I had a chance to see the insides of La Scala (no performance) and La
Fenice (with Le Roi de Lahore) during my ongoing trip to Italy.  Both
are sumptuous and, to me, excessively so.  Gilt everywhere, undoubtedly
historically accurate, but overpowering nevertheless.  I lasted through
one act of Massenet's Le Roi de Lahore.  I am admittedly inexpert in
opera beyond recordings and a couple of performances.  The pit orchestra
sounded fine and the hall is musically excellent.  In comparison with
live theatre of which I see quite a bit, the acting and blocking were
amateurish, and the Orientalist hodgepodge of the story and its
representation got to be too much to take.  From the lightweight villain
in pink tasseled cap and pointy shoes to the rest of the men, an unholy
admixture of Keebler Elf and Beldar Conehead, to a slo-mo fight scene
out of a 1970s martial arts flick sealed the evening as doomed.  $150
down the drain, chalk it up to experience.  Opera was, is, and will be
a closed book to me.

I also heard a performance of Brahms (Canto del Destino) and Orff (guess
what) in Milan.  Their hall is exquisitely modern with lots of curved
wood and soft surfaces.  It is a multipurpose venue, much like the Dorothy
Chandler Pavilion, which it resembles although with perhaps one fewer
level.  The city's orchestra is very young and I think will grow into
its own sound in time.  Also like the Chandler, some orchestral voices
are lost or muddied.

The City of Cremona offered a free performance of Beethoven's Missa
Solemnis in the cathedral, packed to the gills for the occasion.  The
blend of material, execution, and location were terrific.  I couldn't
stay for the whole thing due to its starting at 9pm and my having to
leave very early the next morning.

Not much going on at this time of year in Italy for those of us who like
purely instrumental music but that is hardly surprising.  As an aside,
Los Angelenos have long held an inferiority complex about our behavior
at cultural events.  We tell ourselves we don't dress well enough, cough
too much, talk during the concert, and/or prematurely head for the exits.
I saw all of this and more at the events I attended in Milan, Cremona,
and Venice.

Ravi Narasimhan from Hotel Davanzati in Florence