In transit

I'm not officially "away", but the headaches of moving (still within the city) are keeping me tied up for the moment. More soon.

So, where's my free Mattila disc?

OK, not for me, but someone should really be sending Sarah a pre-release preview of every Yvonne Kenny recording.

Off topic

It turns out that the most interesting weight loss at the Met this season wasn't Deborah Voigt's but Veronika Part's. Voigt seems to have sacrificed -- at least for the moment -- her vocal sheen and deep power reserve, but the tall Part, who went from 'normal looking' on the Kirov's '02 tour to her current 'ballet thin,' has been liberated.

Mind you, I don't actually know anything about ballet. But to these eyes Part's become both a more athletic, more technically capable dancer -- her Odile now revels in her physicality -- and a remarkably communicative one. (There was, if I recall, something reserved about her stage persona in the past; that's gone.) If she'll never catch Vishneva in the former aspects of the art, I doubt I'll ever see as expressive and moving a performance from that Mariinsky star as the ones Part's giving us already.

In 2002 everyone was talking about how interesting Part's swan was; today, I think, it's something else. -- Not that I expect Voigt to turn into Karita Mattila or anything.

Six months of the Met, 2004-2005

I am linking this roundup of review posts in the sidebar for future reference.

Rodelinda
Don Carlo: piece and performance
Der Rosenkavalier
Samson et Dalila
The Magic Flute
Don Giovanni
Faust: production and performance
La Clemenza di Tito: performance and production
Cyrano de Bergerac: performance and the piece

Met Council Finals
Freni Gala