Posted by Richard on March 20, 2002 at 19:25:24:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Black Lung Crisis in NY posted by Mike Solms on March 18, 2002 at 10:36:50:
Nobody beats the clown who totally destroyed the mood of a work played during a Sibelius cycle given by Colin Davis and the London Symphony at Avery Fisher a few years ago. The work was a song cycle, settings of Finnish verse, sung by a fine Scandinavian mezzo, not a huge celebrity, but admired by those who know lieder recitalists. The mood of these verses was dark. The style was typical Sibelius-cerebral. The final song was one of those things where the farm maiden is wooed by a succession of would be suiters, each gets farther than the last (there is a droll element here), mother always scolds, and in the final verse, the last cad has his way, leaves her ruined(19th century stuff)and she's done for. It ends with a brief, hushed orchestral coda. She's standing there, her music folded shut, her eyes downcast, totally in character. Davis gives the cut-off with his hands raised. Before he has slowly lowered them, some pretentious lout at the end of my row breaks the silence with a whinnying BRAVA DIVA!!! If I'd been next to him, behind him, or in front of him, I'd have probably smacked him.