The amazing acute hearing of Anthony Tommasini detects an improvement in the acoustic of that place they used to call the New York State Theater, in fact, he’s willing to commit that the sound is “considerably better than it used to be.”

Which is pretty fucking impressive, considering that the last time TT heard an “unenhanced” opera performance in that space was more than 10 years ago. 

La Cieca wonders, just what was Tony’s golden yardstick for measuring purity of aural experience? Could it have been Madama Butterfly with Oksana Krovytska and Barton Green under the baton of Guido Johannes Rumstadt? (How long ago was that, you ask? It was the NYCO premiere of the Mark Lamos production of this opera, that how long ago it was.) Was it Le nozze di Figaro featuring a “strapping” Dean Ely? (“As an actor he was hearty, yet light on his feet…”) Or could it have been the “naked splendor” production of Orfeo ed Euridice?

Ten years is a long time, but apparently not for this Mary Tudor of reviewers, after whose death, La Cieca suspects, we will find “acoustical enhancement” written on his breast.