Intermezzo

Singing Dog trumps Angela Gheorghiu

I kind of assumed the popularity of Cincinnati's canine opera festival was just a local quirk  - till I checked out YouTube.

A search for 'singing dog' turns up a surprising 2,840 vids. Even restricting the search to the classier 'opera dog' we find 159. For comparison, check out Angela Gheorghiu's score, a paltry 133.

Yet search google and it's a different story. The Romanian firmly trounces the canines in the google total hits stakes (Angela 394,000, singing dogs 113,000), not to mention google images (Angela 4,780, dogs 1,450).

What should we conclude - we want to look at Angela, we want to read about her, but please please don't make us listen to her?

Nipping at Angela's heels:

Bostridge fingers Britten

It's long and hard but Bostridge can handle it...

Ian Bostridge's estimated moustache

{{{{.....runs out of smut.....}}}

Tenor Ian Bostridge reveals how to learn a part in Radio 4's patchy programme (hurry hurry! link vanishes 14 May) on the preparations for ENO's new production of Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice.

INGREDIENTS: 1 finger, 1 piano, 1 original cast recording

METHOD: with recording on in background, play your line with 1 finger. Repeat until notes lodge in skull.

Despite this sterling pianism, Bostridge says that learning the part of Aschenbach, one of the longest and toughest in the repertoire was 'terrifying' . The enormous recitatives, modelled by Britten on the speech patterns of the original Aschenbach, Peter Pears, were 'terrible to learn'.

Ffwd to three weeks before opening night and he still hadn't nailed it, prompting righteous castigation from his six year old son. What's more, the six year old doesn't care for the moustache daddy has grown for the role. Hard to fault his judgement on the basis of the (note---*doctored *)photographic evidence.

The few singing extracts suggest that it will work (maybe even amaze) on the musical level - even if he does end up looking like a bulgarian circus juggler.