David Harbin writes in response to me:

>One of my favourite recordings (Ariadne auf Naxos, Bohm, live 1944) is
>full of the life and magic of a stunning live performance.

Except that it isn't live.  You can repeat it at will.  That is
the difference I was trying, imperfectly, to convey.  We find it
increasingly difficult to sink ourselves into the expensive, inconvenient,
once-and-for-all, here-and-now of the theatrical experience when these
siren-CDs and videos are calling us.

>Plus there are obviously plenty of examples where something, that
>special 'x' factor, flashes in the studio just as legitimately as it
>does in the theatre.

Of course - but it's a totally different 'x' factor, not the same sort
of experience at all.  The uniquely lasting quality theatre offers us
lies, paradoxically, in its transience.  Like a sunset or a perfect fig

Christopher Webber, Blackheath, London, UK
http://www.zarzuela.net
"ZARZUELA!" The Spanish Music Site