Our Own Betsy Ann Bobolink and your doyenne La Cieca (left to right) are delighted to announce that your songbird of the chatroom has returned from Capistrano or wherever it is she winters to bring us our first selection of subjects for the long, sultry summer season.  

11:00-2:00 LRT KLASIKA: First, for Liana there’s UN BALLO IN MASCHERA from the Lithuanian National Opera, which is almost Poland, if you don’t look too close.  3 F.K. because not even in Lithuania can they find enough singers to do this one properly.

11:40-1:00 RADIO CLASICA DE ESPANAL: Straussmonster gets Beethoven’s Ninth with Riccardo Chailly .  It was supposed to be a Fifth, but the collapse of the bond market has made me economize.  1 F.K. because nobody can ever pay attention long enough to find fault.

12:25-2:00 YLE KLASSINEN: Busoni’s ARLECCHINO has Henry Holland’s name all over it, because it is both esoteric and worthy of more notice.  This is a classic performance from Glyndebourne, but even so, 2 F.K.

1:00-4:00 WFMT AMERICAN OPERA Network: LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN  — is just for our dear Louanniaettaia, who can tell you more about Matthew than anybody needs to know.  3 F.K., particularly for the end of the Antonia scene which still has the critics baffled.

1:00-4:00 BBC: THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFER .  Okay, Op/Neo, “this” one is for “you,” since it has “enough” political implications “in” it to populate “several”  soap”boxes.”  3 F.K.

1:00-4:15 DEUTSCHLANDRADIO KULTUR: TANNHAUSER from Berlin – This could be pretty good, but I doubt it.  It’s got Nerva Nelli’s name on it.  3 F.K.

1:00-5:00 FRANCE MUSIQUE: And for MrMyster, we have NIXON IN CHINA from Paris –  4 F.K., since it has both Sumi Jo and June Anderson, but no Steber.

1:00-6:00 HR2 KULTUR: Let’s brighten up the day for Faninal with LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN from Darmstadt,  There should be more to bitch about here than in a month’s worth of Gruberova recitals.  4 F.K.

1:00-4:00 KBYU, WCNY, WHRO, WQED, WQXR: I can’t think of a better gift for basso profundo than the Met National Council Auditions Finals – surely among all those desparate, ambitious sopranos, there’s going to be one willing to serve as a repository for his manly fluids.

1:00-4:30 LATVIA RADIO KLASIKA: HERCULES from Chicago, (2 F.K.) goes to Ian from Down Under, who should certainly find a good use for an Eric Owens of his very own.

1:00-4:00 NRK P2: CruzSF should find THE MAKROPULOS CASE from Kungelige a worthy companion to his scrapbook of Karita Mattila memorabilia, if only as a point of comparison.  2 F.K.

1:00-5:00 RADIO 4 NETHERLANDS: Ruby, honey, I tried to find you something with plants and food, but alas, nada.  So instead, here’s Martinu’s JULIETTA, which is a most mysterious and fragile what’s-it.  1 F.K. because no one can ever quite figure out what’s going on.

1:00-5:00 RADIO CLASICA DE ESPANA and DWOJKE POLSKIE: ORLANDO  from Brussels, (2 F.K., just because it’s obscure and unfamiliar, and Handel.) FragendeFrau, this one’s for you because you’re from North Carolina, and Orlando is down there in North Carolina, or Tallahassee, or one of those states.

1:00-5:00 RTP ANTENA 2: Phoenix will have such fun recording I DUE FOSCARI from Paris (3 F.K.), because nobody can survive with just ONE Foscarus.  By the way, it’s a little-known fact, but there were actually FIVE Foscari, but three of them left home early to tour the college circuit as The Kingston Trio.

1:00-4:00 NPR World of Opera: Handel’s TESEO from Gottingen – speaking of obscure and unfamiliar and Handel, I don’t have enough information on this one to rate it.   Why the F.K. would anybody name a state Tallahassee?  Or Gottingen?

1:00-5:00 WRR: Bluecabochon should find something to munch on in WERTHER from ROH with Rolando Villazon.  4 F.K. as we all make book on when he’s going to crack, and why Andrea Bocelli would do it better.

1:30-5:00 RADIO OESTERREICH: BrooklynPunk can wrestle Eva Maria Westbroek to the ground in this LA GIOCONDA from the Netherlands.  Luciana d’Intino outsings her, which makes this a 3 F.K.

1:30-5:00 SVERIGES P2: ATYS from Paris goes to Donna_Carlo, who will immediately assume that because it’s French, it’s a dildo.   1 F.K. (see HANDEL)

2:00-6:00 ESPACE 2: DER ROSENKAVALIER from Geneva 3 F.K., goes to Bluesweet, because it’s the only standard repertory opera not being done in Philadelphia this year.

1:00-6:00 LYRIC FM
I’m giving A Placido Domingo celebration to Camille, so she can stick it in her keepsake box.  (“Stick THAT in your keepsake box.”)

2:00-5:00 RADIO SLOVENIA TRETJI: Clita-del-Toro, how would you like BORIS GODUNOV? — OperaCast gives no indication of who (or what !) is singing, but I suspect it’s a re-airing of the Ferruccio Furlanetto performance, which makes it very good, indeed, and meriting 2 F.K.

2:00-5:00 RADIO STEPHANSDOM: DAS RHEINGOLD — including a Hans Hotter Wotan and a Joan Sutherland Rhine Maiden 1957 (2 F.K.)  is destined for the stocking of MarshieMarkII, who should be hard put to point out anything in it that Behrens did better.

2:00-5:00 RADIO TRE: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR from Naples with Jessica Pratt — in this staging (3 F.K., because while the soprano will be impressive, the males will leave much to be desired) “sulla tomba” is sung while Lucia and Edgardo make love in the shower.  So who would be more deserving than mikedfw?

4:25-6:00 CESKY ROZHLAS D-Dur: And, saving the best for the last, M. Croche gets Sofia Gubajdulina’s JANOVY – because it’s the most obscure thing on the list and the one most likely to be sung in Azerbaijani.

Happy Tit Bunnies to all, and to all, happy chatting !