From Further, Faster and Quicker to Bigger, Sweeter and Juicier!

Regular readers of this blog will know that from time to time I have a wine about regie opera, that strange European invention by which directors of opera inflict productions upon we the paying public which are little or no more than an expression of their own ego without regard to the composer's or librettist's original intentions. I have always found it perplexing that while I am not exactly a lone voice crying in the wilderness there does seem to have been a dearth of known figures in the opera world echoing my complaints. Until this week. A few days ago an interview with Lorin Maazel was published in Milan's foremost newspaper Corriere della Serra in which he had a few things to say. I particularly liked "I've had enough (of conducting at the Salzburg Festival) with weirdly provocative stagings of arrogant directors who think innovation means boring the audience using public funds" and "I feel like speaking up for the paople who buy tickets and are subjected to the wrongheaded interpretations of great operas". He then put it nicely in a nutshell: "They only care about scandals. But the audience are not offended they're simply bored". He was particularly scathing about Peter Zadek's recent production in Hamburg of Verdi's Otello "...where a naked Desdemona was hung out to dry on a rope like laundry, her a** in the air. I have nothing against nudity. At the Lido or the Moulin Rouge beautiful girls look great with their t***s hanging out. But the only thing a lady with her vocal chords in order needs to expose is her voice. People go to the opera for that". C'mon Lorin, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel! I had scarcely finished cheering Mr Maazel when I read that Franco Zeffirelli had come out in support of Maazel referring to Stephen Barlow's Tosca as "laughable; obscene" and Henning Brockhaus's Macbeth as "Eurotrash".*

Now it must be accepted that both Maazel and Zeffirelli are in the course of grinding Bunyanesque-sized axes. Jurgen Flimm the Intendant of Salzburg Festival retorted "Maestro Maazel says he's escaping from Salzburg? He hasn't been invited to conduct here since 2001.  Ouch!  Also it's no secret that the New York Philharmonic can't wait to be rid of him. And Zeffirelli has been very vocal in expressing his ire at what he considers his dissing by Peter Gelb and the Met. Nevertheless I think they have hit the nail on the head and I am delighted they came out and pointed out just how lacking in raiment the Opera Emperor so often is.

Peach season is upon us! I adore peaches in all of their iterations: fresh and juicy and eaten over the sink; in pies, cobblers and crisps...you name it. And the season seems to be so short that once it is upon us I make the most of it. So yesterday I paid a visit to the Farmer's Market and loaded up with the most delicious ones I have tasted in ages. Some of them are sitting in a bowl on a table in my apartment and may be seen in the picture accompanying this post. This afternoon I believe I shall make a pie with them. I use a very simple recipe which has proven to be almost foolproof!

Ingredients:

1 cup Sugar

1/3 cup Flour

1/8 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoons Butter

Pastry for 2 pie crusts

Method:

Combine sugar, flour and salt.  Arrange half of the fruit in pastry lined 9" pie dish.  Sprinkle with half of the sugar mixture.  Repeat with rest of fruit and remainder of sugar mixture.  Dot with butter.  Install top crust, fluting the edges.  Brush top crust with cold water.  Poke holes in crust so steam can escape.  Bake at 450 deg. for about 40  in. or until crust is nicely browned.

Enjoy!

I imagine most of you have been watching or at least reading about the Olympics and will be aware that the Chinese organisers pulled a Milli Vanilli at the opening ceremony. The little girl who was supposed to be seen singing the Chinese national anthem was, at the very last moment, deemed to not be of a standard sufficiently high to represent Chinese girly cuteness. So she was replaced by another little girl who lip-synched her way through a recording of the anthem as sung by the not-cute-enough girl. Now I read that composer Peter Breiner who arranged more than 200 national anthems for the Olympics in Athens is complaining that the Chinese Olympic Committee ripped off his work and has been using his arrangements at the Beijing Olympics without crediting - or, more importantly paying - him. You can read about it in this edition of Wired.  Then of course there was the diminutive gymnasts but let's n ot go there right now.  The Chinese government should just come right out and admit they have a Ministry of Finding New Ways to Cheat.

I see that at the closing ceremony of the Olympics a top female Chinese singer Song Zuying sang a duet with Last Emperor Placido Domingo. Remember my complaint last week about the Three Tenors just turning up for a sound check and pay-check? I rest my case. Domingo is going to have to work harder for his living in a few months when he returns to the Met to sing the role of Maurizio in Cilia's Adrianne Lecouvreur. This appearance has been brought about by a hurried game of musical chairs which began when Salvatore Licitra had to drop out of the new production of Il Trovatore. It is said Domingo will sing six performances. He is reprising the role in which he made his debut at the Met forty years ago. Get ready to suspend your disbelief, folks.

For those of you who don't get Operabuzz (why not? Sign up now!) be aware that on Thursday evening of this week Portland Opera will be teaming up with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra for the annual freebie concert down on the waterfront. The programme will include excerpts from Traviata with appearances by Richard Troxell, Maria Kanrova and the Portland Opera Studio Artists. And the price is right - free. Concert starts at 7pm. See you there?

Have a great week.