radio dial

WCRB has posted last May's Saul from Boston's Handel & Haydn Society, with Iestyn Davies, Jonathan Best, Joelle Harvey, et al. We recognize that not everybody is a fan of this oratorio, but we think it shows Handel at the peak of his metal phase (C'mon! Witch of Endor! \m/).  Moreover, as with many Jennens librettos when combined with less than pristine choral diction, it's a great Mondegreen generator.


Meanwhile, WQXR has Ian Bostridge's Winterreise from Carnegie Hall, with luxury accompanist Thomas Adés, from last Sunday afternoon, to celebrate the cold, wet, raw, dreary end of our bright sunny days.

last night's fun

Tried to embed this but it's a pretty widget with no sound, so here's the link to last night's JDD/LB/LC bel canto concert at Carnegie Hall.

imps of counter-programming at work

You'd think, with the all wonders of communication technology we have to hand, and all the days available in the week, and what with the Sumerians obligingly inventing the calendar to avoid this kind of thing, that Carnegie Hall would manage not to schedule their JDD / Lawrence Brownlee / Laura Claycomb* concert at the exact same time as the La Donna del Lago HD encore, but here we are.

The aforementioned Carnegie Hall gig will be webcast here at 8pm ET on Wednesday. I'll be at the Millionplex. On the off chance they won't be archiving it, I trust you all know what to do :-)

PS: Many thanks to Lotus Eater for posting the headsup.

*replacing Nicole Cabell

be very afeard

Random thoughts on Alcina at Carnegie Hall, as scribbled on the fly in a notebook in the  wayback:

Di', cor mio -- OMG, as the young people say.

Ruggiero, dude, don't cut yourself on that dress. 

killer cello obbligato!

Tornami a vagheggiar -- effect on foetus in utero? Recheck 20 years.

Mi lusinga -- hearing Alice Coote sing this is like falling backwards into a goosefeather barcalounger.

Verdi prati -- strings go all mingey when the beauty vanishes. Ew.

Ombre pallide -- yeah yeah, guess how that was LOL

___________________

Overheard at Intermission:

"She's a villain, you know."

"And if we didn't know, the dress would tell us!"

___________________

more killer cello obbligato!!

The dress erodes as the power does

Rage! Look out how she handles that score!

"Bring your Gorgon shield!" Really this opera is all about accessorizing.

Sta nell'ircana -- Horns! and vehement page-turning!

Man these scores get a workout, hope they didn't rent them.

Barbara! -- Wakey!

                   let me introduce you to my fully-armed and operational cadenza.

If you want to know how spectacular this performance was, I really have nothing to add to Earworm's assessment.

WQXR, in all its awesomeness,

has posted up Theodora from Carnegie Hall



Feel free to encourage this kind of behavior.