cricket’s notebook
Indeed a great chance to be a canard
“Verdi revered Shakespeare and would turn over in his grave.”
Broadcast snooze
“There’s no hiding it. I find some passages of Wagner insufferably tedious.”
Normative
La Cieca is sort of out of words trying to describe what makes a great performance of the role of Norma, as opposed to the conscientious traversal of the notes.
The pearls are clutched
“The gloves are off, the chips are down; my patience has run out.”
Present prescriptive
“Director Christopher Alden destroys everything Strauss’s operetta stands for”
God! what darkness dense!
The opening of Calixto Bieto‘s production of Fidelio at the English National Opera provides yet one more opportunity for the fraternity of British critics to flaunt their credentials as a passel of overeducated prats.
Cricket’s notebook
“From Cambridge, where I live, to Glyndebourne should take 2 hours and 10 minutes, according to Google: down the M11, then the M25, almost to Brighton on the M23, and then through or round Lewes until the first sign to Glyndebourne, two and a half miles before you get there.”
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).