26 Sep 2005

Plenty of Gallic grace, but a lack of passion

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1295cebe-2b55-11da-995a-00000e2511c8.html

[Financial Times, 25 September 2005]


The mighty Met inaugurated its season last Monday with the usual brouhaha, conspicuous social consumption and some operatic vaudeville, writes Martin Bernheimer.


The first item on the programme – a bit of this and a bit of that – was Act One of Le Nozze di Figaro, with Bryn Terfel impersonating the amiable former barber of Seville and James Levine, the resident übermaestro, serving Mozart in the pit.