TramWay

Milano is a city of trams - you can’t miss them. The streets are a jigsaw puzzle of tracks and garlanded with overhead wires. The squeals of metal against metal and the clanging of warning bells are a constant late into the night. And that strange sound they make as they trundle along is always in the background in certain parts of the city.

There are 18 different lines chris-crossing the city and though many of them are sleek new Eurostyle cars an equal number are clattering old trams from the 20s and 30s. Restored with glossy wooden benches, metal poles, leather straps and old fashioned controls - they have an air, a romance, that the newer plastified models lack. I’ve been assured that riding in them during the extreme cold this past winter was not very romantic and there were some problems with the tracks and ice - but then this past year was unusual. On a balmy - well actually hot and humid - spring day it was great fun to chug through Centro from the Castello Sforza to my hotel.




And the people at ATM(Azienda Transporti Milanesi)are obviously aware of value of these old cars and the romance associated with them: they are kept on the major routes in Centro and tourists love them. And late Saturday night I saw a chartered tram trundling along packed with a festive crowd of young people dancing, drinking and singing their way down Via Manzoni.

12 maggio - San Pancrazio

Presents for Puppies

Well there was no end to the excitement earlier today when a much anticipated parcel arrived at Via dei Villini. Though addressed to me the contents were obviously meant for Nicky and Nora. Our dear Dora, who had given them their names, had sent two beautiful collars which they will proudly wear when they are a little older.



On behalf of i due piccoli bassotti, mille grazie Dora e baci!

11 maggio - San Fabio

Lunedi Lunacy

Give me that old time religion!



11 maggio - San Giobbe

The Magic of Theatre - 50 Years Later

It was like being back in Toronto all those years ago; sitting, head in hands leaning against the railing of the second balcony at the old Royal Alexandra Theatre captivated by the magic of the theatre. But it was almost 50 years later, I was in Milano and I sat, head in hands leaning on the railing of the second balcony of the Studio at the Piccolo Teatro. And the magic of theatre - that magic that enthralled me in 1960, that set my life long love affair with the commedia dell’arte, was still as strong as when I was 13.

All those years ago I watched an almost fledgling company from Milano performing a 200 year old play in Italian to an largely English audience. There were no surtitles just a summary in the programme and the skill of Marcello Moretti (right) and the troupe to tell the story of that scoundrel Arlecchino as he hired himself out to two masters at the same time. But we laughed and applauded wildly and to this day I recall the joy that filled that theatre on a March Saturday afternoon in dull old Toronto.

Last night I watched Ferruccio Soleri (left), who assumed the role in 1964 after Moretti’s death, and members of the now world famous Piccolo Teatro tell that same story. It was in Italian, there were no surtitles and my language skills did not allow me to catch much of the rapid fire, and often dialect, dialogue. But once again I was the member of an audience in a theatre filled with laugher, joy and wild applause. About 1/3 of the audience were school children - often something that sets off “danger Willym, danger” signals - but, if rowdy during the intervals, their rowdiness was turned to roars of laughter and delight as they watched routines that were hundreds of years old when they were born. And though the production - or variations of it - has played over 2645 times in 300 cities in 41 countries since 1948, it was as fresh and as funny as if it were brand new.

Arlecchino, servitore di due patroni was one of Giorgio Strehler’s first productions after he, Paolo Grassi and Nina Vinchi founded Piccolo Teatro in 1947. His basic concept, though refined and adapted over the years, never changed: a troupe of 18th century actors set up their makeshift stage and perform Goldoni’s classic comedy based on characters and situations from the commedia. We watch them as the characters of the play on stage and on the sidelines as members of the troupe - doing darning, chaffing at another actor’s applause, providing sound effects for the opening of a letter, preparing for their entrances or just lolling. It also means we see the workings of the most famous lazzo (routine) in the play - Arlecchino serving dinner to each of his two masters.

This masterful piece of comic timing involves flying platters, jiggling jello, juggled soup tureens, at least seven bodies and at the centre of it all Soleri. Since Strehler’s death he has been in charge of recreating the master’s mise en scene and though he has remained faithful to the original he has made sure it is no museum piece. The wonder of it all is that at 79 he has still the ability - if not quite his previous agility - to be the centre of such a chaotic scene. And though he has performed the lazzi - catching the fly and swallowing it, folding and sealing a letter, shadow stepping - for over 40 years he has the skill to make it all seem improvisational. It was interesting to see that Enrico Bonavera, the actor playing Brighella - the role that Soleri played when I saw Moretti - has begun to play Arlecchino at certain performances. Though all the performers were excellent as their dual-characters it was obvious to see that he was the successor to the tradition. His stuttering but cunning innkeeper was as deft as Soleri when it came to timing and when the two shared the stage it was a meeting of equals.

Having seen Moretti and now Soleri I hope I’ll have the chance to see Bonvera continue the line. But, of course, this time I’ll try not to let it be in another 50 years.

10 maggio - Santi Alfio, Cirino e Filadelfo

Puppy Points

Its not exactly like I've been getting hate mail but a few people - and you know who you are - have been suggesting that frankly they could give a pinch of Parmesan as to what I'll be doing the next little while. How are the puppies? What are they up to? Where are the pictures? Well to be honest I'm a little leery of turning this into the Nicky and Nora site. Let's admit it showing puppy pictures all the time can be as irritating as your cousin Harold who pulls out photos of little Smeadly's first diaper change. And I don't want to become that irritating. But in response to those who find my life less interesting than that of two dwarf wire-haired daschies, here you go.

• The two of them are constantly fighting and it does seem to get pretty ferocious at times. I've been assured this is just puppy play and this too will pass. I've noticed that more often than not Nicky will start it and then play poor-put-upon puppy.

• Nora is a barker - and won't we have to stop that - and Nicky is a whiner. I remember our first daschie being the mistress of the whine. She had a whine for every occasion - sort of like our local Enoteca (wine shop).



• One website tells me that you should use the equation of months old+one to calculate how long a puppy should be able to hold out before becoming the Trevi Fountain. While another says only the number of months. There would seem to be times when Nicky uses the equation: number of months divided by two.

• The breeder gave us instructions for feeding which we both found rather strange but we've followed them: 15 - 20 grams of dry food, a teaspoon of honey and 1/4 cup of milk. No one else we know has ever heard of this.



• While I was on the group walk of San Lorenzo on Monday I mentioned to one of the ladies that we were getting up every morning around 0400 with the puppies. She was incredulous - why didn't I just crate them with the door open and leave a puppy pad nearby? Well we've tried it for three nights and it seems to work.


• And whoever told me that since I was training one puppy I might as well train two, is going to get a good talking to!

Oops sorry, someone's scratching at the door to get out: progress we have progress!

07 maggio - Santa Virginia

"Quote ... UnQuote"

Every year or two I sit down with my thumb-worn, coffee stained anthology of the Lucia stories by E. F. Benson - starting with Page 3 (Nancy Mitford's preface is short, she knows she could never compete with Benson) and Queen Lucia, the first of the Mapp-Lucia novels and arriving several weeks and 1119 pages later at the last, Trouble for Lucia. Several of the books were made into a wonderful LWT series which was extremely popular on PBS back in the 1980-90s and I will admit that it was that series that introduced me to Benson. It was the wonderful performances of Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales and Nigel Hawthorne that encouraged me to explore Benson and his little world of Tilling with its enchanting assortment of eccentrics. In Tilling a simple walk across the garden room of Mallards can lead to a universe shattering event - well maybe not for the Universe but certainly for the world of Tilling - and really as Lucia would remind us that is the only place that really counts.

This year there will be a little twist as I am also reading several of Benson's non-Lucia books - he wrote some 63 of them plus many short stories. He was also known as one of the premier ghost story writers of his period. Though it is difficult to get a hold of his "spook stories" I have been searching around for a complete anthology that was published back in 1992 and has since gone out of print.

Benson was known for a waspishness, certainly in his Lucia books, and often in a short paragraph he sums up his characters with a witty turn of a phrase. I always found this passage from Miss Mapp summed up Elizabeth Mapp to a T!

Miss Mapp went to the garden room and sat at her window....
It was a warm, bright day of February, and a butterfly was enjoying itself in the pale sunshine on the other window, and perhaps (so Miss Mapp sympathetically interpreted its feelings) was rather annoyed that it could not fly away through the pane. It was not a white butterfly, but a tortoiseshell, very pretty, and in order to let it enjoy itself more, she opened the window, and it fluttered out into the garden. Before it had flown many yards, a starling ate most of it up, so the starling enjoyed itself, too.

Miss Mapp fully shared in the pleasure first of the tortiseshell and then of the starling ...

Epilogue - Miss Mapp
E. F. Benson - 1922
Harper Row

I am so looking forward to my Bensonian Summer with some familiar friends and the possibility of making some new ones.

06 maggio - San Lucio di Cirene

Mercoledi Musicale

I mentioned that we were getting Elina Garanca here during the summer run of Carmen at the Baths of Caracalla. Here's the Latvian diva herself doing the Seguidille from that opera.



And just to add to the pulchritude here she is with Anna Netrebko in a familiar piece by Offenbach.


The opera queens operaphiles may not necessarily agree but I find both renditions more than enjoyable. I can hardly wait to see Garanca at the Baths - that doesn't sound right but you know what I mean!


06 maggio - San Giovanni ante Portam Latinam

Anticipation - Festivals

As summer approaches - and I have been assured that it is approaching despite the wet, cool, cloudy, very un-Italian spring - so does the Festival season. Last week the Maggio Musicale signaled the start of music making - classical, jazz, contemporary, rock, heavy metal, you name it - in almost any place that has a theatre, cloister or central piazza in Italy- and that means almost every city, town or village in the country.

Some are very local, others are of a more International flavour - but it would seem that all have one thing in common: massive budget cuts. The Maggio had to cancel two of its opera productions, the Rossini Festival replaced a major restoration of a grand opera with one of the Swan of Pesaro's one act farsas, the Verona Arena and Roma's Baths of Caracalla are playing it safe with old war horses and cutting the number of productions - its hard time all around. I won't go into how short-sighted it is of the current government considering what these events generate in tourist dollars - or even better Euros.

Our Festival schedule is starting to fill up - you may recall that as we left last year's Whitsun Festival in Salzburg - okay its Austria not Italy but its nearby - I was already booking tickets for this year. We're heading up at the end of the month for 5 days of Riccardo Muti, rare Napolentano opera by Jommelli and some killer concerts including one of our favorite groups Accordone. Plus some good food and I may even treat myself to a glass of one of those nice local wines. And in case anyone is wondering - no, we're not taking the puppies on this one. They are a bit too young for travel yet but never fear they will be well looked after.

The next one up is Spoleto's Festival of the Two Worlds and it has some of the most interesting programming around. After a disastrous few years of family in-fighting, Gian Carlo Menotti and Samuel Barber's Festival looks like its back on track with some off-beat but interesting offerings for its 52nd year. How about Woody Allen's production of Puccini's one act comedy Gianni Schicchi? Or a late night tribute to Nat King Cole in the beautiful Piazza del Duomo? Or a revival of Mozart, a French musical comedy that was all the rage on both sides of the Atlantic in 1925? Or an evening of Jerome Robbins ballets in the old Roman Amphitheatre? Or .. or.. and the list goes on. Classical, jazz, experimental, theatre, dance, exhibitions, lectures - the festival appears to be returning to its roots. The thought of all that, another meal at La Pecchiarda and the considerable charms of Spoleto has us planning two weekends as June turns into July - and yes the pups will come on this one.


Though the season at Caracalla has been cut down to one ballet and two operas and both of them standards, the Carmen stars Elina Garanca who has been burning up the stages in London and New York this past two months. And let's admit it there's a reason Carmen is popular - particularly when the Carmen looks this good! And there is still something magical about sitting in the open air at the Baths of Caracalla as twilight turns into a warm summer night that even last year's dreadful Aida couldn't dampen.

August brings the annual vacation trauma of Feragosto - that mass exodus to the beaches of Italy. We've tried to schedule our trip to Pesaro to avoid the traffic as much as possible but we won't count on the GPS's optimistic calculation of 4hr 32min driving time. Last year taught us a lesson. I am constantly amazed at the customer service levels at the Rossini Festival. I had submitted a ticket request via e-mail the opening day of ticket sales. A few days later a very pleasant lady phoned the house to talk about our choices. First she asked if I would be more comfortable speaking English then explained that the available seats for two of the performances I had requested weren't exactly the best and we discussed alternates. So different from the often take-it-or-leave-it attitude at a few other places I could name. That being said we get to see the highly-praised American mezzo Kate Aldrich and Rossini tenor par excellence Juan Diego Florez in Zelmira plus my favorite Rossini opera Le Conte Ory plus the charms of Pesaro and plus the incredible seafood. Plus we're planning a side trip to Rimini - just because its there!

And those are just the planned events as of today. Who knows what else is going to come up in the next month or so.

05 maggio - San Gottardo di Hildesheim

She Was Greatly Beloved

One of the nice things about being unemployed its that my Monday's and Tuesday's are now free to join friends for a walk around town.   A close friend seems to have her finger on the pulse of the interesting hidden places here in Roma and has some great connections. Last year she had a small private group tour for 20 of us at the Vatican Museum. Having walked down empty corridors of the great Map Room and stood almost alone in the Sistine Chapel I'll never be able to go to the Museum during regular hours again.

Yesterday we visited the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (St Lawrence outside the Walls) - one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. It was built on the site of the Catacombs of St Cyriaca where San Lorenzo was buried after his martyrdom. There are five levels of catacombs dug into the volcanic rock below the present building. There is a misconception that Catacombs were used for Christian burials only however they were used by all the many religions that crowded the city of Rome - Jewish, Christian, Pagan etc. Catacombs were simply burial grounds outside the city walls.

The cloister of the Monastery at San Lorenzo is lined with grave markers that once sealed the thousands of niches in the catacombs below. It is easy to identify the Christian ones by not only by the symbols but also the rather crude letter carving. To the early Church it did not matter what the marker look like but what it recorded. It was important that your name and when you died were included. The day you died was consider your "birth date" into the new life of Christ and would normally be shown in Annis (years) Meses (months) and Dies (days).

I found this marker, adorned with grape leaves and a bird figuratively feeding on the Eucharist, particularly touching. The grieving parents included the number of hours (oras) that young Flavia had lived.

Flavia daughter of Trigris
Beloved in life
Years 5 Months 3 Days 5 Hours 4

05 maggio - San Gottardo di Hildesheim

Lunedi Lunacy

My friend Marco has taken me to task for not speaking Italian - and he has a point. You'd think after almost 2 years here I would be more fluent than I am but sadly I seem to be one of those people that just doesn't have an ear for language.


The guys at Monty Python had it right! That's how language was taught when I was a high school student back in the middle of the last century. We followed the good old British method - an native English speaker taught you another language. They also probably taught you math or history. And all languages where taught if though they were Latin - dead! Reading and writing would suffice you really didn't have to learn to speak those languages! (Read phrase in italics with a slightly curled upper lip.) After all you spoke English and even in strange foreign countries - like Quebec - they would understand you if you spoke loudly and slowly enough.

04 maggio - San Ciriaco di Gerusalemme

To Bloody Cute For Words

Nora decided that since I post so much about her and Nicky she might as well take over the keyboard. Less grammatical errors that way!



04 maggio - San Ciriaco di Gerusalemme

Weekend Wandering

Rome was built for wandering. The city is surprisingly compact - as an example from our home just outside the north east Aurelian Wall its only a pleasant 35 minute walk to Piazza Venezia, the Pantheon or the Colesseo. And its seems that every street holds something of interest - and even on a cloudy day like last Sunday a stroll down the backstreets reveals something to delight historically, architecturally or just as an oddity.
With all the wet weather we've been getting - as I have mentioned time and time again, its rained almost every day since October - the entrance to our building is starting to resemble a jungle.
We ended up meandering through Rione Ludovisi, one of the 22 historic rioni or districts of the city. Once the entire area was owned by the Ludovisi family and their Villa, outbuildings and gardens covered several square miles. The villa and the surrounding gardens, except for a few annexes, were destroyed at the end of nineteenth century to build the new district. This is one of the few buildings remaining - it was built in the Venetian style and rests - as does much of the city - on the ruins of buildings from ancient Rome. And as a sidebar, I find it incredible that the tree, the truck now a hollow shell, is still growing.
Despite the dangers in not looking down - dog owners here can be very unthoughtful - Rome is the sort of city where you have to look up to enjoy the details of the buildings. The plaster work on the facade of the Japanese Embassy is a good example.
This particularly lovely Palazzo is being restored for commercial purposes by a bank. I find the entrance way particularly attractive - the openness suggests, to my untrained eye at least, the beginnings of an Arte Noveau influence.

Our wanderings took us past a banner advertising an exhibition at the Boncompagni Ludovisi Museum of Decorative Arts in the same area. Under the conditions of Princess Alice Blanceflor Boncompagni Ludovisi's will it had to be used for cultural purpose and now houses displays of high fashion from the 1950s to the 90s, as well as collections of art objects by 20th-century artists and exhibits of the Decorative Arts. Though I was not enthusiastic over the special exhibition of works by an artist who's name I have frankly forgotten, the permanent collection and the house itself were fascinating.This classic painting of Princess Alice reflects the portrait painting style of the period.The walls of this salon reflect the style of an earlier era - trompe d'oeil meant to fool and fascinate the eye. To be honest the modern objects d'arte on display jarred with the early style of decoration.This rather elaborate bassinet in bronze and silver gilt was meant to hold Crown Prince Umberto. A behelmeted Roma supports the canopy and a winged angles bears the joint arms of Savoy and Montenegro. A bit of royal overkill, don't you think?
A few random shots of the streets in the area. Sadly even the loveliest entrance can be ruined by graffiti - a major problem here. And its it just me or does that lion look a bit like Bert Lahr? This climbing rose is growing wild inside the wall of the Ethiopian Embassy near us. The vibrant color against the rusted gate and gray sky immediately caught my eye.

03 maggio - San Ciriaco di Gerusalemme

Gratuitious Puppy Video III

Well it ain't C. B DeMille but.....


02 maggio - Sant'Atanasio di Alessandria

No Laughing Matter

Pandemics are no laughing matter but ....


With apologies to A. A. Milne - if though the Disney Corporation hasn't tarnished poor Pooh enough!

01 maggio - San Riccardo Pampuri

Il Ciclo di Mesi - Maggio

This is the last of the Ciclo di Mesi from the Castello del Buonconsiglo in Trento or at least this is last of the cycle that I began posting past June. And coming full circle - uno ciclo - it ends with the courting ritual that will give way to the bridal parties of June. Gallants make love to their ladies as garlands are woven, songs are sung and... yes the peasants continue their labours!

01 maggio - San Riccardo Pampuri

Puppies in Profile

Calm down - its still the first week OK? I'm still excited about having them around the house, so this type of post is going to show up with alarming regularity. Once they stop being "cute" I'll get more settled. And I received several requests to tell the world a bit more about our Nora and Nicky. Honest I have! Would I lie to you? Well yes, but not about things like that!

Both pups were born at Casa delgi Orso in Capena just north of Rome. Massimo Buzzanca and Tizzana Talo have previously bred St Bernards but in the past two years had added daschies to their breeding activities. He's a vet with a practice in Rome and she manages the kennel. There is a restriction on the number of litters so we rest assured that it is not a "puppy mill." Their facility is well maintained and I watched them with the dogs - there was a good deal of honest affection and caring, something I don't think you can fake with animals. Our guys came from two different litters born about a week apart. A few week's ago I put up some photos of their dames and sires. Now here's some details on the kids, as well as those gratuitous Puppy pictures.

Ladies and first born take precedent of place - plus she tussled with Nicky for it and won - so:
Here's Nora!

• Registraton name: Eleonora della Casa degli Orsi
• Known as: Nora
• Born: February 13, 2009
• Mother: Lucy - Italian, Dwarf Wire-haired Dachshund, Italian Champion in Boar Hunting trials
• Father: Ligetfalvi Erik (Camillo), Hungarian, Dwarf Wire-haired Dachshund, Italian Champion in Burrow trials
• Observations: On the day we picked her up at the kennel she was quiet shy and almost apologetic for being in the back seat. Its all an act! She is already showing the hunting instinct that makes her parents champions. And she has quite the growl on her for such a little thing.

Then there's our Nick:

• Registraton name: Fantastico Nicky della Casa degli Orsi
• Known as: Nicky
• Born: February 24, 2009
• Mother: Catullus Filomena (Giverny), Hungarian, Miniature Wire-haired Dachshund
• Father: Catullus Indian (Monet), Hungarian, Miniature Wire-haired Dachshund
• Observations: He started being real sucky on the ride home and continues to be the biggest suck in the history of dogs. Despite being 1/3 her size he is able to hold his own in puppy scraps with Nora. And he seems to think he has right of ownership to my lap.

So many of our friends sent us great suggestions for names and there were some heated discussions - okay outright fights - until we settled on Dora's suggestion: Nick and Nora. Cute but of what significance? Well despite what an Anonymous commenter rudely suggested I am not the only one who immediately cottoned on to where she was coming from. One of Hollywood's greatest couples were Myrna Loy and William Powell as Dashiell Hammett's wild and witty detectives Nick and Nora Charles. The first Thin Man movie was screened in 1934 and 5 sequels followed, the last in 1947. Unlike many sequels - Rocky XXXIII et al - the series was consistently carried by the chemistry between Powell and Loy; erudite, witty scripts mostly by Hammett and the writing team of Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett; and for the first four, the direction of W. S. Van Dyke.

As Carla reminded me Nick and Nora had a dog of their own - Asta played by that well-known actor Skippy. The only Asta they will be getting will be of the stuffed variety!
And then when their awake they can fight over it - and they will!

30 aprile - San Pio V Papa

The Last of the Follies Girls

I've been fascinated by the story of Flo Ziegfeld and his famous Follies since I first discovered a book about him at our local library back in the '50s. I now have a full collection of books tracing the story of man and his remarkable creative ability. He was particularly know for picking some of the most beautiful and talented women in the world to be Follies Girls. I was surprised to see in Tuesday's New York Times that Doris Eaton (Travis), the last of the Follies Girls, is still alive, well and literally kicking.

A right click on the picture of Doris in her heyday as a Ziegfeld girl will take you to the article. The vitality and spirit of the wowman, at 105, is amazing.

30 aprile - San Pio V Papa

Mercoledi Musicale

I mentioned yesterday that we'll be hearing the Prologue to Boito's Mifistofele this weekend on the Accademia; here is the concluding part from the San Fransisco Opera in 1989.

We saw this same production in Chicago in the mid-90s with Sam Ramey as a charismatic Satan. Canadian director Robert Carsen and designer Michael Levine did some of their finest work on this production. I remember wondering if they had blown all their inspiration right off the bat on the prologue only to spend the rest of the evening in constant wonder at their whole conception.



Unfortunately the video quality is not the best nor can it totally capture the magic of this near perfect marriage of music and staging as I recall experiencing it back in Chicago.

29 aprile - Santa Caterina da Siena, patrona d'Italia

Forever Faithful

On Saturday night many of us in the audience at the Sala Ste Cecilia weren't so much applauding the performance we had just witnessed of Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht's Seven Deadly Sins as the sheer existence of the star performer. We were applauding her and ourselves for still being around. Like Marianne Faithful we had got through the past 40 years a bit battered, a bit bruised but still able say to the world "We're here!"

Faithful has reinvented herself several times now - as a singer, an actress, a writer and now as what they use to call in the old days a diseuse. It is interesting to note that though the programme note told us we were hearing the arrangement for contralto, she was listed simply as "voce" or voice. And even someone as steeped in nostalgia as I have to admit there really isn't much of a voice left - but what she has is an incredible ability to communicate. Using a variation on the Auden-Kallman English translation she sang-spoke Brecht's story of Anna, a little girl from Louisiana who goes to the big cities to make her fortune. She sends all her money home to her moralistic pontificating family so they can build a little house on the Mississippi.

Originally conceived as a ballet-opera Brecht uses the conceit of two Anna's - Anna I, the singer, who by her own admission is "realistic" and Anna II, the dancer, who is "the one with the looks." All the while her travels - through St Louis (Sloth), Memphis (Pride), Los Angeles (Wrath), Philadelphia (Gluttony), Boston (Lust), Baltimore (Avarice), San Francisco (Envy) - are commented on by her family - in the form of a barbershop quartet. Brecht's intent is satirical: Anna II only does wrong when she refuses to commit the sin required to earn the money. She tries to do the right think but is always brought back to "reality" by Anna I and her hypocritical family. The only thing the defeated Anna II ever says is "Right, Anna."

Under Ingo Metzmacher the Orchestra treated Weill's music to the glowing performance it deserved - I happen to believe Weill is one of the 20th century greats. And it would be hard to imagine better harmonies than those produced by Mark Bleeke, Eric Edlund, Peter Becker and Wilbur Pauley - the Hudson Shad Quartet. Special praise to Bleeke, who despite a few wayward notes, sang Weill's particularly difficult tenor line effectively. Though the text was printed in the programme the skill of all the performers in delivering the English text made it almost unnecessary.

Laurent was not as enamored of the performance as I - which could have something to do with those clouds of nostalgia - and at one point muttered that he wanted his Weill sung the way Teresa Stratas or Ute Lemper does it - not croaked. And though I am a big Stratas fan, I was more than happy with the experience. It is funny how nostalgia can alter perception.

28 aprile - San Pietro Chanel

Angels and Demons in Concert

The season at Accademia Santa Cecilia is almost over and it has been a good one - I'll be posting something on last Saturday's concert later today. Sure there has been at two or three clinkers - Lorin Maazel leading the most leaden Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette I've ever heard, an uninspired Verdi Requiem under Antonio Pappano and a dull evening of Debussy and Ravel led by Heinz Holliger - but its been a season of some fine - in some cases outstanding - performances and interesting programming. The list of conductors and soloists has been impressive and the chorus and the orchestra are, in MHO, the best in Italy and amongst the best in Europe.

Amongst the highlights have been:

• A slightly dowdy looking Martha Argerich sitting down at the piano and suddenly becoming the most beautiful woman on earth as she showed us how the Beethoven Number 1 should be played.


• The Labèque girls - Katia in scarlet party-girl flounces, Marielle all matronly somber black - under the fatherly eye of Georges Prêtre in an exciting reading of the Poulenc Concerto for two pianos; preceeded by an enchanting performance of his Les Animaux modeles.


• Pappano, who I find so disappointing in the more classical repertoire, tearing the place apart with a wonderfully noisy Mahler 6th - sledge hammer and all. Then further proving he knows his way around 20th century music by conducting some of the finest performances I've heard of Bartok, Sostakovic and Ligeti.


• That wonderful chorus helping Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos finding new things in Orf's shopworn Carmina Burana one week then giving a Broadway umph to Porgy and Bess the next. Plus being all Germanic solemn and sanctimonious in Medelssohn's Elijah, a first rate peformance with Rene Pape of a second rate work and barbarically Polovesian in Borodin's Prince Igor. The later under Gennadi Rozdestvenskij who coupled it with a lush reading of the Tchaikovsky Pathétique.

And speaking of the chorus - Norbert Balartsch's forces will get quite the workout this coming week with the Verdi Te Deum and the prologue to Boito's Mefistofele in a concert under the title Angeli e Demoni.

The bright lights at the Accademia's publicity department are capitalizing on the forthcoming movie of the Dan Brown pot boiler for the general public and the current golden couple of opera , Anna Netrebko & barihunk Erwinn Schrott*, for the more hard core classical music fans. Both the photo and the English blurb advertising the concert on the website are as cheesy as my home made lasagna. Aside from the fact that its really badly Photo Shopped, it looks to me like Antonio's using some of that sweat he works up conducting to repel Erwinn's Devil. I'm a bit disappointed that Erwinn is fully clothed as there are some fine pictures out there of him showing what abdominal exercises can do - I mean for the voice, of course.

We almost always tend to picture the Devil as a horned monster. In a word, repellant. But if he has the capacity to seduce us with all those temptations for which we humans promptly fall, he must be equipped with superior intelligence, to begin with, and he must also be irresistibly attractive.

Therefore, Uruguayan bass Erwinn Schrott is made to play Mephistopheles. Dazzling as a fallen angel (and the fortunate consort of equally gorgeous Anna Netrebko, the celebrated Russian soprano who recently gave him a son) Schrott will sing the title role in the Prologue to the opera Mephistopheles by Arrigo Boito, the pièce de résistance in the first concert in May conducted by Antonio Pappano.

Still the thought of the forces at Santa Cecilia plus Erwinn - even if he remains fully clothed - doing one of the most fun pieces in Italian opera has me eagerly anticipating this weekend at the Parco.

*My dear friend OC has posted some great shots of Anna, Erwinn and operadom's favorite baby. You have to admit they make a really pretty family.

28 aprile - Luigi Maria Grignion de Montfort

Gratuitious Puppy Video II

Okay I'm being a silly new puppy owner but... hey my blog my choice!



27 aprile - Nostra Signora di Montserrat

Lunedi Lunacy II

I'm not familiar with Twitter - and its not that I'm technically-challenged just that I have my hands full with other things and frankly from what I can see of it my life isn't all that fascinating. And though the Swine Flu is no laughing matter I thought this posting from my buddy Kevin is a great example of where technology can take us:



And much like I said earlier today - these people may well be voting, driving cars and reproducing - though hopefully not all at the same time.

27 aprile - Nostra Signora di Montserrat

Lunedi Lunacy I

This almost sounds like a joke but ... let's admit it there are people out there.



And to think the person that wrote this probably votes, drives a car, reproduces, hell they may even hold public office!

Thanks to my friend Naomi for this one.

27 aprile - Nostra Signora di Montserrat

Gratuitious Puppy Video I

It the Nick and Nora Show!



25 aprile - San Marco evangelista

What Is That?

My friend Yannis posted this short film on Facebook earlier this week. Given what Laurent has been going through this past few weeks I thought I would share it.


What is that? (Τι είναι αυτό;) 2007 from MovieTeller on Vimeo.

Alzheimer's is truly a dreadful disease. As well as it hitting home in our household I know so many of my friends are dealing with it in their families. The best we can all do is have compassion and hold the memories of who they were in our hearts.

25 aprile - San Marco evangelista