I looked for squirrels amidst the trees but saw none.

much better than that godawful kafka fragments, I say.

Now onto the ‘guck’ that has deposited on what is usually the label areas of CDs packed in those opera ‘de luxe’ multi disc plastic case boxes from corroding sponge foam packing inserts. Gently remove all the rubbish you can -without using hard objects or solvents. Remember the label side of a CD is nowhere near as durable, thick or tough’ as the playing side. That was part of the original Philips invention plan for the ‘CD Red Book Specifications’ for the CD as a ‘playing Medium’. As a backup before trying anything further, perhaps making a CD-R copy of the disc is in order as insurance ….as this could not be construed as ‘piracy’. Did you not also pay ‘a user’s copyright fee’ for the personal ( emphasise PERSONAL) use of the material when you purchased it. Yes, you certainly did!
Now the only possible ‘safe trial;’ where increased ‘damage’ to the disc will not take place, I know – is having a spare CD tray to lay down the CD at any time.. Then have a bowl of clean cold water, and use a few drops of liquid dishwashing detergent in the water. .Bathe and gently rub the disc with balls of the best quality cotton wool as ‘the rag’ , Then run the CD under cold water thoroughly, till it is rid of all trace of residual detergent. The Clue of cleanless: Bubbles of water settling all over the surface. Now dab the CD gently now with more clean dry cotton wool. Water drying patterns…. and dags of cotton wool tending to ‘stick’ to the surface….. That’s normal and natural – no panic. Then with more dry cotton wool and with your own breath – keep breathing on – and making a ‘fog’ on the CD surface whilst gently polishing away these water mark patterns that will have naturally formed. The cotton wool ‘dags’ release off the CD surface as well. It should be now a ‘done job’ and hopefully improved – if not- solved your problem. Then if so, (‘to just cover any possible legal issues) I should remark that then “you can then destroy the ‘for -personal insurance purpose only’ copy CD-R you made”!…. Happy cleaning attempts.

I think at some point even downloading will be obsolete and everything will exist in cloud computing. Instant access to all things at all time. Until, of course, the giant computer breaks down and all is lost.

Until Michael York and Jenny Agutter escape and find Peter Ustinov guarding an old library filled with opera recordings.

(Trust me, it works. I’m 22, knew next to nothing about opera—although was a big fan of piano literature. But opera’s a whole different sport, and I learned a hell of a lot from blogs and YouTube, so that when I got to a live performance, I nearly shat myself with joy.).

Kennedy Center honoree Grace Bumbry, bringing you the future…yesterday:

My other packaging peeve is the way the little center sprockets break off, leaving the disk to bang around in the case.

Bartoli should take a leaf out of darling Marlena Dietrich’s book. At a hotel press conference once, where she was staying, whilst still performing…in the middle of this meeting, the hotel tried its own promotion. In, came some dame from the Hotel, with a new ice cream creation (shaped like an apple). She announced to all present :- made in honor of and for Marlena : as ‘Apple Marlena’. She then proceeded to go on with a spiel that ‘we know how Eve tempted Adam with an apple’. Ms Dietrich rather displeased- then grabbed it out of the woman’s hands and unceremoniously dumped it on the floor! The Press Conference then continued with the no-nonsense Marlena.

I have closely followed the recording indudstry and its processes for nearly 5 decades. I was given the gift of my first opening gramophone at age six, so passionate that I was. The degrading or the ‘bronzing’ as it was termed of a very small number of CDs released at one period was caused by some out sourcing by major companies to small plants. (To some, here – do not confuse this problem ‘if you have some of those genuine ‘gold’ colored CD discs in your collection from some companies) In just one known classic instance the ‘bronzing from the silver’ problem was traced back to a company working not to laid down specification-instead of following through the normal CD processes – short cut and applied a similar looking, but entirely different coating to the label area surface. It degraded by oxidation, and ‘fractured’ allowing the laser beam to see ‘nothing’. Then there were also cases of air bubbles, traced in the finished product. It affected the released product of a few companies who had sub-let some of their work.. If a CD is thought faulty, hold the playing side up over the top of a light in a darkened room. If you see ‘starlight twinkles’ coming through the label side…possible trouble the CD player’s error mechanism cannot cope.

Since we are all into opera here, a word of special warning worth taking heed of;
Over the years the record companies took great trouble to present ‘de-luxe’ looking presentations. You can open the plastic multi disc CD boxes holding the actual CDs and find ‘cushions of sponge poly foam’ as well to protect them, packed.
GET THIS “SHIT” OUT OF THE BOXES NOW -if you want them to keep for many more years. It denatures over time. (A changing of its original color is a sure sign – usually from silvery white all the way to a sticky chocolate brown). It shrinks, goes ‘sticky to the touch’ in some cases and if left, can ADHERE to the CDs -everything from leaving a slight ‘print’ to ripping and damaging the label . If you have that ‘hand print type mark’ situation left on the label, leave well enough alone. I know of no safe CD solvent to remove it ….short of ruining the CD.

As for also worrying about the clutter of DVDs from collecting one day. already there are at least two new patented copyrights for very advanced forms of Blu-Ray type discs. One has the potential of at least 6 times the storage capacity of an existing (50mb) Blu Ray – that of a figure of 300mb.

As for scratching, just look at how ‘some clowns’ handle CDs and then ‘bang’ them into players??
I may have at least 7000 but I know of not one, that has a mark or scratch. And it would show up…I examine every one even for a speck of dust , before it enters a player? Broken ‘center sprockets’ holding a CD in its case, if found,; the CDs are immediately given a new case.

Welcome to Virtual Opera Theater, your digital opera source. You dream it, we deliver it.

[Disclaimer: the virtual version will be recreated using sampling technology. Our sampling technology is the most sophisticated yet offered commercially, including aural ambience of selected theatres. Where artists have multiple performances in our data base, the sampling with be more comprehensive. Your final price will reflect processing time and depends on the complexity of your request.]

Please enter the name of the opera:

[Once the name of the opera is entered, a list of the roles appears]

Please enter the name of the singer you wish in the Role Window and press select.

[After the singers are selected, another window appears:]

Please enter a conductor:

Once you have chosen your conductor you can select either Opera House or Orchestra.

[If you select by Opera House, you get their chorus. If you select an orchestra you must also select a chorus.]

The audio-only component ends here.

If you wish a DVD, please select continue.

Please select a stage director.

Once the Director is selected, you may opt for the director’s choice of sets and costumes, or select your own designers.

If you wish to select your own set and costume designers, press continue.

[In February this tree will go deeper, extending to make up and wigs]

When you have specified your virtual opera, press the CREATE button.

Please wait. Do not navigate away from this window while the processing is completed.

Your virtual opera is complete. Select CONTINUE for delivery options.

You can expect ageing pop stars and TV actors to turn up in the newspapers on occasion, pushing for an extension to performance protection.

Recital discs featuring full orchestral accompaniment will probably remain cost-prohibitive for a recording of just a handful of arias. If artists or labels go to the trouble and expense of engaging an orchestra, they will probably want to make the most of the event by recording as many arias as possible in the time allotted. But I imagine that singers who record with just a pianist, a quartet, or a chamber orchestra will be able to get their recordings into (onto?) the online stores. For them, it might make sense to keep up public interest by releasing one aria or three at a time. Such a release schedule could also make recording worthwhile between flights as they jet from country to country for in-person performances.

Digital downloads will enable listeners to create more flexible music collections, as it is becoming the case already. People will be able to buy just the tracks they like, enabling them to assemble operas featuring their favorite singers singing their favorite versions of the works. Like “Sempre Libera” from the Callas Lisbon Traviata but the “Ah, non più” from the 1955 Live La Scala recording? iTunes (or its equivalent) will be able to blend them together into one seamless listening experience.

Not only do I think that labels will offer this ability someday, I think they will HAVE to offer this or something like it to stay competitive. Software they don’t control already allows listeners to mix multiple songs into one track. To collect some of the money out there now going to others (or to no one), they will have to offer valued-added features. Like the old pirates and rumored tapes of notorious productions that have come out into the open for profit, labels will ultimately have to learn to get along to keep the interest of opera fans willing to pay. Eventually, consumers will be able to combine performances from artists who had recorded exclusively for different labels, creating their own individual dream casts. Before that day arrives, the ability to have a singer duet with herself in different roles from the same opera will become a reality.

I know of at least 2 singers who got the funding for their recordings, hired the orchestras and made it happen: Ana maria Martinez Naxos aria recital and Robin Follman’s verismo recording. Now, while these are rare, I believe that in the future we might have these kind of sponsored recordings. (Coca Cola presents Elisabeth Alagna)

I think also that the recording industry has something to learn from the DVD industry. Live recordings of specific casts, released digitally on the Opera house’s label. I believe that just as the Met was leading the way with the HD-casts, their association with Real Player and their distribution of old broadcasts on their service will keep some of the audio recordings going.

I believe that in the future, an successful opera company will hire a great cast and record the performances, then distribute them digitally on their website, iTunes and other outlets at reduced prices. Information on operas and librettos is readily available on the web, so there will be a day when booklets will disappear all together because other people have already done the research and published on the web.

I believe that the DVD will see the same over saturation that the CD saw. There will be a time when people will think: Do I really need anothet DVD of Rosenkavalier when I have Fleming, Stemme, Schwartzkopf, and God knows who else already in my lybrary taking up precious space?

Even the DVD will see the end of the road and as memory gets cheaper and smaller, companies will find a way to not release stuff in costly DVDs when they can be hosted in servers for people to download into their 20T memory cards.

THEN ONE DAY……your computer hard drive collapses…

While there is always the danger of that, CDs were never the solution that came down from heaven. Yes, they are stable, but they are prone to scratches and malfunctions just like any hardware. Does anyone remember a couple of years ago how Nuova era CD were malfunctioning left and right due to bronzing? Also, I am sure I am not the only one who bought a copy of The Art of Beverly Sills Vol. 1 who saw with horror how the paint in the printing on top of the CD peeled off pretty much rendering the CD (now impossibly out of print) unplayable. hgard drives are more and more stable and companies are looking for ways to ensure that information is kept safe, even digitally. Lastly, as problems arise, consumers will challenge company policies and the successful ones (or the ones who have a clear understanding of customer service) will find ways to ensure that a customer does not loose digital information that they bought from them due to a hardware malfunction.

Your concerns are very realistic, Jay. If you could only imagine the amount of divos and divas at College convinced they’re the next (insert celebrated singer name here) and while most of them do have promising and easy instruments, they’re not very intelligent which basically makes things like a 20 years old baritone launch into “Per me giunto” and “Di provenza” when he should be basically singing Handel and Mozart. Result? He’s 20 and sounds like 60 years old man. This is the common reality in music colleges, unfortunately.

A couple of months ago, I was singing for Caballé on her masterclasses in Spain and everyone there was under 33, but many of them, and an alarming degree of “many” already manifested signs of aging on the voice: wobble, lack of ringing, wild register breaks…

But I don’t loose hope either on my potential or in the opera system. While I’ll probably never make it to La Scala or to the Met (unless they need someone to hand the singers water bottles ) I know that time will do its work (I’m only 25) and that if I keep working and being careful I can in a few years enjoy a nice career! Caballé seemed to think the same. About the opera system, I think it will reach a point on which the opera houses will no longer have young singers anxious for stardom burning themselves before the time comes because, hopefully, people will become smarter. Maybe by that time, all those singers we keep talking of today and who don’t get the recognition they deserve, will be around to fill the gap while a younger generation learns from the mistakes of the past.

There may still be demand two decades hence for the next great Aida (if we can ever find her) or Tristan (wherever he may be). But I look at opera audiences and mostly see the Medicare generation and a few gay boys, but not enough of an audience in between. So I hope today’s young music students are realistic enough to have double majors.

With the decreasing attention span and desire for instant gratification amongst youth, in 20 years classical music companies may be tweeting entire operas.

Sad news today: The Washington Blade and several other gay newspapers shut down, quite unexpectedly.

http://www.dallasvoice.com/instant-tea/2009/11/16/a-sad-day-for-lgbt-media-washington-blade-southern-voice-reportedly-shuttered/

No doubt, with not one…. but two skewered spare olives. We can’t have a ‘rigged’ cocktail, can we? Should suit the camp presentation: depicting and complimenting the equally campy style of the performer.

Love the ‘Back to the Future’ photo with Bartolo. Brings back memories of tht old TV show ‘The Time Tunnel’ where creatures and things of the past escaped from the portal into the control laboratory. Shit! The escapee just got hold of Bartoli and is going to give her her just punishment: for all that pretentious Baroque twaddle she has been promoting, of late. She deserves a good wacking.
“Scream Cecilia – as you always do, it won’t do you no good, now!”