Musings about music & blog comments.

While driving to work, I was listenting to Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony conducted by Valery Gergiev.  This is the epitome of romantic music.  The music is dreamy, expansive and leads one on  journey in 4 movements.  I truly recommend it to my readers.

I am somewhat surprised reading comments to articles in magazines and blogs.  Readers can be alarmingly arrogant, homophobic and downright rude at times.  Everyone is entitled to leave comments or personal reviews as this is of interest to the audience.  We need more activists if we embrace change.  While commenting on an article regarding the accomplishments or lack therof of Peter Gelb, I was struck by the animosity of people towards Gelb and the MET.  Gelb can not fix no-shows from Prima Donna's.  It simply is a fact of life.  Singers bail out for their own reasons. 

While Peter Gelb is trying to bring opera to the masses, he is also trying to change the artistic face of the MET opera company.  He has done marvels with HD broadcasts to movie theaters, promoting school attendance, allowing last minute Rush tickets, etc,  Unforunately, he is running a large business with unions, special interests, and a profound lack of an artistic (musical) director.  James Levine's impact on the MET is waning owing to his ill health, BSO committments, etc.  Music on this side of the pond does not get large measures of government support.

Some of Gelb's artistic choices have fallen short, e.g. Mary Zimmerman's La Sonambula and Armida.  Renee Fleming's performance was by all accounts notably undistinguishing.    Renee Fleming had her moment in the sun years ago with this opera, but is not able to deliver the goods today.  The MET hyped this as the signature New Production of the Season with its American Diva, Fleming.  The public and Gelb would have been better served by Joyce DiDonato.  One must remember that Rossini also scored Armida's role for a mezzo. 

Thrilled to hear that Placido  Domingo is on the mend and looking forward to seeing his masterclass program on HBO in the near future.  We only wish that Ozawa has a similar outcome.  Seiji had a long and enduring tenure at the BSO.

In closing, music is an international language that transcends borders.  Enjoy it for where it takes you.  Valerie Gergiev once said that most orchestras can play well, but it is not often that one hears an interesting performance.  The operative point here is that we as listeners have to digest music and allow it to penetrate our thought process and release new meanings and interpretations.  One need not to be a student of music to reach this level of appreciation