Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica
Titolo: NAXOS and LUCIFER

"In life, democracy.
In art, aristocracy."
--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
On 26 September 2000, the so-called great Mike Richter did a 'plug
in' 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
The authority spoke:
"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 is 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,
Bocelli, and 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 this Dyer guy --- 
and this after a 25-year+ career behind him dedicated to latter-day
Anglo+Judeo+Homo-centric bitchery.]
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 Placido 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:
01/19/1994 / Page: 61 / Section: LIVING ARTS}
We comment and ask: 
3A. Funny but we bet that the suits at Lucifer Classics swear their
barber gives a better haircut. Not that some of us 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....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 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 to fully ignore too; consider 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 unnaturally 
shrieked and flatted two high A naturals and was insecure of
intonation overall  b-u-t  the understanding" - "Hausfrau V was in
customary
squally voice again last night  b-u-t  her sofa scene was comfortably
moving"
- 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,
what is the increasingly brilliant, independent-minded, impartial,
cultured,
mature, and sympathetic ---right?--- Anglocentric Universe to do with
a creature that refuses categorisation - of what value or use is the
lady? - of what value or use is the artist? - who is neither English
(nor pretender) nor French (nor pretender) nor Greek (nor pretender)
nor Cinema Paradiso Italian (nor pretender) nor Latin American
bombshell (they are the flavour of the moment) --- nor, most
importantly, deemed sufficiently American --- nor panderer to all of
the above nor Met-centric nor tall nor
blonde nor thin nor grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor fashion rag 
nor glamour puss nor faghag nor Überfeminist nor minimalist nor
hyperbole nor
champion of all that great avant-garde contemporary raw ore for human
voice nor
Broadway belcher nor newbie nor aspirant nor potential nor promise
(what you
hear is what you get) nor apology nor preserved museum mummy nor hip
nor H.I.P. nor nightingale nor tic toc tic toc tic toc nor shrinking
violet nor daddy's lil' girl nor scholar (nor pretender) nor didact
nor pedant nor composer (you know, like Callas, who wrote all them
masterpieces now falsely attributed to Bellini, Donizetti, 
et.al
.) nor
Handel MBA nor Janacek PhD nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor
caricature nor smiley face nor humour monger (anyway, not the shtick
you grew up with) nor sentiment-al nor trademark nor Konzept nor
sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor marketing-promo
tramp nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor good-cause nor
fund-raiser (so to speak) nor peaches in double cream nor cafe au lait
nor dark chocolate nor civil/human rights centerfold nor member of any
precious special interest group (you know who you are) n-o-r  
m-a-r-r-i-e-d  t-o  o-n-e  nor politician nor political crisis
parasite 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 Crayola Opera Program
graduate nor
RichieTucker-Albanese-Horne-Cardiff-Domingo groupie nor traveller
along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-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 audiences who (wanted
to and still do) believe everything they read...and voila. Add to this
the ones who stayed away from attending these artists' performances
because they were simply told to do so. Little wonder so many stopped
listening; and stopped listening with their own ears they did. Indeed.
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, yet not, artist (and
very 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
amongst critics, industry folk, and fans alike, most
shockingly noticeable among the gated communities of the old and the
jaded, who can be heard loudly cheerleading anyone (and I mean anyone)
as long as their name is  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer. God Willing.
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, and 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
in conspiracy with Rudas, Mehta, Levine, Maazel, The Three or Four or
Five or Six or Seven Whores - we are losing count -, Best Friends &
Co. Inc. Ltd.) -  by the likes 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 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, not of especially great voices or
exceptional interpretive forces or personalities or even composers of
remotely good n-e-w music, but of, *in part*, the promo op-catchpenny
that has become 9.11...a debased tragedy conveniently 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? --- we do give credit to Barenboim for
being practically the only one publicly fiddling on the roof of the
problem) to Nationalism to Requiems to Zionist Terrorism --- the
latter conducted with mass destruction heavy metal made in the squeaky
clean
U.S.A. and paid for with y-o-u-r humble American tax dollar.]
[And yet more Enchantment courtesy of the panacea/schadenfreude of
Cheryl Studer-free zones/ground zeroes.]
[About the new Mackerras/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, Sir Charles;
British Will 'o Wisp Bostridge; Bocelli collaborator Frittoli; 
and, to top it all, the New (Age) Callas - one LetItRain Hunt
Lieberson. But do not for a second believe the promoters....for this 
product is yet more of the ho-hum variety.]
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
and "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 factory workers,
the industrial quality, the white trash, the divas next door; the
divas next door with the cute children as promo tools; 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 (or
not)--- but then, in music where scattin' 'n squattin' is required,
the phlegm gets in the way of that thang called swing---ha ha; 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 with "taking baby steps to protect their voices"
and who swear that that's why they will be still in their prime in
extreme old age;
the divas next door who swear we will want to hear them then; the
physically challenged, the sob stories, more sob stories, the
pedigree-less, the pedigree-less, the pedigree-less, and yet more of
the pedigree-less. 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 embarrassment of
stunt-ed live programs by, for instance, Juan Dieguito Flórez,
Domingo, Terfel
and Heppner - no matter - the insulted audiences correspond to their
cheating with tears and Standing Os - this is no surprise for it is 
nothing but another manifestation of a perversely desensitized, 
demoralized, frivolous, and diluted world --- f-u-c-k, even Joseito 
Carreras became the object of one - and this in the enlightened
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 Pimps, the
Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the Postmoderns (Postmortems?), the
Multiculturalists, the Community Outreachers, the Soundbites, the
Marketing Love Couples/Traumpaars, the Divine, the Fabulous, and the
Little Labels That Could all have it relatively easy in comparison to
that preceding generation. And the critical "standards" have reformed,
or rather, have doubled and tripled and... But injury is often prone
to insult.
Hell, standards have evaporated vis a vis the new generation. It is no
longer Sound Music Criticism or Analysis but lowest-common-denominator
Public Relations Spin/Fluff [and worse: the fixation with that elusive
something known as -technique-, technique as an end in itself:
music-making as sporting 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 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 [and
this during  t-h-e  p-e-a-k  of the lady's powers] becuz they were
everything from digital to un-necessary to illusion to sub-par to 
in-competent to perfect to beautiful to impersonal to anonymous 
to in-experienced to un-felt to dull to null to this to that
to that to this? - you know, the toxic byproduct of uncontained
Kapitalismus - the same Kapitalismus that gave us such goodies as the
megaphone, the horn, the microphone, the photograph, the exemplary
Mapleson cylinders, the phonograph, the light bulb, animated pictures,
the telegraph, the
telephone, the radio, the television, faster trains, the automobile,
the jet plane, frying bacon, monaural sound, analog tech,
reel-to-reels, 8-tracks, the cassette, the LP, stereo sound, surround
sound, faxes, overnight mail, digital tech, the PC, the CD, the
walkman, the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous pitch-re-engineered
Richter CD-ROMs, the (overrated) Solti Ring, Naxos, 
andante.com
,
12,000 other music websites, the pirates, the VHS, the Internet, the
cell phone, the LD, the DVD, MP3s, cloning, Callas, Caruso, Ponselle,
Scotto, Flagstad, Nilsson, 
et.al
. - and of course, the same
Kapitalismus that has transmitted the Oh So
Extensive, Oh So Very Important --- and at last, Oh So Necessary ---
recorded statements from, for example and randomly, Aprile [these days
reduced - or is it enhanced? - to croon opposite Danny Boy The 9.11
Singin' NYPD Cop, pathetically], Alessandra, Debbie (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, Jane, Ruthie Ann, Karita (a  f-a-k-e recording of
Schoenberg's -Gurrelieder- for Rattle/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 I suppose the clever
and reptilian Mr. Heiman knew all this then and still does.
But But But.........we are afraid it's all TOO LATE...because the
registers, they ain't ringin' (and all too often, sadly, 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 issued
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 historic 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 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 Mr.
Heiman is aware that *his own* Floria Tosca (Madame Nelly
Miri-a-e-i-o-u --- "mas sabe el burro que tú") reportedly bombed in
the same role in Orange, France in the year 2000 AND 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 friends in the media. And 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 Saintly Union of Callas and Naxos, now
all grown and matured into a very very 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, EMI
* Salome in Massenet's Herodiade, rec 11-12/94, Toulouse, Plasson, EMI
* Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, rec 9/90, Vienna PO, Muti, 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, EMI
* Chrysothemis in R. Strauss' Elektra, rec 6/89, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Virgin Video
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec 2-12/87, Bavarian
RSO, Sawallisch, EMI
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec '92, Vienna PO,
Solti, Lucifer Classics/Decca-London Video
* 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, EMI
* Odabella in Verdi's Attila, rec 6/90, La Scala, Muti, Home Vision
Video
* Elena in Verdi's Vespri Siciliani, rec 12/89-1/90, La Scala, Muti,
EMI (also on video)
* 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, 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,
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, 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, 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, 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, EMI
* Verdi's Requiem, rec 11/91, Vienna PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, rec 4/89, Philadelphia Orchestra, Muti,
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
"LA ULTIMA..........que rie, rie 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.  Thank you.  Thank you for dedication, seriousness, and
integrity.  Thank you for remaining true to the artform.  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 Best Friends, 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 from 'the chosen people'
(
http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/rake96dvd.htm
) than 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, Edward Downes (conductor). Elijah Moshinsky (director), Brian
Large (TV director)
{{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
----------------------------
MUSIC 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 MUSIC....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 MUSIC
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 path of life is littered
with incredible dangers.
And fear is one of them."
 
---Goethe





....or NAXOS and LUCIFER
----------------------------

--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 




Anglo+Judeo+Homo-centric bitchery and dishonesty.]

We comment and ask: 


say Compact Disc (and worse: to fully ignore too - consider the

newbie nor aspirant nor potential nor promise (what you hear is what
you get) nor apology nor preserved museum mummy nor hip nor H.I.P. nor
nightingale nor tic toc tic toc tic toc nor shrinking violet nor
daddy's lil' girl nor minimalist nor hyperbole nor Überfeminist nor
scholar (nor pretender) nor didact nor pedant nor peasant nor composer
(you know, like Callas, who wrote all them masterpieces now falsely
attributed to Bellini, Donizetti, 
et.al
.) nor champion of all that
great avant-garde contemporary raw ore for human voice nor Broadway
belcher nor Handel MBA nor Janacek PhD nor cliche nor stunt nor parody







more of that.  And some more sob stories.  And not to be


Sir Rattle/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 I suppose the clever
and reptilian Mr. Heiman knew all this then and still does.
But But But.........we are afraid it's all  t-o-o  l-a-t-e...because





--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


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
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 unnaturally 
shrieked and flatted two high A naturals and was insecure of
intonation overall  b-u-t  the understanding" - "Hausfrau V was in
customary squally voice again last night  b-u-t  her sofa scene was
comfortably moving" - 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, what is the increasingly brilliant,
independent-minded, impartial, cultured, mature, and sympathetic
---right?--- Anglocentric Universe to do with a creature that refuses
categorisation - of what value or use is the
lady? - of what value or use is the artist? - who is neither English
(nor pretender) nor French (nor pretender) nor Greek (nor pretender)
nor Cinema Paradiso Italian (nor pretender) nor Spaniard/Latin
American
bombshell (they are the flavour of the moment) --- nor, most
importantly, deemed sufficiently American --- nor panderer to all of
the above nor Met-centric nor Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway
belcher nor tall nor thin nor blonde nor blonde-ambitious nor Marilyn
Monroe-like purr nor grotesque
nor grotesquely zaftig nor fashion rag nor glamour puss nor faghag nor
newbie nor aspirant nor potential nor promise (what you hear is what
you get) nor apology nor preserved museum mummy nor hip nor H.I.P. nor
castrati nor contralto nor countertenor nor counterculture nor lyric
mezzo nor soprano on the verge of a mezzo breakdown nor vice versa nor
lazy nor canary nor
nightingale nor tic toc tic toc tic toc nor shrinking violet nor
daddy's lil' girl nor minimalist nor hyperbole nor Überfeminist nor
scholar (nor pretender) nor didact nor pedant nor peasant nor composer
(you know, like Callas, who wrote all them masterpieces now falsely
attributed to one Bellini and one other Donizetti) nor champion of all
that
great contemporary avant-garde raw ore for human voice nor rarity rat
nor Handel MBA nor Janacek PhD nor cliche nor stunt nor parody
nor caricature nor smiley face nor humour monger (anyway, not the
shtick
you grew up with) nor trademark nor Konzept nor
sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor marketing-promo
tramp nor sentiment-al nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor
good-cause nor
fund-raiser (so to speak) nor peaches in double cream nor cafe au lait
nor dark chocolate nor civil/human rights centerfold nor member of any
one precious special interest group (you know who you are) n-o-r  




that has become 9.11 --- a monstrous crime monstrously debased by the
infernal cycle of commerce --- now conveniently 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? --- we do give credit, however, to Barenboim





everything from digital to illusion to un-necessary to sub-par to 
in-competent to perfect to beautiful to im-personal to anonymous 
to in-experienced to un-felt to dull to null to this to that
to that to this? - you know, the toxic byproduct of uncontained
Kapitalismus - the same Kapitalismus that gave us such goodies as the
megaphone, the horn, the microphone, the photograph, the exemplary
Mapleson cylinders, the phonograph, the light bulb, animated pictures,
the telegraph, the telephone, the radio, the television, faster
trains, the automobile, the jet plane, frying bacon, monaural sound,
analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks, the cassette, the LP, stereo
sound, surround sound, faxes, overnight mail, digital tech, the PC,
the CD, the
walkman, the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous pitch-re-engineered
Richter CD-ROMs, the (overrated) Solti Ring, Naxos, 
andante.com
,
12,000 other music websites, the pirates, the VHS, the Internet, the
cell phone, the LD, the DVD, MP3s, cloning, Callas, Caruso, Ponselle,
Scotto, Flagstad, Nilsson, 
et.al
. - and of course, the same
Kapitalismus that has transmitted the 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






----------------------------


"L-A  U-L-T-I-M-A..........que rie, rie mejor."


"In life, democracy.
In art, aristocracy."
--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
On 26 September 2000, the so-called great Mike Richter performed a

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


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 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 unnaturally 
shrieked and flatted two high A naturals and was insecure of
intonation overall  b-u-t  the understanding" - "Hausfrau V was in
customary squally voice again last night  b-u-t  her sofa scene was
comfortably moving" - 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, what is the increasingly brilliant,
independent-minded, impartial, cultured, mature, and sympathetic
---right?--- Anglocentric Universe to do with a creature that refuses
categorisation - of what value or use is the
lady? - of what value or use is the artist? - who is neither English
(nor pretender) nor French (nor pretender) nor Greek (nor pretender)
nor Cinema Paradiso Italian (nor pretender) nor Spaniard/Latin
American
bombshell (they are the flavour of the moment) --- nor, most
importantly, deemed sufficiently American --- nor panderer to all of
the above nor Met-centric nor Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway
belcher nor tall nor thin nor blonde nor blonde-ambitious nor Marilyn
Monroe-like purr nor grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor fashion rag
nor glamour puss nor faghag nor
newbie nor aspirant nor potential nor promise (what you hear is what
you get) nor apology nor preserved museum mummy nor hip nor H.I.P. nor
castrati nor contralto nor countertenor nor counterculture nor lyric
mezzo nor soprano on the verge of a mezzo breakdown nor vice versa nor
lazy nor canary nor
nightingale nor tic toc tic toc tic toc nor shrinking violet nor
daddy's lil' girl nor minimalist nor hyperbole nor Überfeminist nor
scholar (nor pretender) nor didact nor pedant nor peasant nor composer
(you know, like Callas, who wrote all them masterpieces now falsely
attributed to one Bellini and one other Donizetti) nor champion of 
the avant-garde nor rarity rat nor Handel MBA nor Britten PhD nor
Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor caricature nor
smiley face nor humour monger (anyway, not the shtick you grew up
with) nor trademark nor Konzept nor
sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor marketing-promo
tramp nor sentiment-al nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor
good-cause nor
fund-raiser (so to speak) nor peaches in double cream nor cafe au lait
nor dark chocolate nor civil/human rights centerfold 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  nor politician nor political crisis
parasite 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 Crayola Opera Program
graduate nor RichieTucker-Albanese-Horne-Cardiff-Domingo groupie nor
traveller along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-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 voila. Add to this the ones who stayed away from
attending these artists' performances because they were simply told to
do so (in so many words). Little wonder many ceased listening --- and
begin listening with others&#8217; ears they did.  But leave it to the
bloodless (and if you don&#8217;t have blood you don&#8217;t need a
heart) 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
amongst critics, industry folk, and fans alike, most
shockingly noticeable among the gated communities of the old and the
jaded, who can be heard loudly cheerleading anyone (and I mean anyone)
as long as their name is  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer. God Willing.
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, and 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
in conspiracy with Rudas, Mehta, Levine, Maazel, The Three or Four or
Five or Six or Seven Whores - we are losing count -, Best Friends &
Co. Inc. Ltd.) - by the likes 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 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, not of especially great voices or
exceptional interpretive forces or personalities or even composers of
remotely good n-e-w music, but of, *in part*, the promo op-catchpenny
that has become 9.11 --- a monstrous crime monstrously debased by the
infernal cycle of commerce and avarice --- 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? --- we do give credit, however, to
Barenboim for being practically the only one publicly fiddling on the
roof of the problem) to Nationalism to Requiems to Zionist Terrorism
--- the latter conducted with mass destruction heavy metal made in the
squeaky clean U.S.A. and paid for with y-o-u-r humble American tax
dollar.]
[And yet more Enchantment courtesy of the panacea/schadenfreude of
Cheryl Studer-free zones/ground zeroes.]
[About the new Mackerras/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, Sir Charles;
British Will 'o Wisp Bostridge; Bocelli collaborator Frittoli; 
and, to top it all, the New (Age) Callas - one LetItRain Hunt
Lieberson. But do not for a second believe the admen....for this 



fixation with that elusive something known as &#8211;technique ---
technique
and organization 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 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 [and
this during  t-h-e  p-e-a-k  of the lady's powers] becuz they were
everything from digital to illusion to un-necessary to sub-par to 
in-competent to perfect to beautiful to im-personal to anonymous 
to in-experienced to un-felt to dull to null to this to that
to that to this? - you know, the toxic byproduct of uncontained
Kapitalismus - the same Kapitalismus that gave us such goodies as the
megaphone, the horn, the microphone, the photograph, the exemplary
Mapleson cylinders, the phonograph, the light bulb, animated pictures,
the telegraph, the telephone, the radio, the television, faster
trains, the automobile, the jet plane, frying bacon, monaural sound,
analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks, the cassette, the LP, stereo
sound, surround sound, faxes, overnight mail, digital tech, the PC,
the CD, the walkman, the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous
pitch-re-engineered
Richter CD-ROMs, the (overrated) Solti Ring, Naxos, 
andante.com
,
12,000 other music websites, the pirates, the VHS, the Internet, the
cell phone, the LD, the DVD, MP3s, cloning, Callas, Caruso, Ponselle,
Scotto, Flagstad, Nilsson, 
et.al
. - and of course, the same
Kapitalismus that has transmitted the 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, Debbie (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, Jane, Ruthie Ann, Karita (a  f-a-k-e recording of
Schoenberg's -Gurrelieder- for Sir Rattle/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 I suppose the clever
and reptilian Mr. Heiman knew all this then and still does.
But But 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).




----------------------------


&#8216;Our Own&#8217; EMI
* Salome in Massenet's Herodiade, rec 11-12/94, Toulouse, Plasson,
&#8216;Our Own&#8217; EMI
* Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, rec 9/90, Vienna PO, Muti,
&#8216;Our Own&#8217; 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, &#8216;Our Own&#8217; EMI
* Chrysothemis in R. Strauss' Elektra, rec 6/89, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Virgin Video
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec 2-12/87, Bavarian
RSO, Sawallisch, &#8216;Our Own&#8217; EMI
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec '92, Vienna PO,
Solti, Lucifer Classics/Decca-London Video
* 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, &#8216;Our
Own&#8217; EMI
* Odabella in Verdi's Attila, rec 6/90, La Scala, Muti, Home Vision
Video
* Elena in Verdi's Vespri Siciliani, rec 12/89-1/90, La Scala, Muti,
&#8216;Our Own&#8217; EMI (also on video)
* 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, &#8216;Our Own&#8217; 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,
&#8216;Our Own&#8217; 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, &#8216;Our
Own&#8217; 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, &#8216;Our
Own&#8217; 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, &#8216;Our Own&#8217; 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, &#8216;Our Own&#8217; EMI
* Verdi's Requiem, rec 11/91, Vienna PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, rec 4/89, Philadelphia Orchestra, Muti,
&#8216;Our Own&#8217; 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  U-L-T-I-M-A..........que rie, rie mejor."


"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:

We ask: 



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 this Dyer guy --- 
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 Placido 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:
01/19/1994 / Page: 61 / Section: LIVING ARTS}
We comment and ask: 
3A. Funny but we bet that the suits at Lucifer Classics swear their
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  b-u-t  her sofa scene was
comfortably moving") - 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, 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) nor French (nor pretender) nor Greek (nor pretender)
nor Cinema Paradiso Italian (nor pretender) nor Spaniard/Latin
American
bombshell (they are the flavour of the moment) --- nor, most
importantly, deemed sufficiently American --- nor panderer to all of
the above nor Met-centric nor Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway
belcher nor tall nor thin nor blonde nor Blonde Ambition nor grotesque
nor grotesquely zaftig nor cherub nor hairy chested nor fashion rag
nor glamour puss nor vanity fair nor faghag nor aspirant nor newbie
nor potential nor promise (what you hear is what you get) nor apology
nor preserved museum mummy nor trend nor hip nor H.I.P. nor aspirate
nor castrati 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 canary nor nightingale nor tic
toc tic toc tic toc nor transposer-conductor-intendant-movie
mogul-real estate magnate-sex symbol-jet setter-restaurateur (all in
one and one for all and all in a night) nor lazy nor shrinking violet
nor daddy's lil' girl nor minimalist nor hyperbole nor Überfeminist
nor Konzept nor metaphysics 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 champion of the avant-garde nor rarity rat nor Anglican
Service nor Vivaldi postcard nor Handel MBA nor Britten PhD nor
Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor caricature nor
smiley face nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick you grew up with)
nor camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor sensation-seeker
nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor
tearjerker nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor good-cause nor
Katie Couric nor We Are The World nor fund-raiser (so to speak) nor
fruit salad nor cotton candy nor peaches in double cream nor cafe au
lait nor dark chocolate nor civil/human rights centerfold nor gulag
survivor 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  nor politician
nor international political crisis parasite 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 Crayola Opera Program graduate nor
RichieTucker-Albanese-Horne-Cardiff-Domingo groupie nor traveller
along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-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 voila.  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 those critics who  n-e-v-e-r 
attended but later saw fit to publish obituaries passing for
legitimate eyewitness report (see "Maestros of the Pen: A History of
Classical Music Criticism in America", 1998, by Mark N. Grant, and
look up &#8220;Dyer, Richard&#8221;).  Little wonder many ceased
listening --- and begin listening with others&#8217; ears they did. 
But leave it to the bloodless (and if you don&#8217;t have blood you
don&#8217;t need a heart) &#8211; it is in fact their exclusive
province - to accomplish such feats.


squeaky clean U.S. of A. and paid for with  y-o-u-r  humble American
tax dollar and the blood of  y-o-u-r  sons and daughters. --&#8211; So
why won&#8217;t Israel and its business lobbyists fight their next
door neighbors all by themselves and with  t-h-e-i-r  o-w-n  currency
and leave Washington and us all in peace? &#8211; talk about it, if
you dare.]
[And yet more Enchantment courtesy of the panacea/schadenfreude of
Cheryl Studer-free zones/ground zeroes.]
[About the new Mackerras/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, Sir Charles;
British Will 'o Wisp Bostridge; Bocelli collaborator Frittoli; 
and, to top it all, the New (Age) Callas - one LetItRain Hunt
Lieberson. But do not for a second believe the admen....for this 
product is yet more of the ho-hum variety.]
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
and "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 factory workers,
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 (or
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 with "taking baby steps to protect their voices"
and who swear that that's why they will be still in their prime in
extreme old age; the divas next door who swear we will want to hear
them then; the physically challenged, 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 embarrassment of
stunt-ed live programs by, for instance, Juan Dieguito Flórez,
Domingo, Terfel and Heppner - no matter - the insulted audiences
correspond to their cheating with tears and Standing Os &#8211; but
this is no
surprise for it is nothing but another manifestation of our perversely
desensitized, demoralized, frivolous, and diluted times --- f-u-c-k,
even Joseito Carreras became the object of one - and this in the
enlightened 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 Pimps, the
Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the Postmoderns (Postmortems?), the
Multiculturalists, the Community Outreachers, the Soundbites, the
Marketing Love Couples/Traumpaars, the Divine, the Fabulous, and the
Little Labels That Could all have it relatively easy in comparison to
that preceding generation. And the critical standards &#8211; what
standards? &#8211; 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

pathetically], Alessandra, &#8220;Monroe Purr&#8221; Debbie (see
&#8220;Porter, Andrew&#8221;) &#8211;
(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, Jane, Ruthie Ann,
the &#8220;veteran Wagnerian&#8221; Karita (see &#8220;Tommasini,
Anthony&#8221;) - (a  f-a-k-e  recording of Schoenberg's -Gurrelieder-
for Sir Rattle/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 I suppose the clever and reptilian
Mr. Heiman knew all this then and still does.
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 issued
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 historic 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, and thus celebrated, Indian cabbie).


----------------------------





trim....ouch....their future....for that squeaky clean look and
sound....and potent-ial self-extinction).
----------------------------







----------------------------


http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/aidaroh94dvd.htm

Garden, Sir Edward Downes (conductor). Elijah Moshinsky (director) 






----------------------------
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



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
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http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
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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
international political crisis parasite 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 Crayola Opera Program graduate nor
RichieTucker-Albanese-Horne-Cardiff-Domingo groupie nor traveller
along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-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 voila.  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 those critics 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
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remotely good 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 cycle of commerce
and avarice --- 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? --- we do give credit, however, to Barenboim for
being practically the only one publicly fiddling on the roof of the
problem) to Nationalism to Requiems to Zionist Terrorism --- the
latter conducted with 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 and the blood of  y-o-u-r  sons and daughters. --&#8211; So why
won&#8217;t Israel and its business 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 Washington and us all  a-l-o-n-e  a-n-d  i-n
 p-e-a-c-e? &#8211;-- Talk about it, if you dare.]
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Meyerbeer, opera glasses, the megaphone, the horn, the microphone, the
photograph, the (exemplary) Mapleson cylinders, the phonograph, the
light bulb, animated pictures, the telegraph, penicillin, the
typewriter, carbon paper, the telephone, the clock, the metronome, the
radio, the television, faster trains, the automobile, the jet plane,
frying bacon, monaural sound, analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks,
the cassette, the LP, stereo sound, surround sound, faxes, overnight
mail, digital tech, the PC,  laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the walkman,
the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous (pitch-re-engineered) Richter
CD-ROMs, the (overrated) 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, Vilar titles, teleconferencing,
multitasking, microwaves, micromanaging, cloning, artificial
intelligence, Caruso, Ponselle, Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, 
et.al
. -
and of course, the same Kapitalismus that has transmitted the 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, &#8220;Monroe
Purr&#8221; Debbie (see &#8220;Porter, Andrew&#8221;) &#8211; (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, Jane, Ruthie Ann,
&#8220;Veteran Wagnerian&#8221; Karita (see &#8220;Tommasini,
Anthony&#8221;) - (a  f-a-k-e  recording of Schoenberg's -Gurrelieder-
for Sir Rattle/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 know the clever and reptilian Mr.
Heiman knew all this then and still does.
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 issued
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 historic 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, 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.
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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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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,
frying bacon, monaural sound, analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks,
the cassette, the LP, stereo sound, surround sound, faxes, overnight
mail, digital tech, the PC,  laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the walkman,
the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous (pitch-re-engineered) Richter
CD-ROMs, the (overrated) 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, Vilar titles, multitasking,
micromanaging, cloning, artificial intelligence, Callas, Caruso,
Ponselle, more Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, 
et.al
. - and of course, the
same Kapitalismus that has transmitted the 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, &#8220;Monroe Purr&#8221; Debbie (see
&#8220;Porter, Andrew&#8221;) &#8211;
(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, Jane, Ruthie Ann,
&#8220;Veteran Wagnerian&#8221; Karita (see &#8220;Tommasini,
Anthony&#8221;) - (a  f-a-k-e  recording of Schoenberg's -Gurrelieder-
for Sir Rattle/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
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respect, and vocal support.  Speaking of vocal support, perhaps the
clever and reptilian Mr. Heiman is not aware that *his own* Floria
Tosca (Madame Nelly
Miri-a-e-i-o-u --- "mas sabe el burro que tú") reportedly bombed in
the same role in Orange, France in the year 2000 AND 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 friends in the media. And it is not so widely known that Madame
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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 comment and ask: 
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* Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, rec 2/91, Toulouse, Plasson, Our Own
EMI
* Salome in Massenet's Herodiade, 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 Video
* 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 Video
* 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
Video
* Elena in Verdi's Vespri Siciliani, rec 12/89-1/90, La Scala, Muti,
Our Own EMI (also on video)
* 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
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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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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  b-u-t  her sofa scene was
comfortably moving") - 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, 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) nor French
(nor pretender) nor Greek (nor pretender) nor Cinema Paradiso Italian
(nor pretender) nor Spaniard/Latin
American bombshell (they are the flavour of the moment) --- nor, most
importantly, deemed sufficiently American --- nor panderer to all of
the above nor Met-centric nor Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway
belcher nor Saint Francis-can nor tall nor thin nor blonde 
nor Blonde Ambition nor grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor cherub 
nor hairy chested nor fashion rag nor glamour puss nor vanity fair 
nor faghag nor aspirant nor newbie 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 aspirate nor castrati 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
canary nor nightingale nor tic toc tic toc tic toc nor
transposer-conductor-intendant-movie
mogul-real estate magnate-sex symbol-jet setter-restaurateur (all in
one and one for all and all in a night) nor lazy nor shrinking violet
nor daddy's lil' girl nor minimalist nor hyperbole nor Überfeminist
nor Konzept nor metaphysics 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 champion of the avant-garde nor rarity rat nor
archaeologist
nor room temperature nor Anglican Service nor Vivaldi postcard nor
Handel MBA
nor Britten PhD nor Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor
parody
nor caricature nor smiley face nor humor monger (anyway, not the
shtick
you grew up with) nor camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark 
nor sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor sentiment-al
nor cripple nor victim nor tearjerker nor nostalgia trip nor tourist
trap
nor good-cause nor Katie Couric nor We Are The World nor UN Ambassador
nor International Monetary Fund nor fund-raiser (so to speak) nor
fruit salad
nor cotton candy nor peaches in double cream nor cafe au lait nor dark
chocolate
nor civil/human rights centerfold nor gulag survivor nor refugee 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 Crayola Opera Program graduate nor
RichieTucker-Albanese-Horne-Cardiff-Domingo groupie nor traveller
along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-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 voila.  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 those critics 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 &#8220;Dyer, Richard&#8221;).  Little wonder many ceased
listening --- and begin listening with others&#8217; ears they did. 
But leave it to the bloodless (and if you don&#8217;t have blood you
Don&#8217;t need a heart) - it is in fact their exclusive province -
to accomplish
such feats.
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dollar and the blood of  y-o-u-r  sons and daughters. --- So why
won&#8217;t Israel and its business 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 Washington and us all  a-l-o-n-e  a-n-d  i-n
p-e-a-c-e? --- Talk about it, if you dare.]
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correspond to their cheating with tears and Standing Os --- but
this is no surprise for it is nothing but another manifestation of our
perversely
desensitized, demoralized, frivolous, and diluted times --- f-u-c-k,
even Joseito Carreras became the object of one - and this in the
enlightened and improved 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 Pimps, the
Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the Postmoderns (Postmortems?), the
Multiculturalists, the Community Outreachers, the Soundbites, the
Marketing Love Couples/Traumpaars, the Divine, the Fabulous, 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/Fluff [and worse: the
fixation with that elusive something known as ---technique---
technique and organization 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 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 [and this during  t-h-e  p-e-a-k  of
the lady's powers] becuz they were everything from digital to illusion
to un-necessary to in-competent to im-personal to anonymous to
in-experienced
to un-felt to perfect to dull to null to this to that to that to this
&#8211; 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,
frying bacon, monaural sound, analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks,
the cassette, the LP, stereo sound, surround sound, faxes, overnight
mail, digital tech, the PC,  laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the walkman,
the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous (pitch-re-engineered) Richter
CD-ROMs, the (overrated) 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, Vilar titles, multitasking,
micromanaging, cloning, artificial intelligence, Callas, Caruso,
Ponselle, more Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, 
et.al
. - and of course, the
same Kapitalismus that has transmitted the 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, &#8216;Monroe Purr&#8217; Debbie (see
&#8220;Porter, Andrew&#8221;) - (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, Jane, Ruthie Ann,
&#8216;Veteran Wagnerian&#8217; Karita (see &#8220;Tommasini,





Incestuous
Union of the Twins Callas and Naxos, now all grown and matured into a
very very
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 D8onizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, rec 8/90, London SO,

Our Own EMI
* Salome in Massenet's Herodiade, 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 Video
* 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 Video
* 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
Video
* Elena in Verdi's Vespri Siciliani, rec 12/89-1/90, La Scala, Muti,
Our Own EMI (also on video)
* 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



--- 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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
efforts toward reconstruction, what is the increasingly brilliant,

nor fund-raiser (so to speak) 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
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 Crayola Opera Program
graduate nor
RichieTucker-Albanese-Horne-Cardiff-Domingo groupie nor traveler along
the Anglo Silk Road --- the
ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-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 voila.  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 those critics 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").  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) - 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 I mean anyone) as long as
their name is  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer.  God Willing.
[Do not be tricked by the hollow enthusiasms of the day --- ever seen
a sad clown?]
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, and 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
in conspiracy with Rudas, Mehta, Levine, Maazel, The Three or Four or
Five or Six or Seven Whores - we are losing count -, Best Friends &
Co. Inc. Ltd.) - by the likes 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 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, not 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 --- 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? --- we do give credit, however, to Barenboim for
being practically the only one publicly fiddling on the roof of the
problem) to Nationalism to Requiems to Zionist Terrorism --- the
latter conducted with 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 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?
---
Talk about it, if you dare.]
[And yet more Enchantment courtesy of the panacea/schadenfreude of
Cheryl Studer-free zones/ground zeroes.]
[About the new Mackerras/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, Sir Charles;
British Will 'o Wisp Bostridge; Bocelli collaborator Frittoli; 
and, to top it all, the New (Age) Callas - one LetItRain Hunt
Lieberson. But do not for a second believe the admen....for this 
product is yet more of the ho-hum variety.]
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
and "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 industrial quality, the white trash,


---, the Little Names, the Wannabes, the Crossover Hustlers, the
Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the Postmoderns (Postmortems?), the
Multiculturalists, the Community Outreachers, the Soundbites, the
Marketing Love Couples/Traumpaars, the Divine, the Fabulous, 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/Fluff [and worse: the
fixation with that elusive something known as ---technique---
technique and organization 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 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 [and
this during  t-h-e  p-e-a-k  of the lady's powers] becuz they were
everything from digital to illusion to un-necessary to in-competent to
im-personal to anonymous 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,
frying bacon, monaural sound, analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks,
the cassette, the LP, stereo sound, surround sound, faxes, overnight
mail, digital tech, the PC,  laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the walkman,
the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous (pitch-re-engineered) Richter
CD-ROMs, the (overrated) 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, Vilar titles, multitasking,
micromanaging, cloning, artificial intelligence, Callas, Caruso,
Ponselle, more Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, 
et.al
. - and of course, the
same Kapitalismus that has transmitted the 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 "Porter,
Andrew") - (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





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 friends in the media. 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 Naxos, now all grown and
matured into a
very very 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,

* Salomé in Massenet's Hérodiade, rec 11-12/94, Toulouse, Plasson, Our

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(The Rake's Progress ---
http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/rake96dvd.htm
)
than 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 the hero:



--- 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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&#8211; 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

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



----------------------------
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
"L-A  Ú-L-T-I-M-A..........que rie, rie mejor."



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

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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
American --- nor panderer to all of the above nor M-E-T-centric nor
Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway belcher nor Saint Francis-can nor
tall nor thin nor blonde nor Blonde Ambition nor grotesque nor
grotesquely zaftig nor cherub nor hairy chested nor fashion rag nor
glamour puss nor vanity fair nor faghag nor aspirant nor newbie 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
aspirate nor castrati 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 canary nor
nightingale nor tic toc tic toc tic toc nor
transposer-conductor-intendant-moviemogul-realestatemagnate-sexsymbol-jetsetter-restaurateur
(all in one and one for all and all in a night) nor lazy nor shrinking
violet nor daddy's lil' girl nor minimalist nor hyperbole nor
Überfeminist nor Konzept nor metaphysics nor philosopher
(&#8220;Philosophier&#8217; Er nicht, Herr Schatz...&#8221;) nor



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

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
of commerce and avarice and revenge and murder (too widely
misunderstood as justice) --- a tragedy now symbiotically hijacked to


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

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 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, rockets, robots, frying bacon,
monaural sound, analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks, the cassette,
the LP, stereo sound, surround sound, faxes, overnight mail, digital
tech, the PC, laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the walkman,
the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous (pitch-re-engineered) Richter
CD-ROMs, the (overrated) 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, Vilar titles, multitasking,
micromanaging, cloning, artificial intelligence, Callas fanatics,
Caruso, Ponselle, Callas, more Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, EMI Callas
re-re-re-re-re-releases, etc. - and of course, the same Kapitalismus
that has transmitted the 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 &#8211; or is
it enhanced? - to croon opposite Danny Boy The 9.11 Singin' NYPD Cop,
pathetically], Alessandra, "Monroe Purr" Debbie (see "Ross, Alex")
&#8211;
(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 Sir Simon/EMI -





Tosca (Madame Nelly Miri-a-e-i-o-u --- "más sabe el burro que tú")


----------------------------


"L-A  Ú-L-T-I-M-A..........que ríe, ríe mejor."


----------------------------



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----------------------------


command more respect and accolades and analysis from 'the chosen
people'
(The Rake's Progress --



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


glamour puss nor vanity fair nor faghag 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




[Do not be tricked by the hollow enthusiasms of the age --- ever seen
a sad clown?]





im-personal to anonymous to contrived to in-experienced to un-felt to



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


("Philosophier' Er nicht, Herr Schatz...") nor scholar (nor pretender)









Classical (and not)--- but then, in music that requires precisely


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") -



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


customary squally voice again last night and 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 way, tries and is
licensed to "sing" everything] could not sing Rezia's music  b-u-t 
the visceral intensity") - 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 (the
final vestige of their old 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) nor French (nor pretender) nor Greek (nor pretender) nor
Cinema Paradiso Italian (nor pretender) nor Eastern European (nor
pretender) nor Spaniard/Latin American bombshell (they are the flavour
of the moment) nor Asian nor Canadian nor Aussie nor Afghani --- nor,
most importantly, deemed sufficiently American --- nor panderer to all
of the above nor M-E-T-centric nor Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway
belcher nor Saint Francis-can nor tall nor thin nor blonde nor Blonde
Ambition nor grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor cherub nor hairy
chested nor fashion rag nor glamour puss nor vanity fair nor faghag
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 castrati 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
transposer-conductor-intendant-moviemogul-realestatemagnate-sexsymbol-jetsetter-restaurateur
(all in one and one for all and all in a night) nor lazy nor shrinking
violet nor daddy's lil' girl 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 champion of the avant-garde nor rarity
rat nor archaeologist nor room temperature nor Anglican Service nor
Vivaldi postcard nor Handel MBA nor Britten PhD nor Janacek Nobel
Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor caricature nor smiley face
nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick you grew up with) nor camp
nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor sensation-seeker nor
Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor victim
nor tearjerker nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor good-cause nor
Katie Couric nor We Are The World nor Over The Rainbow nor Rainbow
Coalition nor UN Ambassador nor fund-raiser (so to speak) 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 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 Crayola Opera Program graduate nor
RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Cardiff-Domingo groupie nor
traveler along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-n-such
sweatshop 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 those critics 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 hypocrites who, in addition to prematurely
and irresponsibly issuing death certificates (see "The American Opera
Singer" by Peter G. Davis), years later were caught with their pants
down jerking off to the sounds of "returns triumphantly!" (see "New
York Magazine" and look up "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&#8217;t have blood you will become
thirsty) - it is in fact their exclusive province - to accomplish such
feats.



latter conducted both musically and extra-curricularly, most
prominently with (critical mass-destruction) heavy-metal made in the




and fish n&#8217; 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 with "taking baby steps to protect
their voices" and who swear that that's why they will be still in
their prime in extreme old age; the divas next door who swear we will
want to hear them then; the optically and physically challenged, 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 embarrassment of
stunt-ed live programs 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
this is no surprise for it is nothing but another manifestation of our
perversely desensitized, demoralized, frivolous, and diluted times ---
f-u-c-k, even Joseito Carreras became the object of one - and this in
the enlightened and improved 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&#8217; Paste Composites --- poor pitiful facsimiles
a-l-l
---, the Little Names, the Wannabes, the Crossover Hustlers, the
Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the Postmoderns (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/Fluff [and worse: the
fixation with that elusive something known as ---technique---
technique and organization 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 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 &#8211; 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, digital tech, the PC, laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the
walkman, the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous (pitch-re-engineered)
Richter CD-ROMs, the (overrated) 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, Vilar titles, multitasking,
micromanaging, acoustically enhanced opera houses and concert halls,
cloning, artificial intelligence, Callas fanatics, Caruso, Ponselle,
Callas, more Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, more EMI Callas
re-re-re-re-re-releases, yet more Glenn Gould compilations, etc. - and



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


customary squally voice again last night and 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 way, tries and is
licensed to "sing" everything] could not sing Rezia's music  b-u-t 
the visceral impact") - 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 (the final
vestige of their old 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) nor French (nor pretender) nor Greek (nor pretender) nor
Cinema Paradiso Italian (nor pretender) nor Eastern European (nor
pretender) nor Spaniard/Latin American bombshell (they are the flavour
of the moment) nor Asian nor Canadian nor Aussie nor Afghani --- nor,
most importantly, deemed sufficiently American --- nor panderer to all
of the above nor M-E-T-centric nor Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway
belcher nor Saint Francis-can nor tall nor thin nor blonde nor Blonde
Ambition nor grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor cherub nor hairy
chested nor fashion rag nor glamour puss nor vanity fair nor faghag
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 castrati 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
transposer-conductor-intendant-moviemogul-realestatemagnate-sexsymbol-jetsetter-restaurateur
(all in one and one for all and all in a night) nor lazy nor shrinking
violet nor daddy's lil' girl 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 champion of the avant-garde nor rarity
rat nor archaeologist nor room temperature nor Anglican Service nor
Vivaldi postcard nor Handel MBA nor Britten PhD nor Janacek Nobel
Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor caricature nor smiley face
nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick you grew up with) nor camp
nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor sensation-seeker nor
Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor victim
nor tearjerker nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor good-cause nor
Katie Couric nor We Are The World nor Over The Rainbow nor Rainbow
Coalition nor UN Ambassador nor fund-raiser (so to speak) 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 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 Crayola Opera Program graduate nor
RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Cardiff-Domingo groupie nor
traveler along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-n-such
sweatshop 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 cowards 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 hypocrites who, in addition to prematurely
and irresponsibly issuing death certificates (see "The American Opera
Singer" by Peter G. Davis), years later were caught with their pants
down performing auto-erotica to the sounds of "returns triumphantly!"
(see "New York Magazine" and look up "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&#8217;t have blood one day you
will find yourself thirsty, guaranteed) - it is in fact their




latter conducted both musically and extra-curricularly, most
prominently with (critical mass-destruction) heavy-metal made in the




and fish n&#8217; 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 with "taking baby steps to protect
their voices" and who swear that that's why they will be still in
their prime in extreme old age; the divas next door who swear we will
want to hear them then; the optically and physically challenged, 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 embarrassment of
stunt-ed live programs 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
this is no surprise for it is nothing but another perversion of our
desensitized, demoralized, diseased, frivolous, and diluted days --- 
f-u-c-k, even Joseito Carreras became the object of one - and this in
the enlightened and improved 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&#8217; Paste Composites --- poor pitiful facsimiles
a-l-l
---, the Little Names, the Wannabes, the Crossover Hustlers, the
Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the Postmoderns (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/Fluff [and worse: the
fixation with that elusive something known as ---technique---
technique and organization 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 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 &#8211; 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, digital tech, the PC, laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the
walkman, the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous (pitch-re-engineered)
Richter CD-ROMs, the (overrated) 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, Vilar titles, multitasking,
micromanaging, acoustically enhanced opera houses and concert halls,
cloning, artificial intelligence, Callas fanatics, Caruso, Ponselle,
Callas, more Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, more EMI Callas
re-re-re-re-re-releases, yet more Glenn Gould compilations, etc. - and



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


of the moment) nor Asian nor Canadian nor Aussie --- nor, most



you don't need a heart and if you don't have blood one day you







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 with "taking baby steps to protect
their voices" and who swear that that's why they will be still in
their prime in extreme old age; the divas next door who swear we will
want to hear them then; the optically and physically challenged, 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
embarrassment of
stunt-ed live programs 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
this is no surprise for it is nothing but another perversion of our
desensitized, demoralized, diseased, frivolous, and diluted days --- 
f-u-c-k, even Joseito Carreras became the object of one - and this in
the enlightened and improved 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 (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/Fluff [and worse: the
fixation with that elusive something known as ---technique---
technique and organization 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 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



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


Coalition nor Summertime nor Supper Time (good tunes....if you can)
nor fund-raiser (so to speak) 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






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




the enlightened and improved and newly innocent and important again







----------------------------





----------------------------







----------------------------


http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/aidaroh94dvd.htm







----------------------------
M-U-S-I-C  OF THE FUTURE

MORE  M-U-S-I-C....REDIVIVUS 

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 / Elektra / Chrysothemis
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: 


rat nor archaeologist nor room temperature nor Sponsored By Talbots
nor Anglican Service nor Vivaldi postcard nor Handel MBA nor Britten
PhD nor Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor
caricature nor smiley face nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick
you grew up with) nor camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor
sensation-seeker nor
Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor victim
nor tearjerker nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor good-cause nor
Katie Couric nor We Are The World nor Over The Rainbow nor Rainbow
Coalition nor Summertime nor Supper Time (good tunes....if you can)
nor fund-raiser (so to speak) 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






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




the enlightened and improved and newly innocent and important again







----------------------------





----------------------------







----------------------------


http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/aidaroh94dvd.htm







----------------------------
M-U-S-I-C  OF THE FUTURE

MORE  M-U-S-I-C....REDIVIVUS 

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 / Elektra / Chrysothemis
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
----------------------------





--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


"Irish-American AFL-CIO Heroine F [who, by the by, tries and is

toc tic toc nor geriatric nor
transposer-conductor-intendant-moviemogul-realestatemagnate-sexsymbol-jetsetter-restaurateur
(all in one and one for all and all in a night) nor lazy nor shrinking
violet nor daddy's lil' girl 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 avant-garde nor rarity








contains the antipodean missionary of all things English, Sire



euphemisms, cloning, artificial intelligence, Callas fanatics, 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. &#8211; and of course, the same Kapitalismus that
has transmitted the 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 -






----------------------------





foreskin to recognize and capture genius in our midst and at the right
time (now that these dinosaurs' [delusional] populist causes, causes



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


pretender)  n-o-r  r-e-s-i-d-e-n-t  n-o-r  c-i-t-i-z-e-n  nor Greek
(nor pretender) nor black-and-blue (nor pretender) 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 American --- nor panderer
to all of the above nor M-E-T-centric nor Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor
Broadway belcher nor Saint Francis-can nor tall nor thin nor blonde
nor Blonde Ambition nor grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor cherub
nor hairy chested nor fashion rag nor glamour puss nor vanity fair nor
faghag 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 castrati 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
transposer-conductor-intendant-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' girl 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 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
PhD nor Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor
caricature nor smiley face nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick
you grew up with) nor camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor
sensation-seeker nor
Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor pleasure cruise nor cruise-control






in conspiracy 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.) &#8211; 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 --- Maria Approximation No. XXV
- we are losing 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




workers, the factory slaves, the custodians, the industrial quality,


overnight mail, the (unfortunate to 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 (overrated) 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, Vilar titles, multitasking,
micromanaging, acoustically enhanced opera houses and concert halls,
euphemisms, cloning, artificial intelligence, Callas fanatics, 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. &#8211; and of course, the same Kapitalismus that
has transmitted the Oh So Long Anticipated, the Oh So Extensive, the
Oh So Very Important --- and, at last!, the 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






----------------------------





foreskin to recognize and capture genius in our midst (now that these
dinosaurs' [delusional] populist causes, causes palatable to the
Anglocentric and their Axis Of Love, have caused them to



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


efforts toward reconstruction, toward opening new markets (undue
influence over Arts journalism &#8211; over who counts &#8211; over
what counts &#8211; being the final vestige of their former Imperial

Supper Time (nice tunes....if you can) nor fund-raiser (so to speak)



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 I mean anyone) as long as
their name is  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer.  God Willing.
[Do not be tricked by the hollow enthusiasms of the age --- ever seen
a sad clown?]
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, and 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

[And yet more Enchantment courtesy of the Panacea/Schadenfreude of
Cheryl Studer-free zones/ground zeroes.]



LD, the DVD, MP3s, Opera In English, CNN operas, Vilar titles,





of the "cognoscenti" and their spokespeople in the media. 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 very 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-



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


efforts toward reconstruction, toward opening new markets (undue
influence over Arts journalism &#8211; over who counts &#8211; over
what counts &#8211; 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 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 American --- nor panderer to all of the above nor
M-E-T-centric nor Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway belcher nor Saint
Francis-can nor tall nor thin nor blonde nor Blonde Ambition nor
grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor cherub nor hairy chested nor
fashion rag nor glamour puss nor vanity fair 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
transposer-conductor-intendant-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' girl 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 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
PhD nor Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor
caricature nor smiley face nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick
you grew up with) nor camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor
sensation-seeker nor
Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor pleasure cruise nor cruise-control
nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor victim nor tearjerker nor nostalgia
trip nor tourist trap nor good-cause nor Katie Couric nor We Are The
World nor Over The Rainbow nor Rainbow Coalition nor Summertime nor
Supper Time (nice tunes....if you can) nor fund-raiser (so to speak)
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 Crayola Opera Program graduate nor Cardiff-
Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Scotto groupie nor
traveler along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-n-such
sweatshop 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 cowards 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 hypocrites who, in addition to prematurely
and irresponsibly issuing death certificates (see "The American Opera
Singer" by Peter G. Davis), years later were caught with their pants
down performing auto-erotica to the sounds of "returns triumphantly!"
(see "New York Magazine" and look up "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 one day 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 I mean anyone) as long as
their name is  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer.  God Willing.
[Do not be tricked by the hollow enthusiasms of the age --- ever seen
a sad clown?]
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, and 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
conspiracy 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.) &#8211; 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 --- Maria Approximation No. XXV
- we are losing 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 (too widely misunderstood
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? --- Talk about it, if you dare.]
[And yet more Enchantment courtesy of the Panacea/Schadenfreude of
Cheryl Studer-free zones/ground zeroes.]
[About the new Mackerras/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


desensitized, demoralized, diseased, frivolous, diluted, and vulgar


overnight mail, the (unfortunate and devastating to the work 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 (overrated) 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





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 very 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-

----------------------------




q-u-a-l-i-t-y --- the work of a consummate artist.  Thank you.  Thank





--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


influence over Arts journalism - over who counts - over what counts -






losing count -, Best Friends & Co. Inc. Ltd.) - i.e., by the




--- but this is no surprise, for it is nothing but another perversion


(pitch-re-engineered) Richter CD-ROMs, the (overrated and tragically
influential, sound-engineering-tampering-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, multitasking, micromanaging, acoustically enhanced opera
houses and concert halls, euphemisms, cloning, artificial
intelligence, Callas fanatics, 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



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


influence over Arts journalism - over who counts - over what counts -



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 I mean anyone) as long as
their name is  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer.  God Willing.
[Do not be tricked by the hollow enthusiasms of the age --- ever seen
a sad clown?]
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, and 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
conspiracy 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.) - 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




Standing Os --- but this is no surprise, for it is nothing but another


(pitch-re-engineered) Richter CD-ROMs, the (overrated and tragically
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, multitasking, micromanaging, acoustically enhanced opera
houses and concert halls, euphemisms, cloning, artificial
intelligence, Callas fanatics, 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



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 


character-assassination (the rate of infection appears to be




We comment and ask: 


moving" - "Irish-American AFL-CIO Heroine F [who, by the by, tries,
and
is licensed, to "sing" "everything"] could not sing Rezia's music [she
replaced DeVoid, who had also cancelled all of engagements in Vienna,
and for the 2nd season in a row]  b-u-t  the visceral collision") -

StaatsoperUDL-Monnaie-ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-HoustonGO-FloridaGO-n-such
sweatshop 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 cowards 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 hypocrites who, in addition to prematurely
and irresponsibly issuing death certificates (see "The American Opera
Singer" by Peter G. Davis), years later were caught with their pants
down performing auto-erotica to the sounds of "returns triumphantly!"
(see "New York Magazine" and look up "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




Verdi's -Trovatore- for Sire Tony/EMI --- Grecian Approximation No.
XXV
- we have lost count - has not sung Leonora where it counts, on the




embarrassments of stunt-ed live programs &#8211; everything from
Regrets to Tosti &#8211; by, for instance, Juan Dieguito Flórez,
Domingo, Terfel and Heppner - no matter &#8211; 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
&#8211; and this in the enlightened and improved and newly innocent


(pitch-re-engineered) Richter CD-ROMs, the (disgracefully
influential, sound-engineering-bag-of-tricks-wise) Solti Ring, Naxos,



existing documentation, whether historic or not, hysterical or not,



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 




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


replaced DeVoid, who had also cancelled all engagements in Vienna, and

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
PhD nor Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor
caricature nor smiley face nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick
you grew up with) nor camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor
sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor pleasure cruise
nor 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 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 Crayola Opera Program graduate nor
Cardiff-Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Scotto
groupie nor traveler along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
BerlinStaatsoperUDL-Monnaie-ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-HoustonGO-FloridaGO-n-such
sweatshop 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 "The
American Opera Singer" by Peter G. Davis), years later were caught
with their pants down performing auto-erotica to the tune of "returns
triumphantly!" (see "New York Magazine" and look up "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 I mean anyone) as long as
their name is  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer.  God Willing.
[Do not be tricked 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
conspiracy 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. &#8211; Ozawa and Gergiev
are shareholders too) - i.e., by the Star System of Bocelli, of






Sony Glenn Gould re-re-re-re-re-compilations, etc. - and of




a colonized but loyal to the crown, and thus celebrated, Indian
cabbie).


----------------------------




remaining true to the artform and to  m-u-s-i-c.  Thank you for a



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 




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


replaced DeVoid, who had also cancelled all engagements in Vienna, and

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
PhD nor Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor
caricature nor smiley face nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick
you grew up with) nor camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor
sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor pleasure cruise
nor 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 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 Crayola Opera Program graduate nor
Cardiff-Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Scotto
groupie nor traveler along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
BerlinStaatsoperUDL-Monnaie-ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-HoustonGO-FloridaGO-n-such
sweatshop 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 "The
American Opera Singer" by Peter G. Davis), years later were caught
with their pants down performing auto-erotica to the tune of "Returns
Triumphantly!" (see "New York Magazine" and look up "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 I 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
conspiracy 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. &#8211; Ozawa and Gergiev
are shareholders too) - i.e., by the Star System of Bocelli, of


[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
admen....for this product is yet more of the ho-hum variety.]
[About the new DECCA &#8211;Fellatio Blues&#8211;, we are already
reading fluff
like "A New First Lady of Bel Canto - Renée Fleming very nearly
manages to shake the insistent ghost of Maria Callas." --- But we (not
enough of us) are neither deaf nor naive.  And the Greek, bruised
voice or not, never once stooped so low.  But, after all, the product
(taped 3 years ago) is being sold as something called "Bel Canto",
complete with rebate incentives and all.  You know, in the manner of
the stereo-typical toupéed and polyester-clad used-car salesman
&#8211; insincere, cajoling, slimy, slippery &#8211; and that&#8217;s
the singing &#8211; 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


Sony Glenn Gould re-re-re-re-re-compilations, etc. - and of
course, the same Kapitalismus that has transmitted the Oh So Long
Anticipated, the Oh So Extensive, the Oh So Very Important --- and, at
last!, the 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).


----------------------------




remaining true to the artform and to  m-u-s-i-c.  Thank you for a



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


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 --- nor MET-centric nor
Manhattan/Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway belcher nor Saint
Francis-can nor Chicagoan nor Texan nor New Mexican nor Washingtonian
nor panderer nor tall nor thin nor blonde nor Blonde Ambition nor
grotesque nor grotesquely zaftig nor cherub nor hairy chested nor
fashion rag nor glamour puss nor vanity fair 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
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' girl 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
PhD nor Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliche nor stunt nor parody nor
caricature nor smiley face nor humor monger (anyway, not the shtick
you grew up with) nor camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor
sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor pleasure cruise
nor cruise-control nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor victim nor
tearjerker nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor goody-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-Scotto
groupie nor traveler along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
BerlinStaatsoperUDL-LaMonnaie-ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-HoustonGO-FloridaGO-n-such
sweatshop 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 "The
American Opera Singer" by Peter G. Davis), years later were caught
with their pants down performing auto-erotica to the tune of "Returns
Triumphantly!" (see "New York Magazine" and look up "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 I 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
conspiracy 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


[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 First Lady of Bel Canto - Renée Fleming very
nearly manages to shake the insistent ghost of Maria Callas." --- But
we (not
enough of us) are neither deaf nor naive.  And the Greek, bruised
voice or not, never once stooped so low.  But, after all, the product
(taped 3 years ago) is being sold as something called "Bel Canto",
complete with rebate incentives and all.  You know, in the manner of
the stereo-typical toupéed and polyester-clad used-car salesman -
insincere, cajoling, slimy, slippery - 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
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
those - 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:

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,



now all grown and matured into a very 'Rare Opera' singer



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


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 blonde nor Blonde Ambition nor grotesque nor
grotesquely zaftig nor cherub nor hairy chested nor fashion rag nor
glamour puss nor vanity fair 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
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 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 PhD nor Janacek Nobel Prize nor cliché nor stunt nor parody
nor caricature nor smiley face nor humor monger (anyway, not the
shtick you grew up with) nor camp nor marketing-promo tramp nor
trademark nor sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor
pleasure cruise nor cruise-control nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor
victim nor tearjerker nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor
goody-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-Scotto
groupie nor traveler along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
BerlinStaatsoperUDL-LaMonnaie-ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-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 "The
American Opera Singer" by Peter G. Davis), years later were caught
with their pants down performing auto-erotica to the tune of "Returns
Triumphantly!" (see "New York Magazine" and look up "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 I 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
conspiracy 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


[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 First Lady 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.  And the Greek, bruised voice or not, never once
stooped this low.  But, after all, the product (souped up 3 years ago)
is being sold as something called "Bel Canto", complete with rebate
incentives.  You know, in the manner of the stereo-typical toupéed and
polyester-clad used-car salesman - insincere, cajoling, slimy,
slippery, sleazy - and that's just 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
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
those - 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:

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,



now all grown and matured into a very 'Rare Opera' singer



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


Britten PhD nor Janácek Nobel Prize nor cliché nor stunt nor










Beg Your Indulgences to Public Regrets to Tosti to Walkouts - by, for


titles, Vilar entitlements, multitasking, micromanaging, acoustically





crafty (and reptilian) Mr. Heiman is unaware that *his own* Floria



--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995

We ask: 





We comment and ask: 


was in customary squally voice again last night and her top sounded

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 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 PhD 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 image-maker nor trademark nor
sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor pleasure cruise
nor 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-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
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slippery, sleazy -- and that's just the singing -- a raw deal.]
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Anglocentric and their Axes (oh irony!) Of Love, have caused them to
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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
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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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

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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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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
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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and leave and us all  a-l-o-n-e  a-n-d  i-n  p-e-a-c-e?]
[Talk about it, 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 First Lady 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.  And the Greek, bruised voice and heart or not,
never once stooped this low, below the navel, in the style department.
 But, after all, the product (scooped up 3 years ago) is being sold
under the neon lights "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
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overnight mail, the (unfortunate and devastating to the testimonials
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http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/aidaroh94dvd.htm
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Thus spoke our hero:
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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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Britten MD nor Janácek Nobel Prize nor cliché nor stunt nor
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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(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.]
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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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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
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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
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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.
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 wrote in message
news:41132d9f.0209...@posting.google.com...
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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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can be heard loudly cheerleading anyone (and we mean anyone) as long
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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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can be heard loudly cheerleading anyone (and we mean anyone) as long
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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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and is licensed, to "sing" "everything"] could not sing Reiza's music
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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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equal part Charity/Chimpanzee Acts that are The Three Mo' Tenors,
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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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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
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Cardiff-Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-vonStade-Scotto
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[Imagine, if you dare.]
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[God Willing.]
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concert with the 'World Music Congress' - Rudas, Mehta, Levine,
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[Discuss, if you dare.]
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became the object of one of these demonstrations - and this in the
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enhanced opera houses and concert halls, euphemisms, virtual reality,
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----------------------------
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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)
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----------------------------
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http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/aidaroh94dvd.htm
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----------------------------
M-U-S-I-C  OF THE FUTURE

MORE  M-U-S-I-C....REDIVIVUS 
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AND YET MORE  M-U-S-I-C

Wagner Richard / fliegende Holländer, Der / Senta
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