Intermezzo

Count on the Met

Le Comte Ory - Metropolitan Opera, 5 April 2011

No, not the big screen version, the real thing. Tuesday night's performance was filmed as a dry run for the big HD event, with the cameras a distracting presence on the periphery, and what I assume was clumsy amplification lending a pronounced echo to certain voices. As so often at the Proms, I had the lurking feeling that those of us in the house were a second class audience, a mere applause machine dragged in to provide 'atmosphere' for the consecration to hard copy. And despite some truly fabulous singing, the show was never quite engaging enough to shake off the doubts.

Rockers delight

Bartlett Sher's traditionally-styled but actually ~new~ production of Le Comte Ory opened at the Met last night. Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times has pronounced it 'A Lively, Stylish Met Debut'. It's certainly spectacularly cast, with Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Stéphane Degout and Michele Pertusi all making an appearance.