesn't roll like that
J: evidently she was ill
A: jesus
A: and apparently Heps is like out of commission until further notice
J: so they were BOTH covers
A: man
A: that is a f'ing opera right there
A: killin' people left n' right
J: but the new Tristan cover is supposed to be great, per Chalkenteros, via Greg
A: Lehman?
J: yes
A: damn
A: it made the newsweek site
J: YO
A: my internet is wierd, so this may bitch out
J: hah ok
A: what up
J: nothin'
A: saw a nice college Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi this evening
J: what up with you?
J: oh nice
A: DePaul's opera
A: it's kind of great to see amateur versions of these things
J: oh DVo bailed midact tonight
A: !
A: whoa
J: greg got some texts about it
A: holy shit
A: she doesn't roll like that
J: evidently she was ill
A: jesus
A: and apparently Heps is like out of commission until further notice
J: so they were BOTH covers
A: man
A: that is a f'ing opera right there
A: killin' people left n' right
J: but the new Tristan cover is supposed to be great, per Chalkenteros, via Greg
A: Lehman?
J: yes
A: damn
A: it made the newsweek site
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
New T n' I
J: dude.
J: the T-stan got boo'd
A: yikes
A: he was having issues
J: he was pretty bad
A: that is a tough assignment
J: act 3 was interminable
A: oof
A: i didn't hear much
J: on the other hand, this was like DVo's Ohio.
A: so good
A: so tits
J: DVo was so freaking tits
A: did you get other nights?
J: yeah I got some crap seats to one of the matinees
J: they sort of can't bring this guy back
J: I mean is Clifton Forbis really not doing anything?
A: Gelb must be mad texting him right now
A: what up clifton...pls call when u hav a sec
J: Clif. pls call asap. thx.
A: heh
A: i'm so happy for DV tho
J: oh man, it was so good
A: heps has the whole week to think about it
A: gelb: "Call Forbis...and get Heppner some fucking tea with honey for the love of god"
J: hah
J: the state of Tristans is sad
A: seriously
A: like, there is almost no one on the FACE OF THE EARTH who can pull it off well
A: appears to be the takeaway
J: the T-stan got boo'd
A: yikes
A: he was having issues
J: he was pretty bad
A: that is a tough assignment
J: act 3 was interminable
A: oof
A: i didn't hear much
J: on the other hand, this was like DVo's Ohio.
A: so good
A: so tits
J: DVo was so freaking tits
A: did you get other nights?
J: yeah I got some crap seats to one of the matinees
J: they sort of can't bring this guy back
J: I mean is Clifton Forbis really not doing anything?
A: Gelb must be mad texting him right now
A: what up clifton...pls call when u hav a sec
J: Clif. pls call asap. thx.
A: heh
A: i'm so happy for DV tho
J: oh man, it was so good
A: heps has the whole week to think about it
A: gelb: "Call Forbis...and get Heppner some fucking tea with honey for the love of god"
J: hah
J: the state of Tristans is sad
A: seriously
A: like, there is almost no one on the FACE OF THE EARTH who can pull it off well
A: appears to be the takeaway
Monday, March 10, 2008
9.24: OMG. Sirius and/or my computer and/or my Internets is such a mess right now. And with the Love Duet about to get started! Drat. On the plus side, D-VO sounds tremendous--the laser-y sounds in the new voice make for a super exciting Isolde. John Mac Master, aka "not Hep B", sounds like...a very respectable stand in Tristan. I imagine we are going to be feeling his pain a lot in Act III. How hateful that I am doing homework in another city and not in the haus this evening.
And we're off...
9.42 Mayday. Mayday. Mac Master's upper extension sounds like it just flew into someone's jet wash.
And we're off...
9.42 Mayday. Mayday. Mac Master's upper extension sounds like it just flew into someone's jet wash.
Monday, March 03, 2008
RIP, Giuseppe di Stefano
Was in the car a bit ago, clicked over to WFMT, and found myself in the midst of a "Che Gelida Manina" of disarming purity and power, the kind of thing that makes you wonder if it's really safe to drive while listening to that level of opera. The voice was Giuseppe di Stefano, who has died at 86. La Cieca is already on it with some clips, naturally. Also, this week's "From the Recording Horn" show on WFMT will be a tribute (Saturday after the Met b-cast).
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