>>>>>I hate to say it, but as incredibly sincere as his singing always is, he should stay away from the bass roles (like that and Figaro). But in all the real bass-baritone roles (Giovanni, Elijah, etc),>>>>>>

He was hilarious as Figaro, singing and laughing flat on his back, kicking his feet.

>>>>>>I haven't heard her do Isolde- I hate Wagner, and have only listened to Tristan enough to write a 110 page paper on the evolution of the ideas that tie sex and death (aka, le petit mort through liebestod). So, I won't know all the Ring performance references.>>>>>

You either like Wagner or you don't. I feel all the appropriate guilt, but I love Wagner's music. The whole unheilig tribe, however...ugh! But, if Hermann Levi could conduct opening night for PARSIFAL, I can deal. I've been to about 3-4 Rings.

Bernstein made a crack about NO UNICORNS and got royally hissed.

>>>>>

"Bjorling owns Calaf in Turandot. (Nilsson, Gedda...THAT recording with Leinsdorf)"

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that recording. I'm not the biggest Nilsson fan, but she makes stridency work for Turandot. And Gedda.... domewithaspoon.com!>>>>> Who was Liu? Tebaldi? Gorgeous. Actually, I think that Turandot -is- the sort of woman some of these characters are talking about, which shows you how vanishingly rare they are. Imaginary, in fact. ROFL.

>>>>>>>" though I sort of swatted a hummer in the duet between Carlo (Domingo) and Posa, and Met audiences are crazy."

Was Domingo getting one from the baritone? haha>>>>

No, some fool was sitting next to me humming during that close harmony. So I swatted her. I couldn't hiss: it wasn't ballet.

>>>>>>>>I love opera at La Scala, and especially in the small towns in Italy. There's no dignity, except on stage. It's amazing. I once actually sang an encore of an aria, still on stage, right after the aria finished, cuz the town people demanded it and someone stole the baton until the conductor would do it.>>>>

Brava! I'd LOVE to hear opera in Italy. Haven't gotten to, although last time I was in Firenze, I heard "va pensiero" coming out of a card shop and promptly started crying.

>>>>>>>>Italian men will also try just about anything to get with a fat american girl who sings opera BTW!>>>>>

How lovely.

>>>>>>>".I'm going to spare you the history lesson I could give. French operas have to have ballets, believe in more fluid harmonic structures, and less obvious "set pieces". And are usually IN French after 1800 (other countries still bowed to Italian).>>>>>

I got that much, and the ballet Monday was a belly dance. The -sound- is different. Is it the word endings?

"But he did a good Pinkerton last year."

Was he in the Met one? or City Opera last year (with my amazing freind Sarah as Kate)?>>>>

He opened the Mingella performance at the Met.

.>>>>Jimmy>>>

'nuff said.

>>>>>Do you like Gerald Finley? I LOVE him in the Figaro DVD that just came out from Royal Opera House (also on youtube), but my friend said he wasn't as impressive in Dr. Atomic (though who CAN be impressive with John Adams music?)>>>>>

I didn't hear Finley in Figaro. I didn't expect to be impressed by Dr. Atomic (I hated Klinghoffer), but I was, surprisingly so. Finley has one aria set to John Donne's "Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God" that's going to be in every competition for the next decade. FINE singer. Good actor.

I tend to like World Music. I'm not crazy about Tuvan throat singing, for example, but I -do- love Arabic music. I hear similar modalities in Hebrew chant and, for that matter, plainsong, which is logical, when you come to think of it. Desert music.

The deep deep woman's voice adds something wonderful, as opposed to chant, which is ethereal. But I do love the progressions. They're haunting.

Actually, I find opera more interesting than sociopaths.

Unless you're talking about Iago.

Walter, can you sing Verdi? Otherwise, you're just taking up phosphors.

I do have classical tastes. Not surprising: I can -hear- it as music. Thanks for the suggestions. Sometimes, I hear the best things in cabs.

If that's your real name, it's ... positively Ptolemaic. One of Alexander's generals was named Kleitos. Came to an unfortunate end, however, so I'll hope it's not your name.

You don't set the topics, Walter.

And this is one topic where you're neither relevant nor qualified.

Ever think of a name change to Rensfield?

Or, perhaps, you could bother someone who gives a damn.

Walter missed the Turandot reference. Smartboy isn't following the drift for appropriate intel, having drawn his own conclusions. Not thorough, or accurate. Tsk.

Jennifer, you're being very nice. Thanks, but I think you're missing the point here.

Of course, opera's topic drift, unless you take music as a way of getting someone out of the house. Besides, it's a hell of a lot more interesting to me than Walter's lies.

Oh -- how does the Va Pensiero from Nabucco go with Italian Nationalism? Probably like Zionism, wanting to go home or be unified -- saw Vittore Emanuele's tomb in the Pantheon this summer and heard it in my head. I was informed that VIVA Verdi isn't true, which is too bad. If you want to hear something funny, which THE FIRST EMPEROR isn't (it's flawed, and Tan Dun should definitely revise it a few more times), the chorus of the Chinese slaves owes a lot to Verdi.

Yeah, he did kind of make that up about me, too.

What do they call people who imagine what other people say?

I mean, when they're not Joan of Arc.