The English National Opera has mounted a production of the opera Punch and Judy by Harrison Birtwistle. I was at the world premier of this work which took place in the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh in 1968. Benjamin Britten had commissioned the piece but together with Peter Pears walked out of the premier mid-performance. Some people have tried to put a gloss on this somewhat unfortunate occurrence by saying BB was ill that day. I was with him that day. He wasn't ill. He just hated the piece. I think it was the unremitting violence which got to him. Well, that and the fact he thought the music was "crap.”

I went to hear the Oregon Symphony Orchestra play Mahler's 9th Symphony last week. I don't know what has got into that crew but they were smokin'!! Time after time in that huge work Mahler hangs the players out to dry making them negotiate fiendishly difficult passages in a most exposed way so there is nowhere for them to hide. Every clam is going to sound with the resonance of a metal triangle being dropped on a concrete floor. This performance was amazing. I left the hall drained but exhilarated.

An interesting article here on Tan Dun. I have difficulty in taking this guy seriously as anything other than one who can write a slick film-score on demand. He takes himself a good deal too seriously for my liking. And his references to Alexander Goehr as "our beloved professor" smack of false modesty. As I recall everyone at Cambridge called Goehr “Sandy.” I had to chuckle when I read what Tan said :"I remember Professor Goehr telling us to avoid ethnic content, to be neutral and independent" and then adding "If you want to be a Chinese avant-garde artist, the safest way is to stick to your grandmother’s tone. The most dangerous way is to follow Western music from the Romantics to 12-tone. This period is poison. I could only use the techniques as a recipe for my fusion cooking" and then read what Goehr said when asked about it: “Actually,” he said, “what I warned them against was to do a Chinese version of Western music. Unfortunately my warning had little effect. They have become Western composers with a few temple bells.” Ouch! Game, set and match to beloved professor Goehr I think.

Pat Kight, a friend of mine from Albany is currently appearing in a production by Willamette Stage Company of David Lindsay Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole in Corvallis. The production has been well received and she tells me that by popular demand the run has been extended until 17th May. I don't know this theater company but I do know what a consummate professional Pat is and how she wouldn't have involved herself with this unless it were going to be a most worthwhile venture. So if you live down that way you should consider going to see this play. Yeah, I know that has nothing to do with opera but Pat is a big supporter of this blog. So sue me.

Riccardo Muti has been appointed obergruppenführer of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra about which the Board of Directors and the musicians claim to be delighted. My spies tell me that when he was at La Scala, Milan, he was a difficult maestro to work with/for. Let's see how the CSO feels about him after he's been in the job a year or two. Bob Shingleton the author of the blog On an Overgrown Path tells a lovely story of working with Muti in the early 1980's. He says "I remember desperately trying to find a cab for Muti in the rather tough street outside the Met Church in tropical heat at the end of one session. Muti appreciated my efforts by saying – “if this had been a Deutsche Grammophon session they would have arranged a limo.” Plus ça change...."

Yet another string player has left his nearly-priceless instrument on some public transport vehicle. This one got it back. I cannot consider this topic without noting that the violinist in this case was so relieved to have his instrument returned he gave the driver a reward of a hundred bucks. An honest cabbie finds your $4 million 18th century fiddle in his cab and instead of hocking it on the Strad black market (Oh, indeed there is one) he makes sure that you are re-united with the tool of your trade asap and you give him a hundred bucks? That's barely walkin'-around money in New York these days! Oh, and he played for the cabbie at the rank at Newark Airport. Yeah, that's gonna feed the kids. I have but one question: What is the matter with these people? You're toting round an instrument worth about the same as the GDP of a small African country and when you get out of a taxi you're too busy picking your nose or whatever to remember you have it with you? Okay, that's two questions. Refer to previous invitation to seek legal redress.