And Music! Always Music! - II

Ferragosto – the annual exodus of vacationing Italians is now in full swing. Our favourite lunch spot served their last afragato yesterday, our butcher has left thin slicing veal until September and any clothes forgotten at the dry cleaners will be picked up the last week of August. Our neighbourhood streets are mostly deserted as businesses close up and everyone heads out of town. I think it was our friend Robert who referred to Ferragosto as being the period when Italians leave the hot, noisy, crowded cities for the hot, noisy, crowded beaches. And once again this year we've joined the movement from town to shore. The drive yesterday wasn't too bad but I don't even want to think what the Strada di Adriatica will be like on Friday or Saturday.

As the sun was going in last night the beach at Pesaro was deserted - but by Saturday it will a sea of bronzed bodies in various states of undress. The two lily white ones will be Laurent and I.

This is the third year that we've come to Pesaro on the Adriatic coast. Its main claim to fame is that Rossini was born there on February 29, 1792. He left the town at a relatively young age but he still held it in great affection – unlike Mozart who cordially detested his hometown of Salzburg and would probably bridle at being known as its most famous export and its biggest draw. Though Rossini does have pride of place in town it is also known for its beaches, excellent food, good wines and relaxed atmosphere.

As its probably going to be our last year here – for a while at least – we decided to stay a bit longer and break up the opera going – sort of a one night on, one night off for Laurent. This year's programme is adventurous even for Pesaro. Two of the works are being presented for the first time at the Festival and one of my favourites is being revived. The well known work is La Cenerentola, the Swan of Pesaro's take on the Cinderella story. I still treasure the old Glyndebourne recording from 1953 with the great Vittorio Gui, who spearheaded much of the Rossini revival, conducting. Its a work I've seen several times and never tire off. It has been said that Rossini's music is brilliant but often heartless – a listen to any of the music he wrote for Angelina (Cinderella) will give lie to that thought. I was looking forward to seeing Kate Aldrich in the title role but she has been replaced at rather late notice by Marianna Pizzolato, who was fantastic in Zelmira last year so the disappointment is tempered. Appearing with her will be Lawrence Brownlee, the young American tenor who has become one of the leading Rossini singers of our time. This will be the first time I've heard him live so there is much anticipation.

This is Paolo Fantin's design for the set for Sigismondo. Now this is an opera about a King of Poland in the 15th century - and what we have here is straight out of The English Patient. This evening should be very interesting.

Sigismondo was a complete failure at its premiere in 1814 and it appears not to have been revived again until 1992 in Rovigo. In his early work on Rossini Francis Toye dismissed it out of hand as not worth being talked about. Normally in the world of opera if a work disappears from the repertory it's for a good reason but we shall see. But should the opera be less than inspired the casting alone makes its a must-see: Daniela Barcelona is singing the title role and I have yet to see a performance by her where the sparks haven't flown and the audience on their feet cheering. Olga Peretyatko will be the “wronged” wife – dear lord was every wife in operadom wronged? Again she is a singer I've much enjoyed in the past at the Festival. The conductor is the young, I'd almost say very young, Michele Mariotti, who lead a quicksilver Barbiere di Siviglia last month at Scala. So anticipation is high there also.

The third work is as little known, Demetrio e Polibio - this was Rossini's first attempt at a full-scale opera and is rather unusually scored for strings only. The casting is perhaps not as starry as the other two but Yijie Shi was a good Comte Ory last year and I've enjoyed Maria Jose Moreno in several things in the past three years. And it'll be chance to hear another unfamiliar piece. From a musical point of view it should be an interesting week.

But it won't stop at music. There are plans afoot to do a few days trips to some of the more interesting spots in the Region with Urbino being number one on the list. And another day trip is planned to Rimini – 20 minutes away on the train – for the sole purpose of having a drink on the terrace of the Grand Hotel. Both Laurent and I love Amacord – Fellini's nostalgic and slightly melancholy memories of his home town. Many scenes are set on that terrace and we both want to have our pictures taken, in our Borsalinos, sipping our aperitvo and enjoying the sea breezes.

And then there is the food! Those perfectly cooked seafood lunches at H2NO, aperitivos at El Cid and dinners at Ristorante Bristolino "Lorenzo e Bibo". Though we were sad to see that the Ducale in the Piazza del Popolo has been boarded up - they had a great buffet spread and an entertaining owner/chef. But since we'll have a few more days than we normally do there will be chances to try some of the new places that have opened up.

As we sat at El Cid last night at 6 last evening sipping our aperol-sprtiz and watching people stroll, bike and run by, I mention to Laurent that if you thought about it Pesaro is little bit seedy, a touch run down at the heels. He smiled and said: Yes it is, isn't it! And we took both grabbed another pizza square. I guess we both enjoy a little bit seedy and slightly run down at the heels.

12 agosto - Sant'Euplio di Catania

A Quick Sharing

I haven't done a sharing post in a long time but that may change now that I am no longer employed - my choice by the way they didn't fire the old fart. But back to sharing - this will be a quick one as I am packing for ferragosto vacation.

Over at Bleeding Espresso Michelle had this great tip for storing the fresh cut basil that is so readily available this time of year. Our greengrocer gives us great bunches of it and often it goes to waste but that won't happen again after having read her tip.

Just click on the basil to go there:



And talk to you all from Pesaro! Sun! Seaood! Rossini! Beach! Wine! And Basil!

11 agosto - Santa Chiara

Knights At the Opera

The big selling feature at this year's Verona Arena – other than the Arena itself – was that all five productions are under the directorial guidance of Franco Zeffirelli. There was a time when Zeffirelli was an inspired and inspiring director-designer. His Romeo and Juliet at the Old Vic with a young Judi Dench was a revelation which he later transferred to the screen with great success; the Covent Garden Lucia di Lammamoor with Joan Sutherland helped launch her international career as the high priestess of bel canto; Falstaff at the Met under Leonard Bernstein (the first Zia Zeff production I ever saw) was a bloody wonder; and of course Tosca with Callas was the stuff of legends. Sadly his recent work has become mostly tired retreads of past successes – pale imitations (his Falstaff this year in Roma immediately springs to mind) of his once ground breaking work. The Aida and Carmen at the Arena have been seen elsewhere - La Scala, the Met et al - and in all likelihood don't have much new to say. I did a quick search and found no record of his every having directed or designed Madama Butterfly or Il Trovatore other than at the Arena. It appears that this year's Turandot is a “new” production though the designs are highly reminiscent of the Met version only wider.

Unfortunately Zia Zeff has been involved in some unfortunate incidents lately that suggest he has succumbed to GOMS – Grumpy Old Man Syndrome. Shouting matches with journalists, bitter exchanges with opera house managers, insulting comments about singers and general nasty bitching about the good old days and the wonders of everything ever created by Zeff, have done much to destroy the reputation he once had. It has also coloured many peoples reactions to what he now presents, my own included.

A right click will "enbiggen" this shot of Zia Zeff's set for Il Trovatore - it certainly filled the Arena stage and despite various levels Di Luna's cavalry negotiated it with ease. The singers perhaps a little less so.

I approached Saturday night's Il Trovatore cynically wondering how he was going to fit his trademark hordes of extras, small children, animals and bare-chested muscle men into Verdi's gloom and doom revenge tragedy. Well I saw no small children and no pectorals were revealed – though surely the Anvil Chorus would have been a great opportunity for sweaty oiled torsos – but of animals and extras we had plenty. Manrico rode in on a horse to save Leonora from the Convent that appeared to house 100 candle bearing nuns accompanied by a dozen or more hooded members of the Inquisition (???) carrying Good Friday procession statues. They were all set to receive her into an order whose chapel (the centre tower opened up to much applause) rivaled Toledo for gold and religious glitz. Somehow or other a group of Spanish dancers were able to court both the patronage of the gypsies and Di Luna – I guess when you're an artist during a civil war you go were the money is. This meant that we got a bit of the mandatory ballet music that Verdi wrote for Paris but only enough to give the punters ample opportunity to take plenty of flash pictures – more about that later. At first I found myself smirking at some of the extraneous touches but ended up thinking – hell this is Verona, this is the Arena – we came here for the spectacle as much as the singing. And spectacle we got but sadly there appeared to be little in the way of stage direction for the principals – it was pretty much stand, clutch breast, fall to your knees (particularly poor Leonora who I sincerely hope had knee pads), arms raised, throat open 19th century posing. Sure the situations in Trovatore are pretty melodramatic and unmotivated but I seemed to recall a Tito Copiobanco staging at the Paris Opera that made it all seem pretty damned dramatic.

Someone once said that all you really need for Trovatore are five great singers (okay they said four but if you don't have a really good Ferrando that opening scene goes pretty flat). And, not wanting to sound like a few bloggers I know who are locked in the past, there was a time when we got that not just for Trovatore but all of the Verdi cannon. Last evening there were no great singers but at least one of them was getting pretty damn close by the end of the evening.

He didn't quite strike fear in our hearts with his recounting of the burning of the gypsy crone but Giorgio Giuseppini started the evening well as Ferrando. The chorus gave amble support and power to all those well-known important choral passages that pepper the work.

Marcello Alvarez (Manrico) is a singer that I have some problem with – I have never forgiven him for the ridiculous incident of the “arranged” and totally undeserved encore in Tosca a few years back in Roma, I know its silly to hold a grudge but that's me. I've always found him to be from the “Sing out, Luigi” school of tenors so was greatly surprised to hear what was a reasonably subtle and nuanced performance until his big moment. I'm not sure what happened during Di quella pira but he came acroppers at the end. That spectacular moment we all wait for as the tenor takes centre stage, arms, legs and lungs open wide and lets blast! It may not be what Verdi wanted but its what we've come to expect. And it just didn't happen.

The other disappointment of the evening was Marianne Cornetti's Azucena. It is a role she has sung elsewhere with some success but I founded it underpowered. Her Stride la vampa lacked any sense of drama or doom. Her acting was unconvincing – I've seen better gypsy crone impersonations by a few of the beggars on the streets of Roma. And she seemed embarrassed by the one piece of “innovative” staging Zeff gave her – Azucena's stabs herself at the finale – and it went for naught.

There are currently no photos available of the Arena production however here's a shot by Cory Weaver of Sondra Radvanosvky and Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the San Francisco Opera production.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky has a great head of hair and he certainly looked handsome in his doublet, hose and armour – one questions Leonora's taste in men in rejecting his advances but chaqu'un as they say. Though he did a respectable job of Il balen and he has been singing it frequently I honestly feel that Di Luna is not his role. That sound of burnished bronze I recall from Verdi baritones of the past was missing though when challenged by Sondra Radvanovsky in Mira, d'acerbe lagrime in Act 4 he caught fire vocally and dramatically.

The star of the evening was Radvanovsky's Leonora. She may not have all the technique needed for Tacea la notte but as the evening progressed her Leonora gained vocal depth so by the time we came to D'amor sull'ali rosee she was in top form. No strain, no stridency – just pure unadulterated music making at its best. To my ears her's was the performance of the sort of spinto I grew up listening to and she rightly earned the cheers and bravi of the crowd.

Marco Armiliato has been making a name for himself as a conductor over the past few years both in Europe and in New York. Though he brought no new insights into the work he showed a firm grasp of the Verdian style and is one of those conductors who works with the singers to bring out the drama in the music.

There had been a bit of a to-do in the press about amplification being used at the Arena at Zia Zeff's insistence. If there was indeed any amplification I wasn't aware of it – in fact from my seat in the centre platea the sound was muted and it took a while for these old ears to adjust. Though they did hear very clearly the lady behind me singing along – not quite sotto voce – with the better known numbers.

Though it wasn't a great evening of opera – as I have often said these things come along very seldom – as an introduction to the spectacle of the Arena it was a satisfying evening. The atmosphere, the venue, the organization (yes here in my beloved Italy), the spectacle all make it something unique and special. I wonder why I'd left it for three years to make the pilgrimage.

One comment though – I would not want to have any form of epilepsy that was triggered by flashing lights. The constant barrage of camera flashes – though announcements are made that they are forbidden – was like viewing much of the performance by lightening. Very unpleasant, disturbing and stupidly selfish of the people taking photos – surely they have learned that at that distance their bloody flashes do SFA! Though Laurent's theory is that most of them don't know how to turn the flash off on their newly bought expensive digital toys. And more maddening the attendants did nothing to stop it. One of these days I would love to see a performance grind to a halt and the offenders turfed out. Or better yet someone beside me takes a flash photo and I have the nerve to grab their camera throw it to the floor and kick it under the seat in front! There I feel better for having said it already.

And here's a short video taken before the performance and during the intermission. The Anvil Chorus being sung by the Robert Shaw Chorale under Renato Cellini.



10 agosto - San Lorenzo

A Clash of Cultures

I've never been one to deal in stereotypes - well okay maybe once or twice; but I really do think this snap from one of the most expensive photo ops in the world (beter known as the G20) does play to it.


The Canadian Guy (old Snake Eyes): Self-absorbed, navel gazing, oblivious.
The American Guy: Businesslike, unwilling to be distracted.
The French and Italian Guy: Wow! Look at that ass!

Thanks to Carla for passing on this little insight into world views.

10 agosto - San Lorenzo

Lunedi Lunacy

I am ashamed to admit that my Italian is beyond horrible - I still can't get past the most basic of communications but my understanding has increased incredibly. When we did the tour of the MAXXI last week it was entirely in Italian. And I'm proud to say that not only did I get 60% of what the remarkable docent said but I also got the little joke she had saved until the end.

There's a well known dish here called Mozzarella in Carrozza - the translation is Mozzarella in a Carriage. Recipes vary from region to region but here in Roma its sort of like french toast made with a mozzarella cheese sandwich. Given my gluten free diet I've never tried it but friends tell me that once tried it is never forgotten by either the taste buds or the arteries!

The featured exhibition at the MAXXI is devoted to the work of Gino de Dominicis and this creation from the late 1960s is a piece of inspired Italian Lunacy.

Here we have a lovely old carriage (carrozza) ...



... and sitting proudly inside ...

... a mozzarella.

Eccola! - Mozzarella in carrozza!

And I got it without looking at the label! Hey small victories are often hard won!

09 agosto - Santa Teresa Benedetta della Croce

And It Is.....

My friend Vicki sent me an e-mail suggesting it was a juicer - and as she has been in most things since we first crossed paths 55 years ago (she was still in her mother's womb okay!) she was right. This little gem by Alessi, the Italian Design Factory, was indeed meant to juice all manner of citrus stuff.


Though in his comments Jacques brought up a few design flaws that could make it one of those things that looks fabulous on the counter but a disaster when you go to use it. I'm still debating.

09 agosto - Santa Teresa Benedetta della Croce

And This Would Be .....????

Thursday evening we went to the new MAXXI gallery out near the Parco del Musica. I think it is a stunning example of modern architecture. Designed by the flamboyant British-Iraqi architect Saha Hadid it incorporates the facade of the former military buildings on the site while making a very bold statement of its purpose as a museum for contemporary art. It doesn't appear all that large from the outside but once through the towering glass doors it opens up into a brilliantly conceived display space.


That gigantic skeleton laid out in front of the entrance is the work of Gino De Dominicis - and he is the subject of a special exhibition and I'll be sharing a bit more of his work on Monday.

In the meantime yesterday we said goodbye to one of our colleagues and presented her with this little gift that clearly demonstrates the sleek lines and style of Italian design.



It gives rise to two questions.

1. What the hell is it?
2. What the heck does it do?

So what would you use this for? Any suggestions? And YDG remember Nicky and Nora sometimes read the blog.

07 agosto - San Sisto e compagni

Related articles by Zemanta

• Rome's MAXXI gallery of modern art (telegraph.co.uk)

And Music! Always Music! - I

That title will only mean something to CBC radio listeners who tuned into The Transcontinental on Sunday afternoons in the 80s-90s. Hosted for 22 year by Otto Lowy, a charming Czech who found a home in Canada after the war, it was a "musical excursion across Europe" stopping in various places for coffee, pastry, a bit of history and "music, always music!" And it - and he - was always a delight.

My August is going to be a bit like that - except I guess we could say seafood, wine, a bit of history and "opera, always opera". Over the next three weeks I'll have travelled, if not Europe, a fair bit of Italy and seen five operas.


It starts next weekend with a sort of mini-VerdiFest - in anticipation of the real thing in October in Parma. Saturday morning I'm heading up to Verona - five hours by train with a change in Padova now that there's no direct trains - for the opening of Il Trovatore at the Arena (above). Opera in the Arena has been a tradition since the first performance of, what was to become its signature piece, Aida in 1913. This is "GRAND" opera and gave rise to the tradition of elephants, horses and - in one production - giraffes as the stars of big productions of the Italian warhorses. Though it may not have all the glamour of the big names of the old days Saturday hasn't got such a bad line up - Russian barithunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sondra Radvanovsky, Marianne Cornetti (okay she's no Simonato but who these days is?) and Marcelo Alvarez (okay I could do without Alvarez but who else sings Manrico these days?). The whole conducted by Marco Armiliato - who isn't such a bad stick waver.

And apparently directed and designed by Franco Zefferelli as indeed are all five operas at the Arena this year. I say apparently because I'm still trying to figure out how the Zeff will work his trademark bare-chested hunks, donkeys, children and, reportedly, a troupe of Spanish dancers into Verdi's great gloom and doom revenge tragedy. It should be interesting. (That's a scene from his production of Turandot above.)

Sunday its back to Rome on morning train and off to the Baths of Caracalla for the last performance of Rigoletto. Given the track record the past few seasons: a very good Turandot; an Aida that began with the ballet that Verdi forgot to write music for (so it was danced in silence); a Madama Butterfly where little Trouble was more audible than the tenor; a dreadful Tosca (only the second time I have left a theatre before the end of a performance in 57 years); and a disappointing Carmen I was almost willing to forgo this year's offerings. However my friend David Nice - of I'll Think of Something Later and so much else fame - mentioned that an up and coming soprano would be appearing here this year. So I will be heading off to the Via Appia and Caracalla's old bath house to see Jessica Pratt as Gilda. If David says she's someone to hear and keep an eye on - then hear and eye I will. The rest of the cast is so-so but at least conductor Donato Renzetti is a known quantity.

Then its my last two days at work - let's not go there - and then... 10 days on the road. Our annual ferragosto in Pesaro with a detour through San Franscico di Assisi country before coming back to Rome. A bit more about that will follow shortly.

03 agosto - Sante Mara e Lidia

Lunedi Lunacy

While cataloging a few photos from our London trip earlier in the year I came across this little gem posted in Westminster. The Borough not the Abbey!


And if I don't have a cellphone?????

02 agosto - Sant'Eusebio di Vercelli

If The Shoe Fits ....

... wear it!

Okay I haven't developed some sort of foot or shoe fetish! Honestly! Its just that its hard to ignore shoes here in Italy. Particularly women's shoes. What is often considered acceptable day/office wear I still find a little startling even after three years. And the footwear often does give rise to questions such as:

• How does she walk on heels that high?
• Don't those leather straps going half way up her leg chafe?
• Where does she put her toes?
• Doesn't that clanking she makes when she walks bother her?
  
• Why the hell was she thinking when she bought those?

Last weekend on the trip to Milan it was a little hard to avoid fashion footwear. After all it is the fashion capital of Italy and one of the hottest fashion venues in the world, so it should come as no surprise that shoe shops abound and window displays are filled with enticing little bits of leather and sparkle.

Most of these shots were taken during a Saturday stroll around the fashionable shopping area of quadrilatero della moda - Via Montenapoleone and environs.
One of the first stores you hit as your turn off Montenapoleone to Via Sant'Andrea is Rene Caovilla, which means shoes, shoes and more shoes. If the red logo isn't enough of an indication then the delightful window display - my god but Italians know how to dress windows - leaves no doubt. And though those fanciful little numbers hanging in the window are strictly for display they does have some serious shoes for sale. Including those little studded numbers which can be all yours for only €595,00 (CAD797.37 - USD776.32)- obviously they weren't on the July sales list.
But these stylish bits and pieces of leather and other sundry materials were all marked at 40% or 50% off. I should explain that there are two legal sales months here were everyone and I mean everyone knocks their prices down: January and July. So these charmers can be had for as little as €150,00 or as much as €275,00 - cheap at half the price! Oh wait a minute that is half the price.
However there were no discounts for these mesh numbers nor the studded ones but I won't be surprised to see some one sporting them at our local tavola caldo come September. And I was happy to see that leopard spots never seem to go out of style!

And the men aren't short changed in the shoe department either. I actually found two pairs I wanted at Massimo Dutti but they didn't have them in my size - no honestly! However for a mere €1200.00 I could have had a pair custom made. Or for a 10th that price I could be sporting those smart blue snake skin numbers with the sparkly buckles. I'm just not sure they'd work with my current wardrobe. Maybe I'll just wait until the January sales.

01 agosto - Sant'Alfonso Maria de' Liguori

How Hot Was It?

So hot that:


It looks like the heatwave that had us in its grip for most of July has finally broken; now if it will only stay like this for the August holidays everything would be perfect.

31 luglio - Sant'Ignazio di Loyola

The Woodcarver's Art

Anyone who has read this blog with any regularity (both of you) will know that I have this love affair with wood working. For me it has always held more of a fascination than marble or stucco, as wonderful as they are. Perhaps because, to my mind at least, unlike the other two, wood is a living breathing thing. Of course Rome is the wrong city to be in for wood; this is a city of marble and plaster in baroque perfusion. So I am always intrigued when I come across examples of the wood carvers art. And even more intrigued when it is art created by someone I know.

Felice, a work colleague, came into my office a few weeks back to share a few pictures with me. He is both a gentleman and a gentle man and as I discovered a man of great talent. He has taken up wood carving and is largely self-taught in the art. The photos he shared with me were of two pieces he carved as gifts for Canadian friends.

This beautiful sheathed dagger was created from two different pieces of olive wood. The darker piece is older – perhaps over a hundred years old if not more – and had been sitting in a friend's yard for a long time when Felice discovered it. It was exactly the wood he had been looking for – a fitting contrast to the lighter coloured piece of young olive that he had found one day on a mountain near Monte Cassino.

As he told me often the search for the right piece of wood can be a task in itself. Though he had a basic design in mind he says the wood – the grain, the bend, the shape - eventually dictated the form that the dagger and sheath took. Even as he works on a piece he finds that his concept will change almost as if the wood itself is telling him what is in it.
To bring up the grain in the wood he hand rubbed it with linseed oil with particularly beautiful results in piece carved from the older wood. Felice spoke about how only natural oils or waxes should be used on wood, not only to bring up the grain and enrich the colour but to allow it to breath. Holding a beautiful piece of oiled or waxed wood is a tactile experience that is missing when it has been sealed with varnish, shellac or urethane.

This small mask was carved from a piece of African chestnut - a hard wood often used in flooring and though similar in appearance not a relative of the North American variety. It is not the easiest material to work with but at the time Felice was still new at wood carving and he liked the colour and grain. Though it proved a difficult medium he treated it as part of the experience of learning his craft - I think with great success.

Another thing he learned while creating this pieces was that when carving a face it is better to work symmetrically. He began by completing one side of the face and then the other – working as it were vertically. After he had worked on it a while he realized that this method had its drawbacks - it would have been easier to work horizontally.

I find it interesting to see the development of the mask as it is traced in these photos from its rough concept through to its completed state. The finish on this particular piece was beeswax - again a subtle highlighter of the grain, colour and more importantly the life in the wood.

I always find it remarkable that an artist - and Felice is an artist - can take a piece of wood and in it find the inspiration for pieces like this. I'm looking forward to him sharing more of his work with me so I can share it with you.

30 luglio - San Pietro Crisologo

Lunedi Lunacy

Milan is definitely the fashion capital of Italy, if not Europe. The shops are filled with stylish items beautifully displayed and I might add most of the time "beautifully" priced - though we are currently in the waning days of the annual July Sale so a smart little frock can be knocked down from €3500.00 to an affordable €2250.00.

But amongst all the high fashion comes this little bit of lunacy - and its all yours at 25% off for only €350.00 (CAD 468.00 - USD 455.00).



I'm not sure where occasion calls for a Rhino bag or what stylish outfit it would go with? Or what else it would accessorize with? Or why the hell you would even want to buy it but just so you know - it's out there and it's available.

26 lulgio - Santa Venera

Dear Lord, I'm Turning Into ...

... one of those ex-pat English types living in Italy so beloved of Edwardian novelists. Yes, I bought a Borsalino! Next thing you know I'll be sitting on the piazza in the hot sun in my rumpled, slightly soiled, linen suit, ogling the tanned fishermen, my ivory tipped cane clutched in one gnarled fist and my afternoon aperitivo in the other.

24 luglio - San Charbel Makhlouf