Who criticizes the critics?
See, La Cieca thinks Brian Kellow is asking for trouble when, in the second paragraph of his analysis of last March’s Slatkinshchina, he admits, “I did not attend the March 29 opening-night performance of La Traviata, nor did I listen to it on Sirius Radio.”
Because, you see, it’s hard to convincingly criticize the criticism (as Kellow does in the “current” Opera News, but don’t bother to check because it’s not online) without having heard the thing criticized.
BK goes on to rip Anthony Tommasini‘s coverage of Leonard Slatkin‘s ill-fated foray into Verdi, even going so far as to say that Tommasini’s review “[wound] up causing the withdrawal of a respected conductor.”
But as always it seems La Cieca’s on the wrong side of the argument, because she thought that the Slatkin review showed a welcome hint of snarky spine in Tommasini, who, for all his moistness over barihunks, is after all a well-trained and intelligent musician.
For once (or for rarely anyway) AT worked up a bit of righteous anger over what he saw as a massive artistic blunder. He didn’t explain it away by saying Slatkin had an off day, or maybe his old war wound was bothering him, or, you know, Traviata is such a rare and difficult gem that he deserves kudos for even making the attempt. No, Tommasini yelled “tripe” when tripe was served, to paraphrase one of those early sixties sitcoms La Cieca is talking about so much today.
Kellow does make one solid point, which is that Tommasini might have made “a point-for-point case for how [Slatkin] failed at various points in the evening,” that is,offering specific examples from the score of what went haywire and how. To attempt such an analysis in a daily paper would be folly, of course, even in the capacious pages of the Times. But blog space is cheap, and the NYT even has the advantage of multimedia capabilities. They could have done a score animation, for example, demonstrating the same passage as led (differently but with equal validitiy) by a couple of recognized experts, as contrasted with the Slatkin stumbling.
Or, then again. As fond as La Cieca is of examples (ask any of her writers what her edits invariably ask for more of), there does come a point when, if only for reasons of convenience, the general reader wants to let the critic do the heavy lifting and then deliver a few carefully-chiseled adjectives to sum up: “is this worth my $200 or should I stay home and catch up on my Real Housewives?”
Damn, what an ass Doctor Manhattan has/had.
Not to mention a giant blue uncut schwanz, at least in the movie. As I said elsewhere after seeing the movie, I can only imagine that production meeting. “How big should his dick be? And are we thinking cut or uncut?”
I’m glad I’m not the only one who found that editorial strangely petty and knife-grindy. Poor TT can’t catch a break. If he goes too easy, Parterre readers try to shiv him, if he goes too hard Opera News (Opera News! A publication of course known for its hardcore investigative journalism) accuses him of being a big fat meanie.
And he can’t even make a comment about the lusciousness of the baritone, or his supple, rich tone and manly, statuesque carriage.
Brian Kellow would do well to fix his attention on his own magazine, Opera News. The article that appeared there recently on the Saxon State Opera Dresden was intent on pushing the PR agenda of the current dysfunctional management and was based on no objective reality.
As Eleanor once said of her cousin Alice Roosevelt, “She’s not a nice
person.” I would apply that, exactly, to Brian Kellow. I didn’t realize
he was still with Opera News. I guess it does not much matter!
Margaret Juntwait is back tonight and she’s in very good voice.
a point by point analysis of every place (or even half of them) in traviata where there was a train wreck that night would have put TT so far over his word limit. I can’t even count the number of times I had an conniption in my seat that night. Slatkin ruined what really could have been a wonderful evening at the opera, and for that he fully deserved what he got. If AT’s review helped him get the boot then i’m glad, because he certainly saved thousands of others (paying hundreds of dollars) from having to experience an astonishingly horrid musical experience.
I kind of agreed with Kellow; not having heard the performance, I’d also have appreciated some more detail (not necessarily from either Tommasini or Kellow), so I turned to ON’s review section; but I guess we’ll have to wait till next issue for their own review.
I am sorry but I found Kellow spot on. I was there that evening and I have a very different take on what transpired. In my career, having sung the opera early on as Germont and then Alfredo, what Signora Gheorghiu did that evening was nothing short of an assassination attempt on Maestro Slatkin. Entering 3 beats early on entrances, standing in other artists sight lines to block the view of the conductor (which is why Hampson got lost and had to stop), purposely jumping tempi,using ritardandi that were completely unmusical and had nothing to do with Verdi style. This was an artist that knew the score backward and forward making an ass out of someone who was not nearly as familiar.
Ultimately, it was Slatkin’s fault for being unprepared when he showed up for rehearsals however the review should have been about the performance not about what parterre box had reported for a week before the Opera went up. His job was not to report innuendo and gossip, it was to review a performance. Innuendo, gossip, and vitriol is a byproduct of blogs. It doesn’t have t be true or correct, we understand that. Some of what is said here most people weed through and take certain things at face value and some with a grain of salt. The NY TIMES reviews should be a fair reporting of what went on in the performance and what AT reported was not what went on during the performance but what supposedly happened beforehand.
For me personally, I enjoy Parterre Box and Opera Chic immensely. I enjoy the tidbits and innuendo and the blind items. However AT seems to be swayed by the fact that James Jordan has become a formidable force in the Opera World and now in the international world of reviews. For example.. “a problem aggravated by the tentative, clumsy conducting of Leonard Slatkin. He also derailed both experienced baritone Thomas Hampson (Germont) and debuting tenor James Valenti as Violetta’s lover, Alfredo.” The review in the NY Post by JJ is an actual review not a piece filled with gossip and inane rationale. If TT wants to start a blog let him, but otherwise let him stick to reviewing not analyzing and reporting on speculation.
By the way, as someone who also sings, the fault for losing one’s place in the score in this case should probably be shared equally by conductor and baritone. This isn’t some contemporary opera that changes time signatures every measure; this is Verdi.
Hampson did not get lost in the score. Gheorghiu jumped her entrance and then stood directly in front of Hampson and he could not see Slatkin. The Pit and Stage were completely off and Hampson stopped to listen so he could get back in sync. There are many things Hampson could be faulted for, but this is not one of them.
Is it possible that Gheorghiu was confused by Slatkin’s poor conducting, causing her to stop in an unusual place, thus blocking Hampson’s view of the conductor? Conductors do manage traffic, in a sense.
AG is always pulling stunts like this–changing tempos and making colleagues and conductors look like asses. She started her romanza in “Simon Boccanegra” at a significantly faster tempo than Fabio Luisi had set, as if to air in public her private grievances with the conductor. Tacky.
“Slatkinshchina”. Brilliant!
“Because, you see, it’s hard to convincingly criticize the criticism (as Kellow does in the “current” Opera News, but don’t bother to check because it’s not online) without having heard the thing criticized.”
But, Cieca, that never stopped Edward Rothstein when he was the Times reviewer, did it?
that also never stops anybody on Fox News when they report on, well, anything.
Fauxpera News?