‘Cellini’ film shows wisdom of over-the-top approach

Maija Kovalevska in Benvenuto Cellini.
Today I took a break from a lot of editing tests, reporting and writing to take in a showing, via Emerging Pictures, of the 2007 Salzburg Festival production of Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini (here’s the trailer).
This production, in which all the singing, particularly that of the Latvian soprano Maija Kovalevska and the [...]

Liszt anecdote provides glimpse of celebrity

I found a little essay about Franz Liszt in a book I chose rather impulsively from the racks of a used-bookstore hereabouts, and I want to mention it because it’s a contemporary memory of the great Hungarian and sometimes such memories get overlooked, especially if the memoirist isn’t a member of the famous person’s circle.
This [...]

Two useful new classical sites

It’s been a tough last week or so, with some mystery illness taking me over for about 24 hours early in the week, and problems with the air conditioning and the plumbing here in the house.
But things have settled down a little, and that gives me the chance to talk about two relatively new sites [...]