Christopher Webber wrote:

>Bruce Alan Wilson <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>>Let me get this straight:
>>
>>An imaginatively-staged, well-performed presentation of a
>>not-as-often-as-it-should-be performed opera.
>>
>>The audience loved it.
>>
>>This is, somehow, a Bad Thing.
>>
>>Am I missing something?
>>
>>[The music?  How dare someone care about that!  Of course, the music
>>should never be allowed to interfere with the special effects.  -Dave]
>
>I find Dave's editorial snipe unjustified.

Hey, right back at ya.  Read again.  I answered a question - I didn't
snipe.  I'll refer you back to your post on this topic for an example
of that sort of tactic.

>Janacek's music - like it or not - is written for the theatre

Janacek's music - like it or not - is great music and as such deserves some
respect.  It is not simply accompaniment to an extra-musical spectacle.
You apparently saw, and loved, the performance Janos saw.  Please tell us
why.  In the meantime, understand that there are other valid opinions on
this besides yours.  As well as experience outside yours.

I confess:  I don't have a lot of interest in the topic myself.  But I care
about the state of classical music and have read enough to know that while
there are many who are heartened by the current success of opera - drawing
in the crowds in some instances - there are many who are also concerned it
is being achieved at a price.  Janos is at least honestly telling us how
these developments impact his theater experience.

>..., not for the study or a large armchair.

I don't even know how to respond to the bizarre concept that there are
only two uses for music:  social indulgence at the theater or passive
study.  Nearly everyone I know has a more comprehensive view of music,
even if they've barely thought about it.

>Mr Wilson is evidently quite as baffled as I am by Mr Gereben's
>apparently bizarre distaste for the audience, singers, staging and just
>about every other aspect of the art form on which he expends so much
>time and so many words.

I don't often agree with what Janos says myself, so I'll let him respond
to this, so far utterly unsubstantiated, claim.  Frankly, I think his
posts speak for themselves.  In any case, you need to remember that your
opinion isn't evidence of anything except that you have one.  If you want
to discuss specifics, please do so - argue your case, otherwise you are
engaging in the very sniping you seem so adversely sensitive to.

Dave
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http://www.classical.net/