From strength to strength

Placido Domingo continues to amaze. He is a performer of staggering proportions, with voice, vigour and excitement of a performer much younger than his 64 years. The first act of last night's Metropolitan Opera Die Walküre was full of excitement and thrills, the type to set chills down your spine. Sparks flew between Katarina Dalayman (a beautiful and very feminine Sieglinde) and Domingo as well as between the stage and Valery Gergiev in the pit. The temperature may have cooled a bit in the second act, but it was a thrilling performance.

Yesterday was a full day for me, starting with the Met Guild luncheon honoring Montserrat Caballé. There was a beautiful film about her career and some nice speeches as well as performance by the wonderful (and very funny) Deborah Voigt. The food wasn't good, but the afternoon was nice and enjoyable.

Riccardo Muti did show up last week and led some powerful performances of the Liszt Faust Symphony (with Thomas Moser as his eloquent and lyrical soloist) and Goffredo Petrassi's Coro dei morti. He is a conductor who scoops you into his world and pulls you into the music. I found the Petrassi piece, for men's chorus, three pianos, brass and percussion, very effective. Less effective, I'm afraid was the maestro's request that we meditate at the end of the piece. At Thursday night's performance a cell phone went off and on Friday it was coins falling during the extended diminuendo. But most of all I dislike a musician telling us how we should react to a piece. I think the power of a performance and the music should do that.

Still, it was a persuasive and beautiful evening. Viva Muti, and viva Domingo!