There are three reasons often cited for the paucity of performances of Rossini’s Otello: the horrible hack job of the Shakespearean drama by librettist Francesco Maria Berio, the difficulties in casting an opera requiring at least three top-rate tenor voices, and comparisons with Verdi’s popular opera of the same title.
Gustav Mahler. Letters to His Wife
True to the title of this collection, the present volume of correspondence edited by Henry-Louis de La Grange and Günther Weiss — here translated, revised , and supplemented by Antony Beaumont — offers, to date, the most complete body of letters of Gustav Mahler to his wife Alma.
“Rusalka, la ninfa che Ë in noi”
http://www.lastampa.it/redazione/cmsSezioni/spettacoli/200701articoli/16942girata.asp
Ovation pour le “Don Giovanni” mis en scËne par Haneke
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/imprimer_element/0,40-0@2-3246,50-858185,0.html
In Austin, Echoes of a Distant War in an Operaís American Premiere
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/arts/music/22glas.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin
A Tenor Cashes in on His Money Notes
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/arts/music/21gure.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin
Lebanon’s Christine Brewer is respected for her voice, admired for her personality
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/music/story/4FF03E460CE64BF886257268008333A2?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22brewer%22
CUY¡S: La Fattucchiera
The sleeve notes of this interesting issue state that “ any comparison between La Fattucchiera and Italian bel canto models by Bellini or Donizetti would be too easy though it became commonplace to describe him (= Cuyàs) as the continuator of the school of Bellini.
MARTIN Y SOLER: La Madrilena
Although the name of Vicente Martin y Soler is no longer obscure, most opera lovers still know him best due to Mozart quoting his opera ‘Una cosa rara’ during the Don’s last meal in Don Giovanni.
DEBUSSY: PellÈas et Melissande
I was impressed by Karajan’s intense conducting, which seems so right in the wake of the unavoidable tragedy that is going to happen.