Grab Bag

A couple of things which got my attention this week. First off the presses: the Met again! In what the New York Times referred to as "a rare miscalculation" the Metropolitan Opera has had to postpone for at least a year it's plans to bring its menu of performances from the big screen to your television - and whenever you want it! In order to explore yet another revenue stream Peter Gelb had planned that 30 days after an opera had been shown at a movie theater near you it would be available on television on demand and for a fee of course (though quite what the intended fees were to have been has not been divulged as far as I know). I can imagine that the negotiations with unions and solo performers were relatively lengthy and complex but were somehow resolved to everyone's satisfaction. And then he told the movie theaters who apparently blew a gasket and nixed the whole idea - at least for this season. The theater operators are apparently concerned that a significant proportion of people would elect to see the show on television rather than go to the live simulcast or so-called Encore Performance.

My first reaction to this news was "Wadda they nuts?" but the more I have thought about it the more sense their expressions of outrage make to me. I do not own a television but I don't live in a hermit's cave either and I have been struck over the last couple of years by how the market for large-screen high-definition television sets seems to have exploded. So let us assume for the moment that you own one of these wonders of technology. Now let us go on to assume that you want to see the Met production of Manon Lescault. Well, you're in luck because it is showing at the movies on February 16th. But, well, it begins at 10am and that is really a bit early for you on a Saturday morning. And then, because it's Portland and February let's take for granted it is going to be raining and cold. And while your wife isn't about to let you go on your own she isn't really much of a Puccini fan, preferring operas of a more contemporary nature. And the tickets will cost you $44 - not much more than the coffee and popcorn on sale at the concession stand. So, you can spring for the thick end of a hundred bucks and go to the movies...OR, wait just a month and see it in the comfort of your own home with a gin and tonic in your fist and safe in the knowledge that TIVO is coping with this week's edition of American Idol and the baseball season hasn't begun yet so you're not missing a night game from Boston or Seattle or wherever your team of choice secures its prescriptions. The movie moguls' twitchiness is beginning to make more sense isn't it? I have no doubt whatever this will all be sorted out. It's about money, after all, not about art. If you wish to read the same article I did it is here.

I spend so much time listening to euro-centric music of all stripes, including much vocal music and opera that I rarely give a thought to what musically excites the rest of the world. But the other day I came across something blogged by an acquaintance of mine and now ladies and gentlemen I give you Om Kalthoum! For fifty years before her death in 1975 she set millions of hearts a -flutter throughout the arab world. If you want to learn something about her there is an excellent Wikipedia article . But if you just want a taste of an extraordinary personality with a truly great voice then click below...and I do urge you to do so. I have no idea what she is singing about but somehow I just know she felt it with every fibre of her being. And isn't the orchestra a trip? This ain't your dad's opera pit band, I'll tell you that. The last time I saw an orchestra have that much fun they were kids from Venezuela playing Bernstein. Remember them? And the audience obviously gets this performance with its obvious humour and subtleties and loves it! Hey you don't expect to see only Callas and Pavarotti here do ya?