By Steve Smith [NY Times, 7 July 2010]
“Opera is, by and large, all about the world of fiction,” the conductor Bramwell Tovey announced from the podium shortly into a concert by the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall on Tuesday evening. In part he was referring to the evening’s program, “La Dolce Vita,” a collection of popular arias and pleasant instrumental knickknacks gathered mostly from French and Italian operas.