Monthly Archives: February 2018
Recording of the Week – Hvorostovsky as Rigoletto
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 28th February 2018Dmitri Hvorostovsky did not record the Verdi baritone’s summa, Rigoletto, until 2016 – a year after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. This recording was released by Delos near the end of last year shortly before the singer’s death. Rigoletto was not at the core of the great baritone’s repertoire. Of his 182 performances at…
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La Bohème Returns in HD Redux Again Back By Popular Demand Anon
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th February 2018Puccini’s La Bohème was performed by the Met today for the 465,196,276,982,653rd time in a performance telecast to beyond the Andromeda galaxy. The opera is so popular that even where I live, at the end of the line, it’s been done multiple times. A cursory search of the internet shows that the work has been…
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Prevention of Contrast-Associated Acute Kidney Injury
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd February 2018The infusion of iodinated contrast materials as an aid to a variety of imaging studies is associated with the development of acute renal failure (now typically called acute kidney injury). This nephropathy almost always occurs in predisposed patients. Risk factors include pre-existing kidney disease, advanced age (>75), diabetic nephropathy, and congestive heart failure. The common…
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Finale 17 – Semiramide Act 1
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th February 2018Last night was the first performance of the Met’s revival of Rossini’s final italian opera, Semiramide. I’ll have more to say about this opera and its current Met run after the telecast on March 10. The colossal finale of its first act is one of the glories of Italian opera. Here is this finale from…
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Don Carlo – The King’s Apartment
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th February 2018I’m going to do a few posts devoted to great operatic scenes. The first is devoted to the that in the king’s apartment from Verdi’s Don Carlo. This is the first scene of Act 3 or 4 depending on which version of the opera is performed. Don Carlo, one of opera’s greatest masterpieces, exists in…
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L’Elisir d’Amore in HD – 2018
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th February 2018Donizetti’s approach to comic opera is the opposite of Rossini’s. Rossini takes no prisoners. Everybody in his buffa operas has a tenuous connection to sanity reflecting the composers view that the entire world is mad. Donizetti, on the other hand, is more forgiving and offers characters who have redeeming attributes. The difference between the two…
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Pavel Lisitsian
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th February 2018Pavel Lisitsian (1911-2004) was a Russian baritone of Armenian heritage. He started work as a laborer. When his vocal talent was recognized he trained at the Leningrad Conservatory. His vocal career started in that city at the Maly Leningrad State Opera. From 1940 until his retirement from the opera stage in 1966 he was a…
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Klaus Florian Vogt
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd February 2018Klaus Florian Vogt is a German 47 year old tenor who is about to take the title role in Wagner’s Parsifal during the Met’s upcoming run of the opera. The subject of a feature article in this month’s Opera News, Vogt started his musical life as a horn player in the Hamburg Philharmonic (1988-97). After…
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Mad Max Meets Mozart – 2004
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd February 2018This is a review that I wrote in 2004. It’s been buried deep within this site. I decided to copy it to a more visible spot. Things can always get worse. Consider Don Giovanni at the English National Opera. I was at the October 4th performance. Calixto Bieito was the director. He is from Barcelona….
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