Archive for January, 2009
Murray Perahia in a Good Mood
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For blistering and well-wrought interpretations of the standard repertoire, Murray Perhahia cannot be bested. Sony’s newest installation of his [...]
Myself and Donizetti, A More Recent Marriage
As an opera lover, I have to say I’ve never been much of a fan of the standard Bel Canto repertoire. I usually like Bellini, for the most part, and really love Rossini’s gift for theatre, but apart from that it is not the first thing I go for when seeking material to which to [...]
Antony and Cleopatra
This past weekend I went to New York City Opera’s lone production of the year, a staged reading of Samuel Barber’s flop opera Antony and Cleopatra, excellently performed at Carnegie Hall. When the piece premiered in 1963—to christen the new home of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center—it was an unmitigated disaster. It actually damn [...]
Ice Cold Music
Sometimes the CDs on the desk can overwhelm. I get sent a lot—truly an embarrassment of riches—which is a blessing ensconced within a curse because what to listen to first? What to listen to, period. It can overwhelm. Today it has. Today it is cold—very cold—and my apartment lacks heat. So to distract myself from [...]
Duelling Mimis, Duelling Musettas
On this ice-cold New York day, I’ve been in a kind of Puccini Heaven. Arriving at my doorstep during the Holiday Season was a box of goodies from Sony, which, in this case, included two recordings of Puccini’s La Boheme. Seems like perfect fare for the bound-to-the-garret indoor winter I’m having. (Go [...]
Holiday Cheer has Slipped Away, Mercifully.
Hello all, apologies for my absence. Holidays are a complicated time, but to me there’s one good thing about them ending: the mere fact that it will be next Halloween before we have to hear that constant stream of Christmas music. I mean, I love “O Holy Night” (which I only recently discovered was written [...]