Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica
Titolo: Lucifer auf Naxos

"In life, democracy.
In art, aristocracy."
--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
On 26 September 2000, the so-called great Mike Richter performed a
'plug in', heroically, on behalf of Klaus Heiman [sic], the so-called
authority behind NAXOS:
http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:
"Most singers understand that recording opera is extremely expensive,
especially under our perfect studio (not live) conditions and are
happy with our modest flat fees. Look at our Fidelio cast! The bit
about being allowed only two or three takes and no chance of fancy
editing is nonsense ... artists are allowed as many takes as necessary
to get the music right. However, having said that, we expect our
artists to be well prepared unlike many big-name artists who rely on
the producer and editor to produce a good performance."
We ask: 
1. Mr. Heiman seems to have contradicted himself by simultaneously
affirming that his artists are indeed allowed "fancy editing...to get
the music right" and ranting against the "many big-name artists who
rely on the producer and editor to produce a good performance." What
exactly is the difference? Isn't fancy editing what earns producers
and editors their bacon, be it at Naxos or Lucifer Classics? Or is Mr.
Heiman whining because Lucifer's console is bigger than his?
2. Mr. Heiman seems to have fallen prey to the epidemic virus of
unfounded critical prejudice and the politics of defamation and
character-assassination (the rate of infection appears to be
abnormally high within the familial fraternity of
American/Anglosaxon/Anglophile critical bedfellows). His words can be
easily formulized: "Big Name + Big Label = Little Music (or Falsity)".
No need to state the converse: "Little/No Name + Little Label = Big
Music (or Truth)". Who exactly are these many unprepared big names?
And how, where, and when?
3. A few years back, the authority was also quoted in "The
Boston Globe" - this other 'plug in' courtesy of
critic-turned-promoter Richard "local church mice are world-class
people too" Dyer.  Lately, Dyer has been heard advocating for the
equal part Charity/Chimpanzee Acts that are The Three Mo' Tenors,
Andrea Bocelli, and Charlotte Church.
["Maestros of the Pen: A History of Classical Music Criticism in
America", by Mark N. Grant, Northeastern University Press, 1998, ISBN
1-55553-363-9:  n-o-t  o-n-e  f-o-o-t-n-o-t-e  on Dyer --- 
and this after a 25-year+ career behind him dedicated to latter-day
Anglo+Judeo+Homo-centric bitchery and dishonesty.]
But back to the authority:
"The market is shifting away from name artists, and the average music
lover is confused by bins crowded by recordings. What is the
difference between Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Chailly
in a given piece? Whatever the difference is, it doesn't mean anything
to the average music lover who gives up and chooses our recording
because it is more reasonably priced, and the performance is just as
good. It is an absurdity for Plácido Domingo to sing 'The Barber of
Seville'; our recording is a better performance of the opera. If
Cheryl Studer were to come to me and ask to sing some of the operas
she has recorded, I wouldn't let her." {Author: Richard Dyer / Date:
19.01.1994 / Page: 61 / Section: Living Arts}
We comment and ask: 
3A. Funny but we bet that the suits at Lucifer Classics swear 
t-h-e-i-r  barber gives a better haircut.  Not that some of us (not
nearly enough) give a damn about Domingo, at least not since his early
90s (and thereafter) publicity and musical circus prostitutions.
3B. Let us cut to the chase: the real reason for the present-day
crisis is that the live and documented legacies of certain important
big-names (those immediately preceding the generation of today's
so-called "A List") literally fell through a  
g-e-n-e-r-a-t-i-o-n-a-l  c-r-a-c-k.  In the realm of opera this
previous generation came "too soon" after the Marias and the Renatas
and the Joans and the Montserrats and the Vickys and the Mirellas and
the Regines and whoever....but "too late" for today's democratic
free-for-all (think of the deregulation of the airline industry in the
U.S.A. - surely it is cheaper to fly and with more options but the
experience is ghastly)  a-n-d  the quick fixes and seductions of Hyper
Public Relations and Cyberspace. Few artists can survive without some
form of critical and popular encouragement. It became fashionable
sport (nah, olympics) for too influential but equally ignorant,
tin-eared and corrosively partial critics and their bedfellows to
dismiss these artists' work faster than they could say Compact Disc
(and worse: to fully ignore too - consider the phenomenon that is the
Phenomenally Perverse Eclipsing by the press of a certain 
v-e-t-e-r-a-n  soprano whose stage appearances are pre-judged to be
just that: appearances: phantom ships in the night, when noticed ----
or to fully deny the usual "critical analysis" - is it?-  accorded
lesser lights ("Monsieur G sang flat all night  b-u-t  the commitment"
- "Madame F shrieked unnaturally, flatting two high A naturals and was
insecure of intonation too  b-u-t  the understanding" - "Hausfrau V
was in customary squally voice again last night and her top sounded
tired, though no fault of her own,  b-u-t  her sofa scene was
comfortably
moving" - "Irish-American AFL-CIO Heroine F [who, by the by, tries,
and is licensed, to "sing" "everything"] could not sing Reiza's music
[she replaced DeVoid, who had also cancelled all engagements in
Vienna, and for the 2nd season in a row]  b-u-t  the visceral
collision") - you know the skit - why yes, ladies and gents,
even these acts of levitation are denied Midland, Michigan's Prodigal
Daughter --- But then, taking into account the desperate [in vain]
efforts toward reconstruction, toward opening new markets (undue
influence over Arts journalism - over who counts - over what counts -
being the final vestige of their former Imperial selves), what is the
increasingly brilliant, independent-minded, impartial, cultured,
mature, and sympathetic ---right?--- Anglocentric Universe to do with
a creature that refuses categorization - of what value or use is the
lady? - of
what value or use is the artist? - who is neither English (nor
pretender)  n-o-r  r-e-s-i-d-e-n-t  n-o-r  c-i-t-i-z-e-n  n-o-r
D-a-m-e  nor Faerie Queene nor Greek (nor pretender) nor
black-and-blue (nor pretender) nor German (nor pretender) nor Austrian
(nor pretender) nor Kammersängerin nor French (nor pretender) nor
Cinema Paradiso Italian (nor pretender) nor Eastern European (nor
pretender) nor Spaniard/Latin American bombshell (they are the flavor
of the moment) nor Asian nor Canadian nor Aussie --- nor, most
importantly, deemed sufficiently  A-m-e-r-i-c-a-n --- n-o-r 
r-e-s-i-d-e-n-t  nor MET-centric nor Manhattan/Queens/Brooklyn-ette
nor Broadway belcher nor Saint Francis-can nor Angelena nor Chicagoan
nor Texan nor New Mexican nor Washingtonian nor Saint Louis Gal nor
panderer nor tall nor thin nor heroine-overdose chic nor blonde nor
Blonde Ambition nor grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor faghag nor
lesbian
nor cherub nor hairy chested nor fashion rag nor glamour puss nor
aspirant nor
aspirate nor potential nor promise (what you hear is what you get) nor
apology nor preserved museum mummy nor soccer mum nor trend nor hip
nor H.I.P. nor castrata nor contralto nor countertenor nor
counterculture nor lyric mezzo nor
soprano on the verge of a mezzo breakdown nor vice versa nor chanteuse
nor soubrette nor starlet nor coquette nor canary nor nightingale nor
tic toc tic toc tic toc nor geriatric nor vanity record label owner
nor
transposer-conductor-intendant-voicecompetitor-moviemogul-realestatemagnate-restaurateur-sexsymbol-jetsetter
(all in one and one for all and all in a night) nor lazy nor shrinking
violet nor daddy's lil' lass nor mystic nor minimalist nor hyperbole
nor Überfeminist nor Konzept nor metaphysics nor philosopher
("Philosophier' Er nicht, Herr Schatz...") nor scholar (nor pretender)
nor didact nor pedant nor peasant nor composer (you know, like Callas,
who wrote all them masterpieces now falsely ascribed to one Bellini
and one other Donizetti) nor paladin of the glorious avant-garde nor
rarity rat nor archaeologist nor room temperature nor Sponsored By
Talbots nor Anglican Service nor Vivaldi postcard nor Handel MBA nor
Britten MD nor Janácek Nobel Prize nor cliché nor stunt nor
parody nor caricature nor Disney nor Ozzie and Harriett nor smiley
face nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick you grew up with) nor
camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor image-chaser nor
sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor pleasure ride
nor automatic cruise control nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor victim
nor tearjerker nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor good-cause nor
fund-raiser (so to speak) nor social worker nor Katie Couric nor Walk
For A Cure nor We Are The World nor Over The Rainbow nor Rainbow
Coalition nor Summertime nor Supper Time (nice tunes....if you can)
nor fruit salad nor cotton candy nor peaches in double cream nor café
au lait nor dark chocolate nor civil/human rights centerfold nor gulag
survivor nor refugee nor UN Ambassador nor member of any one precious
special interest group (you know who you are)  n-o-r  m-a-r-r-i-e-d 
t-o  o-n-e  n-o-r  s-t-r-a-t-e-g-i-c-a-l-l-y
w-e-d-d-e-d  nor politician nor inter-national political crisis
parasite nor
ad-minister of propaganda nor grassroots peace activist (you do know,
don't you, that them ancient favourite warhorses of yours composed by
Beethoven and Brahms and Wagner and Liszt were inspired by the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict --- ask Barenboim and Mehta) nor Adler
Fella nor Crayola Opera Program graduate nor
Cardiff-Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-vonStade-Scotto
groupie nor traveler along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
LandOfOz-BerlinStaatsoperUDL-LaMonnaie-ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-DallasO-HoustonGO-FloridaGO-n-such
workshop ghettoes.
[Imagine, if you dare.]
E-N-V-Y and D-E-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N
E-N-V-Y and D-E-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N
E-N-V-Y and D-E-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N
Enter into the equation the contemptibly stupid (discerning,
discerning) audiences who (wanted to and still do) believe everything
they read...and voilà, the science gives the (false) 
i-m-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n  of yielding the expected (forced) hubris.  Then
add the ones who stayed away from attending these artists'
performances because they were simply told to do so (in so many
words).  Never mind the  c-o-w-a-r-d-s  who  n-e-v-e-r  attended but
later saw fit to publish obituaries passing for legitimate eyewitness
reports (see "Maestros of the Pen: A History of Classical Music
Criticism in America", 1998, by Mark N. Grant, and look up "Dyer,
Richard").  Never mind the  h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e-s  who, in addition to
prematurely and irresponsibly issuing death certificates (see "Davis,
Peter G."), years later were caught with their pants down performing
auto-erotica to the tune of "Returns Triumphantly!" (see "Davis, Peter
G.").  Little wonder many ceased listening --- and begin listening
with others' ears they did.  But leave it to the bloodless (and if you
don't have blood you don't need a heart and if you don't have blood
you will find yourself thirsty, very thirsty, guaranteed) - it is in
fact their exclusive province - to accomplish such feats.
No, they were not Maria or Renata or Joan or Leonie or Gwyneth and why
should they? --- Take the particularly complex case of a fascinatingly
complex yet elemental, yet thoroughly modern, and yet not, artist (and
most private woman), Cheryl Studer --- was/is the backlash really for 
l-a-c-k  o-f  q-u-a-l-i-t-y  or  l-a-c-k  o-f  a-r-t-i-s-t-i-c 
w-o-r-t-h?  A decade later there's a perceptible sense of panic and
fatigue among critics, industry folk, and fans alike, most shockingly
noticeable within the gated communities of the old and the jaded, who
can be heard loudly cheerleading anyone (and we mean anyone) as long
as their name is  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer.  
[God Willing.]
[Young Ones - Do not be duped by the hollow enthusiasms of the age ---
ever seen a sad clown?]
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, what passes for
it....and every new product or stage appearance tossed our way by the 
Star System we hate to love (certainly a system long preceding but 
fatally ran to the ground by the prissiness of political correctness
and the Gestapo tactics of the instinct/thought-control police, in
concert with the 'World Music Congress' - Rudas, Mehta, Levine,
Maazel, The Three or Four or Five or Six or Seven Whores - we are
losing count -, Best Friends & Co. Inc. Ltd. - Ozawa and Gergiev
are shareholders too) - i.e., by the Star System of Bocelli, of
course, or Hampson (now a mostly undisputed by-the-book Straussian,
Wagnerian  a-n-d...hear hear...Verdian...of Stature, don't you know)
or the Alagnas (a  f-a-k-e  recording of Verdi's -Trovatore- for Sire
Tony/EMI --- Grecian Approximation No. XXV - we have lost count - has
not sung Leonora where it counts, on the stage) or the other Bocelli
collaborator, Fleming....well, all of it  h-a-s  sudden Meaning and
Necessity, so the public relationists tell us....the Magic courtesy, 
n-o-t  of especially great voices or exceptional interpretive forces
or personalities or even of remotely acceptable  n-e-w  music, but of,
*in good portion and out of proportion*, the promo op-catchpenny that
has become 9.11 --- a monstrous crime monstrously debased by the
Infernal Spinning Wheel of commerce and avarice and revenge and murder
(widely disguised as justice) --- a tragedy now symbiotically
hijacked to peddle everything from Arms Races to Far Right-ism (right
Sharon? --- how come we don't hear strings of consistently shrill High
Cs crying for  h-i-s  resignation? --- this time, however, we applaud
Barenboim for being practically the only one publicly playing fiddle
on the roof of the problem) to Nationalism to Requiems to Zionist
Terrorism --- the latter conducted both musically and
extra-curricularly, most prominently with (critical mass-destruction)
heavy-metal made in the squeaky clean U.S. of A. and paid for with 
y-o-u-r  humble American tax dollar (as if you had a choice) and the
blood of  y-o-u-r  sons and daughters. --- So why won't Israel and its
Business/Washington lobbyists fight their next door neighbors, which
includes Iraq, all by themselves and with  t-h-e-i-r  o-w-n  currency
and leave and us all  a-l-o-n-e  a-n-d  i-n  p-e-a-c-e?]
[Discuss, if you dare.]
[And yet more Enchantment courtesy of the Panacea/Schadenfreude of
Cheryl Studer-free zones/ground zeroes.]
[About the new EMI -Idomeneo-, we are beginning to read puff 
like "a recording that  n-e-e-d-e-d  to be made." --- after all, it
contains the antipodean missionary of all things English, Sire
Charles; British Will 'o Wisp Bostridge; Bocelli collaborator
Frittoli; and, to top it all, the New (Age) Callas - the
organically-grown LetItRain Hunt Lieberson.  But do not for a second 
believe the ad-men....for this product is yet more of the ho-hum
variety.]
[About the new DECCA -Fellatio Blues-, we are already
reading fluff like "A New  F-i-r-s-t  L-a-d-y  of Bel Canto - Renée
Fleming very nearly manages to shake the insistent ghost of Maria
Callas." (see "
www.andante.com
") --- But we (not enough of us) are
neither deaf nor naïve nor stupid.  You see, Maria (and countless
others long before and long after), bruised heart and voice or not,
never once stooped
this low (below the navel) in the style department.  But, after all,
the new
product (scooped up 3 years ago) is being sold under the neon sign
"Bel Canto", complete with a $2 rebate incentive  b-e-l-o-w  its
reduced repo artistic sale value.  You know, in the manner of the
stereo-typical toupéed and polyester-clad used-car salesman -
insincere, cajoling, slimy, slippery, sleazy -- and that's the singing
-- a raw deal.]
Blitzkrieg-style Public Relations, Marketing, and now
Blue-Collar/Working-Class Cheap Labor (and what that brings - see
"Flanigan, Lauren" - see "Slavs") have been summoned to the cause of
salvaging something or other from the debris of these self-appointed
"opera/music lovers'" own making.  And so the armies of businessmen
have landed triumphantly with portfolios chock-full with the truly
untriumphant, the amateurs, the pedigree-less, the unaccomplished, the
homogeneous, the vocally faceless, the thin, the pretty, the
photogenic, the grotesque too, the church rodents, the H.I.P.-voiced,
the H.I.P.-mannered, the pedigree-less, the correct, the obedient, the
mega amplified, the firefighters, the policemen, the construction
workers, the factory slaves, the custodians, the industrial quality,
the white trash, the divas next door; the divas next door with the
cute children as gimmicks; the divas next door who are so nice and
behave so well and must reassure us about it; the divas next door who
seek psychotherapy and then have the distaste to announce it; the
divas next door who relax to the Dixie Chicks; the vedettes next door
who love all that jazz and then scat and squat through 
e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g  that is European  a-n-d  Classical (and not)---
but then, in music that requires precisely that, the phlegm gets in
the way of that thang called swing; the divas next door who thrive on
wrestling, meatloaf, and fish n' chips---and show it; the divas next
door who marry well, transgenderly; the divas next door who, although
already in their 40s or beyond, appease us by "taking baby steps to
protect their voices" and who swear that that's why they will still be
in their prime in extreme old age; the divas next door who swear we
will want to hear them then; the optically challenged, the physically
handicapped, the sob stories, more sob stories, the pedigree-less, the
pedigree-less, the pedigree-less, and yet more of that.  And some more
sob stories.  And not to be missed: the Teddy Bears (think of - well
not really, since you can't - the cancellations, the vocal troubles,
the gross embarrassments of stunt-ed live programs - everything from
Beg Your Indulgences to Public Regrets to Tosti to Walkouts - by, for
instance, Juan Dieguito Flórez, Domingo, Terfel and Heppner - no
matter - the insulted audiences correspond to their cheating with
tears and Standing Os --- but no surprise here, for it is nothing but
another perversion of our desensitized, demoralized, diseased,
frivolous, diluted, and vulgar days --- f-u-c-k, even Joseito Carreras
became the object of one of these demonstrations - and this in the
enlightened and improved and newly innocent and important again (so it
goes) Salzburg
of the summer of two-thousand-and-two-after-christ).
And thus today's so-called "A-List" (really, nothing but a paid
announcement transmitted by the "Ass-ociated Press"), the P®ops, the
Pops, the Popp Clones, the Grümmer Clones, the Callas Clones, the
Tebaldi Clones, the Steber Clones, the Schwarzkopf Clones, the Price
Clones, the Cut n' Paste Composites --- poor pitiful facsimiles
a-l-l ---, the Little Names, the Wannabes, the Crossover Hustlers, the
Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the Postmoderns, the Postmortems, the
Multiculturalists, the Community Outreachers, the Soundbites, the
Marketing Love Couples/Traumpaars, the Divine, the Fabulous, the
Delicious, and the Little Labels That Could all have it relatively
easy in comparison to that preceding generation.  And the critical
standards --- what standards? - whose standards? --- have reformed, or
rather, have doubled and tripled and... But injury is often prone to
insult.  Hell, standards have liquidized and then evaporated vis a vis
the new generation.  It is no longer Sound Music Criticism or Analysis
but lowest-common-denominator Public Relations Spin [and worse:
the fixation with that elusive something known as ---technique---
technique and organization and perfection as ends in themselves:
music-making as athletic match: missing the forest for the trees ---
but this is another angle for another day].  So much so that it has
become
strangely and suddenly  k-o-s-h-e-r  once more (Jesus!, how often we
have heard about over-saturation!) to make records (remember when you
and I were advised to swiftly  r-e-j-e-c-t  them records [or anything,
for that matter] by or with Cheryl Studer becuz they were everything
from digital to illusion to un-necessary to in-competent to
im-personal to anonymous to contrived to in-experienced to un-felt to
perfect to dull to null to this to that to that to this - beautiful
even? --- you know, the toxic byproduct of uncontained Kapitalismus -
the same Kapitalismus that
gave us such goodies as Meyerbeer, penicillin, opera glasses, the
megaphone, the horn, the microphone, the photograph, the (exemplary)
Mapleson cylinders, the phonograph, the light bulb, animated pictures,
the telegraph, the typewriter, carbon paper, the telephone, the clock,
the metronome, the radio, the television, faster trains, the
automobile, the jet plane, robots, rockets, missiles, bombs, Star
Wars, frying bacon, monaural sound, analog tech, reel-to-reels,
8-tracks, the cassette, the LP, stereo sound, surround sound, faxes,
overnight mail, the (unfortunate and devastating to the testimonials
of a vast majority of contemporary artists) digital tech, the PC,
laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the walkman, the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the
famous
(pitch-re-engineered) Richter CD-ROMs, the (disgracefully
influential, sound-engineering-bag-of-tricks-wise) Solti Ring, Naxos,
andante.com
, 12,000 other music websites, the pirates, special
effects, the VHS, HTML, the Internet, Apples, TV dinners, Windows, the
cell phone, the LD, the DVD, MP3s, Opera In English, CNN operas, Vilar
titles, Vilar entitlements, multitasking, micromanaging, acoustically
enhanced opera houses and concert halls, euphemisms, virtual reality,
cloning,
artificial intelligence, Callas martyrs, Caruso, Ponselle, Callas,
more Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, more EMI Callas
re-re-re-re-re-releases, yet more Sony Glenn Gould
re-re-re-re-re-compilations, etc. - and of
course, the same Kapitalismus that has transmitted the Oh So Long
Anticipated, Oh So Extensive, Oh So Very Important --- and, at
last!, Oh So Necessary --- recorded statements from, for example
and randomly, Renée, Aprile [these days reduced - or is it enhanced? -
to croon opposite Danny Boy The 9.11 Singin' NYPD Cop, pathetically],
Alessandra, "Monroe Purr" Debbie (see "Ross, Alex") - (a  f-a-k-e 
recording of R. Strauss' -Friedenstag- for Sinopoli/DGG ---
"...Deborah Voigt's Maria [which was in fact dubbed in after the
recording was completed, after the original soprano had dropped
out]...." -'Fanfare', Sep/Oct 2002, p. 214), Cathy, Kathy, Jane,
Ruthie Ann, "Veteran Wagnerian" Karita (see "Tommasini, Anthony") - (a
 f-a-k-e  recording of Schoenberg's -Gurrelieder- for Sire Simon/EMI
-
http://andante.com/magazine/article.cfm?id=17979
), Violeta, Waltraud
- and much much more) -----  for Naxos, Rare Opera, Mom & Pop, even
for Lucifer Classics.  No matter.
[But......we are afraid it's  t-o-o  l-a-t-e --- because
the registers, they ain't ringin' (and all too often, we regret to
announce, not just the cash ones).]
3C. How exactly is Naxos alleviating the crisis of overcrowding and
confusion among consumers?  In opera titles alone they have recorded  
a-n-e-w:  Boheme, Fidelio, Butterfly, Tosca, Flying Dutchman, Barber
of Seville, Aida, Rigoletto, Magic Flute, and on and on and on. 
Correct us if we are wrong but these bread and butter works were not
lacking in existing documentation, whether historical or not,
hysterical or not, distinguished or not, high end or not.  And the
combined sad efforts from Naxos simply do not measure up.  Why pay
less, then, when you can get better and more for twice the price?
3D. "Oh but it does mean something, it does", we say. So the "average
music lover" has become the barometer of quality and relevance? 
Indeed they don't deserve Muti, Abbado, or Chailly (however much they
deserve the three-minute-aria-cum-top-ten-hit). And is the Hulun Hu
Tympany Orchestra really better than Amsterdam, Dresden, Berlin or
Vienna? (although, truth be told, too many of us have heard the
Vienna, for one, play and sound like a colony of monkeys under the
stick shift of a colonized but loyal to the crown, and thus
celebrated, Indian cabbie).
3E. And Cheryl Studer, she's not one of the unwashed, is she?  Were
they her contemporaries, would Mr. Heiman have singled out Callas,
Tebaldi, Sutherland, or Caballe, to name but a few, in this manner?
After all, they were/are *Daughters Of Lucifer*, to our benefit.
Presumably Naxos treats its "illustrious" roster with more dignity,
respect, and vocal support.  Speaking of vocal support, perhaps the
crafty (and reptilian) Mr. Heiman is unaware that *his own* Floria
Tosca (Madame Nelly Miri-a-e-i-o-u --- "más sabe el burro que tú")
reportedly bombed in the same role in Orange, France in the year 2000 
a-n-d  as Norma at the ROH, London, also in 2000.  However, the Tosca
and Norma catastrophes strangely failed to make a dent in the armory
of the "cognoscenti" and their media spokespeople.  And it is not so
widely known that Madame M has encountered more stage catastrophes
since then.  For those not "in the know", Madame M is said to be the
Bastard Child of the Incestuous Union of the Twins Callas and Heiman,
now all grown and matured into a very 'Rare Opera' singer
complete with numerous fancifully edited recordings to her name.  No
matter.
4. Many of us have heard Naxos' Caruso edition (not that the long-
deceased tenor is remotely a Heiman discovery/original).  We wonder
what Mr. Heiman's authoritative producers and editors (and his Public
Relationists) would have made of the great man today for violating at
least a couple of standards of sound conduct: throat-clearing smack in
the middle of a take and a glaring false entry at the beginning of
another?  And what of the poor pianist?  Good God.
----------------------------
Considering the imminent collapse of new opera recordings on Compact
Disc from the Universal Classics family of labels (DGG, DECCA,
Philips)....and now apparently EMI Classics too....let us take 
a close look at the following inventory ---
* Title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, rec 8/90, London SO,
Marin, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Hanna Glawari in Lehar's Lustige Witwe, rec 1/94, Vienna PO,
Gardiner, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Countess in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, rec 1-2/94, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Countess in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, rec 5/91, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Sony Video
* Title role in Rossini's Semiramide, rec 7/92, London SO, Marin,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Florinda in Schubert's Fierrabras, rec 5/88, Chamber Orch of Europe,
Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Title role in R. Strauss' Salome, rec 12/90, Deutsche Oper Berlin,
Sinopoli, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, rec 6/93, Metropolitan Opera, Levine,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto Act III, rec 9/91, Metropolitan Opera,
Levine, Lucifer Classics/DGG Video
* Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, rec 5/93, Opéra Bastille, Chung,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Violetta in Verdi's Traviata, rec 1/91, Metropolitan Opera, Levine,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser, rec '88, Philharmonia, Sinopoli,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Senta in Wagner's fliegende Holländer, rec 1/91, Deutsche Oper
Berlin, Sinopoli, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Gutrune in Wagner's Götterdämmerung, rec 5/89, Metropolitan Opera,
Levine, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Title role in Floyd's Susannah, rec 3/94, Opéra de Lyon, Nagano,
Virgin
* Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, rec 2/91, Toulouse, Plasson, Our Own
EMI
* Salomé in Massenet's Hérodiade, rec 11-12/94, Toulouse, Plasson, Our
Own EMI
* Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, rec 9/90, Vienna PO, Muti, Our
Own EMI
* Konstanze in Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail, rec 4/91, Vienna
Symphony, Weil, Sony
* Queen of the Night in Mozart's Zauberflöte, rec 7/89, ASMF,
Marriner, Lucifer Classics/Philips
* Giulietta in Offenbach's Contes d'Hoffmann, rec 87/88/89, Dresden
Staatskapelle, Tate, Lucifer Classics/Philips
* Matilde in Rossini's Guglielmo Tell, rec 12/88, La Scala, Muti,
Lucifer Classics/Philips (also on video)
* Madama Cortese in Rossini's Viaggio a Reims, rec 10/92, Berlin PO,
Abbado, Sony
* Title role in Spohr's Jessonda, rec '84, ORF Orchestra, Albrecht,
Voce LP
* Chrysothemis in R. Strauss' Elektra, rec 1/90, Bavarian RSO,
Sawallisch, Our Own EMI
* Chrysothemis in R. Strauss' Elektra, rec 6/89, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Virgin VHS & Arthaus DVD
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec 2-12/87, Bavarian
RSO, Sawallisch, Our Own EMI
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec '92, Vienna PO,
Solti, Lucifer Classics/Decca-London VHS & DVD
* Title role in Verdi's Aida, rec 6/94, Covent Garden, Downes,
Serenissima CD, Pioneer & Kultur Videos
* Odabella in Verdi's Attila, rec 6-7/89, La Scala, Muti, Our Own EMI
* Odabella in Verdi's Attila, rec 6/90, La Scala, Muti, Home Vision
VHS & DVD
* Elena in Verdi's Vespri Siciliani, rec 12/89-1/90, La Scala, Muti,
Our Own EMI (also on video: VHS & DVD)
* Drolla in Wagner's Die Feen, rec 7/83, Bavarian RSO, Sawallisch,
Orfeo
* Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin (from Bayreuth), rec 6/90, Bayreuth,
Schneider, Lucifer Classics/Philips (also on video)
* Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin (from Vienna), rec '90, Vienna PO,
Abbado, Home Vision Video
* Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser, rec '89, Bayreuth, Sinopoli,
Lucifer Classics/Philips Video
* Eva in Wagner's Meistersinger, rec 4/93, Bavarian State Opera,
Sawallisch, Our Own EMI
* Irene in Wagner's Rienzi, rec 7/83, Bavarian State Opera,
Sawallisch, Orfeo
* Ortlinde in Wagner's Walküre, rec 8/81, Dresden Staatskapelle,
Janowski, RCA/Eurodisc
* Sieglinde in Wagner's Walküre, rec 2-3/88, Bavarian RSO, Haitink,
Our Own EMI
* Zemlinsky's Der Geburtstagder Infantin, rec 83, Berlin RSO,
Albrecht, Koch-Schwann
* Coloratura Arias by Bellini (Sonnambula/Norma), Verdi
(Traviata/Trovatore), Donizetti (Lucia/Lucrezia Borgia), Rossini
(Barbiere/Semiramide), rec 4/89, Munich RSO, Ferro, Our Own EMI
* Mozart Arias
(Entführung/Zauberflöte/Idomeneo/Nozze/Giovanni/Clemenza/Cosi), rec
9/89, ASMF, Marriner, Lucifer Classics/Philips
* R. Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder/Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder/Isolde's
Liebestod, rec 1/93, Dresden Staatskapelle, Sinopoli, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Isolde's Liebestod, rec 1/88, Bavarian RSO, Tate, Our Own EMI
* Wagner Gala (Tannhäuser/Lohengrin/Meistersinger/Walküre), rec 12/93,
Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG (also on video)
* First Europakonzert - in Prague (Mozart: "Non mi dir"/"Ch'io mi
scordi di te-Non temer amato bene"), rec 5/91, Berlin PO, Abbado, Sony
Video
* Covent Garden Gala (Otello/Traviata/Fledermaus), rec 7/88, Covent
Garden, Barker, Our Own EMI
* Sacred Works (Bach/Schubert/Mendelssohn/Handel/Mozart/Gounod/Faure/Poulenc/Bernstein/Bruch),
rec 3/91, London SO, Marin, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Samuel Barber Songs, rec 9/92, Browning, Emerson String Quartet,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, rec 8/91, Vienna PO, Levine, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Beethoven in Berlin (Ah! Perfido/Choral Fantasy/Egmont), rec 12/91
(also on video), Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Brahms' German Requiem, rec 10/92, Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Schubert Lieder, rec 1/90, Gage, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Salzburg Recital (R. Strauss/Schubert/Debussy), rec 8/92, Gage,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Mahler's Klagende Lied, rec 11/90, Philharmonia, Sinopoli, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Mahler's Symphony No. 2, rec 11/92, Vienna PO, Abbado, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Mahler's Symphony No. 8, rec 11-12/90, Philharmonia, Sinopoli,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Mahler's Symphony No. 8, rec 1/94, Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Verdi's Requiem, rec 6/87, La Scala, Muti, Our Own EMI
* Verdi's Requiem, rec 11/91, Vienna PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, rec 4/89, Philadelphia Orchestra, Muti,
Our Own EMI
* Bruckner's Mass in F Min/Mozart's Vespers, rec 3/77, MIT Choral
Society, Oliver, MIT LPs
* Donizetti's Requiem, rec 1/84, Bamberg SO, Gómez-Martínez, Orfeo
* von Schweinitz's Messe Op. 21, rec 7/84, RSO Berlin, Albrecht, Wergo
* R. Strauss Choral Works, rec 9/84, RIAS Kammerchor, Gronostay,
Creed, Deutsche Schallplatten
"L-A  Ú-L-T-I-M-A..........que ríe, ríe mejor."
Bravissima Cheryl Studer, Hija Querida.  Very beautifully,
exquisitely and distinguishedly done. A most wonderful, exemplary, and
unforgettable legacy, a legacy of  e-x-c-e-p-t-i-o-n-a-l 
q-u-a-l-i-t-y --- the work of a consummate artist.  Thank you.  Thank
you for dedication, seriousness, and integrity.  Thank you for
remaining true to the artform and to  m-u-s-i-c.  Thank you for a
Universe of Sound and Texture and Expression  a-l-l  o-f  y-o-u-r 
o-w-n.  Thank you for High Individuality.
And thank you too, Universal, EMI and Sony, for having had the
foreskin to recognize and capture genius in our midst (now that these
dinosaurs' [delusional] populist causes, causes palatable to the
Anglocentric and their Axes (oh irony!) Of Love, have caused them to
trim....ouch....their future....for that squeaky clean look and
sound....and potent-ial self-extinction).
----------------------------
And now, a little something to ponder about ---
"Things got pretty rough at the last Philharmonic concert. A bitter
battle broke out over Liszt's 'Mephisto Waltz.' It was the standees
and a part of the gallery, resolved to give their all, against the
parterre, the mountain against the marsh. On the one side we had
youth, intelligence, idealism, good judgement, enthusiasm and
conviction; on the other dullness, frivolity, debility, ignorance,
arrogance, materialism. Such were the contending forces.
There was a lot of applause, but a lot of hissing, too. Since, as we
all know, these Semitic hissing sounds traditionally served the
'chosen people' as shibboleth in combat with their neighbors, it was
not hard to determine who it was that so emphatically proclaimed both
their dissent and their identity. Indeed, these 'chosen people'
habitually make a great show of their exquisite taste. They are always
ready to recognize in Beethoven a good composer. And yet there are
those who see nothing heroic in the courage of such convictions. What,
then, can we call courageous? Let it pass. These excellent and
generous souls will surely enrich the National Guard with a doughty
legion of tailors, and thus be of service to the state. You can take
an oath on that.
To take seriously the ludicrous behavior of these worthy parterre
subscribers toward the works of a genius such as Liszt would be like
punishing children's bad manners with the rack. We are not so cruel.
But it is well to look for what it is that causes the public to behave
like an ill-mannered child and to think like a well-groomed cad. How
is it, we ask, that Liszt's compositions are rejected by the majority
of our degenerate public? The answer is made uncommonly easy for me,
since it is contained in the question. But then why, someone could
object, do Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, etc., appeal to this same
degenerate public? The objection is so banal, the answer so obvious,
that any blockhead could handle it easily. But should someone choose
to ask me what I mean by degenerate public, I accept the challenge
gladly, and am ready with the answer: a degenerate public is one that
is content to be the ward of a degenerate press.
It is a public of newspaper readers. That is the source of all other
evils. That is the source of the thoughtlessness, frivolity,
dependence, distraction, insensibility and, above all, the bias
against those works condemned to death by the press. If this were an
ingenuous public, it would not tolerate for another day the shameful
chains it now fastens to itself voluntarily. But the habit of
cud-chewing has already become too delightful to permit the slightest
effort to use one's own teeth. Thus, this public receives its
impression of a work of art not directly, but from the review in the
newspaper, to be had in concrete form for a patent. Go then to the
apothecary, and buy yourselves some nux vomica or some other purgative
if you want to have an impression. The effect remains essentially the
same, and you spare yourselves the price of the ticket. And so a
public, the despicable tool of a despicable press, will pass judgement
on the works of a genius! A sluggardly mob that enters the concert
hall as if it were a toy store, reduces the noblest possessions of
mankind to idle diversions, and then, if that is not satisfactory,
arrogantly turns its back on the work of art and ceremoniously
hisses...fie, fie, and once again fie!!!
Given such circumstances, it is hardly surprising that Liszt's
original compositions have excited a lively 'for' and 'against'
whenever they have been played in Vienna. This time the applause from
the standees was still far from constituting a demonstration when a
few hot headed Philistines signalled, stupidly enough, the shibboleth.
That was pouring oil on fire. The applause grew louder, and rightly
so, since it was directed no less at the splendid accomplishment of
the orchestra and its conductor, Hans Richter, than at the work
itself. And did not the wonderful performance of this Lisztian
composition merit the most extravagant praise? What did Liszt's
admirers do to excite the drowsy parterre to a counter-demonstration?
They were simply giving due honor to service rendered."
Hugo Wolf 
Vienna, 25 April 1886
----------------------------
A HARPSICHORD GLISTENS AND TRIUMPHS
You and I, we know that the climate is profoundly  d-e-g-e-n-e-r-a-t-e
when a nobody of a harpsichordist and her twinklin' little instrument
command more respect and accolades and analysis from 'the chosen
people' (The Rake's Progress --
http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/rake96dvd.htm
) than those 
ass-igned a certain veteran soprano.  Consider this shibboleth ---
http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/aidaroh94dvd.htm
Verdi: AIDA
 
Reviewed by Michael Richter, 27 May 2002 
 
Cast: Cheryl Studer (Aida), Luciana d'Intino (Amneris), Dennis O'Neill
(Radames), Alexandru Agache (Amonasro), Robert Lloyd (Ramfis), Mark
Beesley (Il Re), John Marsden (Messenger), Yvonne Barclay
(Sacerdotta), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, Sir Edward Downes (conductor). Elijah Moshinsky (director) 
Thus spoke our hero:
{{One can now prove that it is possible to make a performance of Aida
dull. Singing and conducting are altogether competent, but the only
elements of this release which enliven the work are those of the
production - and they are more often confusing or distracting than
constructive. Lloyd infuses some life into his character, but Beesley
is both vocally and dramatically subpar. D'Intino has some moments of
expression but they are not those most needed; the opening scene of
Act IV, for example, is flaccid. Studer, O'Neill and Agache sing all
the notes and none of the music. Many points in the score are marked
'a piacere', but the pleasure of the artists appears to be to do
nothing at all. The effect is altogether colorless - a grey and
pointless recitation of one of the most vibrant scores in opera.}}
 
"Things got pretty rough at the last Philharmonic concert. A bitter
battle broke out over Liszt's 'Mephisto Waltz.' It was the standees
and a part of the gallery, resolved to give their all, against the
parterre, the mountain against the marsh. On the one side we had
youth, intelligence, idealism, good judgement, enthusiasm and
conviction; on the other dullness, frivolity, debility, ignorance,
arrogance, materialism. Such were the contending forces.
There was a lot of applause, but a lot of hissing, too. Since, as we
all know, these Semitic hissing sounds traditionally served the
'chosen people' as shibboleth in combat with their neighbors, it was
not hard to determine who it was that so emphatically proclaimed both
their dissent and their identity. Indeed, these 'chosen people'
habitually make a great show of their exquisite taste. They are always
ready to recognize in Beethoven a good composer. And yet there are
those who see nothing heroic in the courage of such convictions. What,
then, can we call courageous? Let it pass. These excellent and
generous souls will surely enrich the National Guard with a doughty
legion of tailors, and thus be of service to the state. You can take
an oath on that.
To take seriously the ludicrous behavior of these worthy parterre
subscribers toward the works of a genius such as Liszt would be like
punishing children's bad manners with the rack. We are not so cruel.
But it is well to look for what it is that causes the public to behave
like an ill-mannered child and to think like a well-groomed cad. How
is it, we ask, that Liszt's compositions are rejected by the majority
of our degenerate public? The answer is made uncommonly easy for me,
since it is contained in the question. But then why, someone could
object, do Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, etc., appeal to this same
degenerate public? The objection is so banal, the answer so obvious,
that any blockhead could handle it easily. But should someone choose
to ask me what I mean by degenerate public, I accept the challenge
gladly, and am ready with the answer: a degenerate public is one that
is content to be the ward of a degenerate press.
It is a public of newspaper readers. That is the source of all other
evils. That is the source of the thoughtlessness, frivolity,
dependence, distraction, insensibility and, above all, the bias
against those works condemned to death by the press. If this were an
ingenuous public, it would not tolerate for another day the shameful
chains it now fastens to itself voluntarily. But the habit of
cud-chewing has already become too delightful to permit the slightest
effort to use one's own teeth. Thus, this public receives its
impression of a work of art not directly, but from the review in the
newspaper, to be had in concrete form for a patent. Go then to the
apothecary, and buy yourselves some nux vomica or some other purgative
if you want to have an impression. The effect remains essentially the
same, and you spare yourselves the price of the ticket. And so a
public, the despicable tool of a despicable press, will pass judgement
on the works of a genius! A sluggardly mob that enters the concert
hall as if it were a toy store, reduces the noblest possessions of
mankind to idle diversions, and then, if that is not satisfactory,
arrogantly turns its back on the work of art and ceremoniously
hisses...fie, fie, and once again fie!!!
Given such circumstances, it is hardly surprising that Liszt's
original compositions have excited a lively 'for' and 'against'
whenever they have been played in Vienna. This time the applause from
the standees was still far from constituting a demonstration when a
few hot headed Philistines signalled, stupidly enough, the shibboleth.
That was pouring oil on fire. The applause grew louder, and rightly
so, since it was directed no less at the splendid accomplishment of
the orchestra and its conductor, Hans Richter, than at the work
itself. And did not the wonderful performance of this Lisztian
composition merit the most extravagant praise? What did Liszt's
admirers do to excite the drowsy parterre to a counter-demonstration?
They were simply giving due honor to service rendered."
Hugo Wolf 
Vienna, 25 April 1886
----------------------------
M-U-S-I-C  OF THE FUTURE
Berg Alban / Wozzeck / Marie
Cajkovskij Pëtr Il'ic / Evgenij Onegin / Tatjana
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus / Così fan tutte / Fiordiligi
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus / Don Giovanni / Donna Elvira
Puccini Giacomo / Manon Lescaut / Manon Lescaut
Puccini Giacomo / Tosca / Tosca
Strauss Richard / Capriccio / Gräfin 
Strauss Richard / Salome / Salome
Verdi Giuseppe / Ballo in Maschera, Un / Amelia
Verdi Giuseppe / Don Carlo / Elisabetta
MORE  M-U-S-I-C....REDIVIVUS 
Beethoven Ludwig van / Fidelio / Leonore
Lehár Franz / Lustige Witwe, Die / Hanna Glawari
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus / Idomeneo / Elettra
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus / Nozze di Figaro, Le / Contessa d'Almaviva
Strauss Richard / Elektra / Chrysothemis
Verdi Giuseppe / Aida / Aida
Verdi Giuseppe / Otello / Desdemona
Wagner Richard / Meistersinger von Nürnberg / Eva
AND YET MORE  M-U-S-I-C
Strauss Richard / Arabella / Arabella
Strauss Richard / Ariadne auf Naxos / Primadonna/Ariadne
Strauss Richard / Frau ohne Schatten, Die / Kaiserin
Strauss Richard / Rosenkavalier, Der / Feldmarschallin
Wagner Richard / fliegende Holländer, Der / Senta
Wagner Richard / Lohengrin / Elsa von Brabant
Wagner Richard / Tannhäuser / Elisabeth
Wagner Richard / Walküre, Die / Sieglinde
----------------------------
 
"The dangers of life
are infinite
And safety is among them."
 
--- Goethe






--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


rarity rat nor rat tat tat nor archaeologist nor room temperature nor

[Imagine, if you dare.]



[God Willing.]


Cs crying for  h-i-s  removal? --- this time, however, we applaud

[Discuss, if you dare.]




homogeneous, the vocally faceless, the decimated, the pretty, the



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


[Imagine, if you dare.]



[God Willing.]


[Discuss, if you dare.]





megaphone, the horn, the microphone, the photograph, the (exemplary?)



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


[Imagine, if you dare.]



[God Willing.]


[Discuss, if you dare.]





megaphone, the horn, the microphone, the photograph, the (exemplary?)







--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


[Imagine, if you dare.]



[God Willing.]


[Discuss, if you dare.]





cell phone, the LD, the DVD, MP3s, Opera In The Original (that's
English to you, perennially and naturally), CNN operas, Vilar titles,



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


[Imagine, if you dare.]


the  c-o-w-a-r-d-s  who  n-e-v-e-r  attended but who later saw fit to


[God Willing.]


a-n-d ...hear hear...Verdian...of Stature, don't you know) or the
Alagnas (a  f-a-k-e recording of Verdi's -Trovatore-for Sire Tony/EMI

[Discuss, if you dare.]





Clones, the Cut n' Paste Composites --- poor, pitiful facsimiles 
a-l-l ---, the Little Names, the Wannabes, the Crossover Hustlers, the
Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the Postmoderns, the Postmortems, the
Multiculturalists, the Community Outreachers, the Soundbites, the
Marketing Love Couples/Traumpaars, the Divine, the Fabulous, the
Delicious, and the Little Labels That Could all have it relatively
easy in comparison to that preceding generation. And the critical
standards --- what standards? - whose standards? --- have reformed, or
rather, have doubled and tripled and... But injury is often prone to
insult. Hell, standards have liquidized and then evaporated vis a vis
the new generation. It is no longer Sound Music Criticism or Analysis
but lowest-common-denominator Public Relations Spin [and worse: the
fixation with that elusive something known as ---technique---
technique and organization and perfection as ends in themselves:
music-making as athletic match: missing the forest for the trees ---
but this is another angle for another day]. So much so that it has
become strangely and suddenly  k-o-s-h-e-r  once more (Jesus!, how
often have we heard about over-saturation!) to make records (remember
when you and I were advised to swiftly  r-e-j-e-c-t  them records [or
anything, for that matter] by or with Cheryl Studer becuz they were
everything from digital to illusion to un-necessary to in-competent to
im-personal to anonymous to contrived to in-experienced to un-felt to
perfect to dull to null to this to
that to that to this - beautiful even? --- you know, the toxic
byproduct of uncontained Kapitalismus - the same Kapitalismus that
gave us such goodies as Meyerbeer, penicillin, opera glasses, the
megaphone, the horn, the microphone, the photograph, the (exemplary?)
Mapleson cylinders, the phonograph, the light bulb, animated pictures,
the telegraph, the typewriter, carbon paper, the telephone, the clock,
the metronome, the radio, the television, faster trains, the
automobile, the jet plane, robots, rockets, missiles, bombs, Star
Wars, frying bacon, monaural sound, analog tech, reel-to-reels,
8-tracks, the cassette, the LP, stereo sound, surround sound, faxes,
overnight mail, the (unfortunate and devastating to the testimonials
of a vast majority of contemporary artists) digital tech, the PC,
laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the walkman, the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the
famous (pitch-re-engineered) Richter CD-ROMs, the (disgracefully
influential, sound-engineering-bag-of-tricks-wise) Solti Ring, Naxos,
andante.com
, 12,000 other music websites, the pirates, special
effects, the VHS, HTML, the Internet, Apples, TV dinners, Windows, the
cell phone, the LD, the DVD, MP3s, Opera In The Origiinal (that's
English to you, perennially and naturally), CNN operas, Vilar titles,
Vilar entitlements, multitasking, micromanaging, acoustically enhanced
opera houses and concert halls, euphemisms, virtual reality, cloning,
artificial intelligence, Callas martyrs, Caruso, Ponselle, Callas,
more Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, more EMI Callas
re-re-re-re-re-releases, yet more Sony Glenn Gould
re-re-re-re-re-compilations, etc. - and of course, the same
Kapitalismus that has transmitted the Oh So Long Anticipated, Oh So
Extensive, Oh So Very Important --- and, at last!, Oh So Necessary ---
recorded statements from, for example and randomly, Renée, Aprile
[these days reduced - or is it enhanced? - to croon opposite Danny Boy
The 9.11 NYPD Singin' Cop, pathetically], Alessandra, "Monroe Purr"
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long-deceased tenor is remotely a Heiman discovery/original). We
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remaining true to the artform and to  m-u-s-i-c.  Good Music.  Thank
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 In art, aristocracy."
You quote Toscanini. Na, where is the rest of the book?
Max Heisse

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--- Arturo Toscanini
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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nor Überfeminist nor Konzept nor dreams and fables nor metaphysics nor
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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[God Willing.]
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[Discuss, if you dare.]
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homogeneous, the vocally faceless, the emaciated, the pretty, the
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--- Arturo Toscanini
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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[God Willing.]
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[Discuss, if you dare.]
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the photograph, the (fideistic)
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--- Arturo Toscanini
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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Blonde Ambition nor grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor power hungry
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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[God Willing.]
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losing count -, Best Friends & Co. Inc. Ltd. - Ozawa and Gergiev too
are shareholders in this 'Juderei') - i.e., by the Star System of
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--- Arturo Toscanini
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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[God Willing.]
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[Discuss, if you dare.]
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http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/aidaroh94dvd.htm
Verdi: AIDA
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----------------------------
M-U-S-I-C OF THE FUTURE
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MORE M-U-S-I-C....REDIVIVUS 
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AND YET MORE M-U-S-I-C
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Strauss Richard / Rosenkavalier, Der / Marschallin
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--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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[God Willing.]
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comrade, Fleming....well, all of it  h-a-s  sudden Meaning and
Necessity, so the public relationists tell us....the Magic courtesy,
n-o-t of especially great voices or exceptional interpretive forces or
personalities or even of remotely acceptable n-e-w music, but of, *in
good portion and out of proportion*, the promo op-catchpenny that has
become 9.11 --- a monstrous crime monstrously debased by the Infernal
Spinning Wheel of commerce and avarice and revenge and murder (widely
disguised as justice) --- a tragedy now symbiotically hijacked to
peddle everything from Arms Races to Far Right-ism (right Sharon? ---
how come we don't hear strings of consistently shrill High Cs crying
for  h-i-s  removal? --- this time, however, we applaud Barenboim for
being practically the only one publicly playing fiddle
on the roof of the problem) to Nationalism to Requiems to Zionist
Terrorism --- the latter conducted both musically and
extra-curricularly, most prominently with (critical mass-destruction)
heavy-metal made in the squeaky clean U.S. of A. and paid for with 
y-o-u-r  humble American tax dollar (as if you had a choice) and the
blood of  y-o-u-r  sons and daughters. --- So why won't Israel and its
Business/Washington lobbyists fight their next door neighbors, which
includes Iraq, all by themselves and with  t-h-e-i-r  o-w-n  currency
and leave and us all  a-l-o-n-e  a-n-d  i-n  p-e-a-c-e?]
[Consequently, would that  t-h-e  o-t-h-e-r  terrorists went home
too.]
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--- Arturo Toscanini
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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Universe to do with a creature who refuses categorization - of what
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Fella nor Crayola Opera Program alumna nor
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--- Arturo Toscanini
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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---right?--- Anglocentric Universe to do with a creature who refuses
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Fella nor Crayola Opera Program alumna nor
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--- Arturo Toscanini
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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& Harriett nor Will & Grace nor smiley face nor humor monger (in any
event, not the shtick
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--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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& Harriett nor Will & Grace nor smiley face nor humor monger (in any
event, not the shtick
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--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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Cardiff-Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Scotto-vonStade-Heggie
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--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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Cardiff-Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Scotto-vonStade-Heggie
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--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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[God Willing.]
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[Discuss, if you dare.]
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Clones, the Cut n' Paste Composites, the Fischer-Dieskau Clones ---
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--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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[God Willing.]
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[Discuss, if you dare.]
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Blue-Collar/Working-Class Cheap Labor (and the aesthetics, or lack of,
of - see "Flanigan, Lauren" - see "Slavs") have been summoned to the
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Clones, the Cut n' Paste Composites, the Fischer-Dieskau Clones ---
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--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 
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We comment and ask: 
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nor soccer mum nor sucker nor trend nor hip nor H.I.P. nor castrata
nor contralto nor countertenor nor counterculture nor lyric mezzo nor
soprano
on the verge of a mezzo breakdown nor vice versa nor chanteuse nor
soubrette
nor starlet nor coquette nor canary nor woodbird nor nightingale nor

[Imagine, if you dare.]
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[God Willing.]
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[Discuss, if you dare.]
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----------------------------
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Bravissima Cheryl Studer, Hija Querida. Very beautifully and
exquisitely done. A most wonderful, exemplary, and unforgettable
legacy,
a legacy of  e-x-c-e-p-t-i-o-n-a-l  q-u-a-l-i-t-y  a-n-d  
d-i-s-t-i-n-c-t-i-o-n --- the work of a consummate artist. Thank you. 
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