Von Kopf bis Fuss
La Cieca is delighted to begin a new series on parterre.com dedicated to the fretting, brooding and dithering of the Wazier of the Worriers, Anthony Tommasini. Our first examples (of many) follow the jump.
Rachel Willis-Sorensen, 25, a soprano from the Tri Cities area in Washington State, also earned a winner’s spot. While very gifted, she may have a period of self-examination ahead of her. With her gleaming voice, capped with big top notes, she was impressive in “Elsa’s Dream” from Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and “Come scoglio” from Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte.” Straddling the Wagner-Mozart vocal divide is not easy, and Ms. Crocetto may have decisions to make. [NYT]
So, here’s the thing. La Cieca thinks a critic is free to like what he hears or not like what he hears. A critic can say, “We’ve found our new Lohengrin!” or he can say “Someone needs to tell that girl she is not ready to sing Adalgisa.” He can even get a little weasely and hedge, “Well, yes, she obviously ran out of steam in the coda, but that can be chalked up to nerves, bronchitis and a nasty bout of that dysmenorrhea that’s been going around.”
But La Cieca insists that it’s presumptuous and schoolmarmish for a critic to tsk-tsk and sigh and murmur “festina lente.” You’re not their mother, Tony. Isn’t it bad enough when you act like their creepy uncle?
HH – I don’t know anything about the situation, but if Tim Mangan is being assailed by twits, I would guess that he can safely ignore them and that their twitdom will be readily apparent to others. Should someone have a legitimate disagreement with him, he could profit from reading their thoughts and reconsider his. This is true for all of us.
I happen to find Swed congenial, but I don’t read him on a daily basis. I hear fine things about Martin Bernheimer, but not living in southern California I seldom have occasion to read him. A reliable method for disabusing someone of the notion that JA can do no wrong is to encourage them to read his blog.
m. croche–Martin Bernheimer has retired from the LA Times and now covers the New York scene for the Financial Times & Opera magazine.
IL-The-Third, thanks for the pointer. The first article I hauled from the FT archive contained this sentence, “[MTT] had some trouble getting the Juilliard kids to play softly, but, more important, no trouble focusing cohesion, flexibility and virtuosity in depth.”
I’m not sure what that means, but I’m thinking I could supplement my income running motivational seminars urging participants to “Focus cohesion and flexibility – in depth!”
MB’s no doubt a smart guy and has perceptive things to say, but this review (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/591f82ce-c4b4-11de-8d54-00144feab49a.html) rather strengthens my convictions expressed above.
A quick TT note, possibly his least cryptic homoerotic comment yet, “Simon Keenlyside, the Ralph Fiennes of baritones, was the acclaimed Hamlet when this production was introduced, and he dominated the evening here… Handsome, haunted and prone to fidgety spasms that convey Hamlet’s seething anger and paralyzing indecision, Mr. Keenlyside embodied the character in every moment, and you could not take your eyes off him.”
Other Fiordiligis/Elsas:
Florence Easton, Lucine Amara, Heather Harper, Arlene Saunders, Teresa Zylis-Gara, Johanna Meier, Helena Doese, Anne Evans, Emily Magee, Elza van den Heever…
Is Tony kidding?????