Just a few observations–

Screw the Brit hate. The MET roster should be billed as “Moscow on the Hudson”.

Next season will have more people playing out of position than the New York Mets.

Milk that cash cow, Peter Gelb! Seventeen–count ‘em–seventeen (17) performances of “La Boheme”, thirteen of “Carmen” and fifteen of “Rigoletto”, while “Nixon in China”, which has inexcusably taken forever to come to the MET, gets six.

The subscription series suck because half of each is saddled with either crowd pleasers or performances with impossible casting. The last time it was this bad was during Joe Volpe’s last season and I wound up not renewing. When the MET sees a big drop in renewals, I’m sure they’ll blame it all on the economy, but we know better.

Feh!

You can list with Amazon.com your Salzburg deluxe DVD edition of La Traviata while the price is is still hot. Mine will never be for sale.

Whichever snide little xenophobe is behind the ‘Vicar’ login obviously doesn’t hate Canadians with the same venom he or she reserves for British people.

Couldn’t find any details on the Levine CD & DVD releases. Was any of this announced? Any new stuff?

Amazon didn’t completely clear up the issue for my addled brain, so I turn to you for expert appraisal. Just pretend you’re hosting Antiques Roadshow:

I have in front of me a two-disc DG DVD of the Saltzburg Traviata with “Premium Edition” at the very top of the front cover. Disc 2 includes a 44-minute documentary about the rehearsal. Is this the insanely sought-after set that the muchtoorich are paying big $$$ for?

I bought it when it first came out for 30 bucks, watched it once, was unimpressed (don’t hit! don’t hit!) and had consigned it to a pile that I planned to donate to the local library.

But Sweet Son of a Carpenter, je me fous de la bibliothèque if I can win some cash and go shopping once again. I drool (don’t look!) over a dozen DVD reissues of much-loved productions that are currently dying (like Violetta, with tussive sighs) on my exhausted VHS tapes.

Efkaristo para poly!

I’m very sorry to know her Toscas in Cardiff didn’t go so well. She has indeed a big instrument, sometimes not very subtle nor much flexible, by these days. However, she has artistry to spare, in my opinion. At her best, she is someone to watch. Wish her a wonderful debut.

permille, whatever you’re having, make mine a double.

The Eurotrash you’re referring to has become a classic, albeit not to everybody’s taste. The original DVD with 2 discs was sold out fast. Amazon.com lists one original copy-new- for $1,050.00, and a used one for $950.00! The commoners and plebeians and not the blue-blooded patricians keep opera going and make the superstars. The purists, trained professionals, and critics can listen to LPs of the golden era of opera and watch grainy VHS of traditional productions. For me the 2005 Salzburg production- after having seen many Traviatas live and on VHSs and DVDs, showed me the emotion, the passion, and the raw human condition like no other. And the response of the public was enormous. This was one-time event with a unique although not perfect Violetta-Netrebko. Can another singer do the same? I doubt it. Not even Netrebko can, and that’s why, wisely, she withdrew from the production.

And this girl has high Cs to spare! So why Voigt?

blended registers, nice legato, great German. Fine, fine Brunnhilde!