…C.C. caught the penultimate performance of Philip Glass’s pacificst epic “Satyagraha.” [Full review to come...] Umm, so, aside from the gentleman two seats away from me who puked in the aisle right before the curtain for Act II went up, and the couple next to me who wouldn’t stop whispering through the quietest moments of [...]
“La Fille”: In Brief, HD
On Sunday Saturday afternoon, we checked out the HD simulcast of The Met’s“La Fille du Regiment” at the Walter Reade Theater. And much to our dismay, we caught a glimpse of high-C-flaunting Juan Diego Florez coming out of the Juilliard School’s Meredith Wilson Residence Hall with fiance wife Julia Trappe in tow at around, oh, [...]
On A Musical Note
I thought I’d send y’all out into the weekend with a thought about the debate that’s been simmering on these two posts. Some of the comments concern this idea that atonality is unnatural, and therefore, illegitimate in some way. Bernard Holland’s recent comment that serialism is “made up” represent this notion that there is something [...]
Critics Award of the Day: A.M. on James Kudelka
So, Alastair Macaulay makes the case for adding James Kudelka’s “The Ruins Proclaim the Building Was Beautiful” to C.C.’s Know When To Say When list; and then some. He writes: “The Ruins Proclaim the Building Was Beautiful” (to music by César Franck soupily arranged for orchestra by Rodney Sharman) lasts no more than 30 minutes, [...]
Baby One More Time
It’s a classical music day! So, e’rbody knows about Juan Diego Florez’s 18 high C’s at The Met last night. C.C.’s gonna check out the simulcast on Saturday. Interrupting a piece of theater so a performer can take a bow–or in this case, re-sing the entire aria–is like one of those divisive election-year issues that [...]
Bernard Holland Is A Serial Killer
Ok, sue me for being sensational. It’s only a pun. But it gets to the point. Bernard Holland has set his will against serial music, and atonality in general. Oh, and rational discourse. Y’all already know about B. Ho’s last piece, to which we responded with due ridicule. And then, just the other day, he [...]
DUmb Critic Hack Award: THIS TIME, IT’S PERSONAL
Well, well, well. We’re back and we’re bad, and we’ve resuscitated the DUCHIES (pronounced, DOUCHE-ees) because Jenny D.’s recent review of a mixed bill at BRIC Studios in Brooklyn has us fired up. The interesting thing is that C.C. was personally involved and invested in one of the pieces she took down. Now, before we [...]
Strike A Pose
It’s going to be a dance day. (Left: Ekaterine Kondaurova of The Kirov, photo by Andrea Mohin/NYT; Right: Teresa Reichlen of the NYCB, photo by Paul Kolnik/NYT) I thought it would be fun to show these images side by side. On the left is Ekaterina Kondaurova performing “Rubies” from Balanchine’s “Jewels” with the Kirov Ballet, [...]
Opera (in the) News
Turns out the Met’s recent announcement to change their Wagner Ring subscription policies has ruffled the feathers of Ringtards to the point where they’ve petitioned the Gray Lady to hear their case. Particularly choice is the third letter, where a long-time Met customer, in almost the same breath, admits to spending $2,000 a year on [...]
LAST WORD REVIEW: Candide @ New York City Opera
LAST WORD REVIEW: Candide @ New York City Opera Sunday afternoon, The New York City Opera unofficially bid farewell to its landmark Harold Prince production of the invaluable Leonard Bernstein operetta, Candide. It took Mr. Prince’s production, begun at the Chelsea Theater in 1973 and later brought to the New York City Opera by Beverly [...]
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