Not Tosca, of course, cher public — La Cieca could never say that about her dear, dear Tosca. But it does seem both shabby and shocking that the combined forces of The New York Philharmonic and Charles Zachary Bornstein, the Philharmonic’s Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence would not at the very least ask for a retake of the following video clip embedded in the NYP’s site. Wait patiently through the early platitudinizing for the final thirty seconds or so of the clip, when soprano (?) Courtenay Schowalter bravely attempts to sight-read the spiky intervals of that rarely-heard vocal work “Vissi d’arte” whilst Maestro Bornstein fakes the accompaniment by ear. (What, the New York Philharmonic couldn’t afford a vocal score of Tosca? Or couldn’t they afford a Scholar-in-Residence who can read six flats?)

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