Janos Gereben wrote: >Rouse did better with the 1997 "Kabir Padavali," a song cycle to text >by a 14th century Indian poet. With some shimmering passages, worthy of >Richard Strauss, and a fine vocal line, there is music here beyond the "big >sound." The singer was Valdine Anderson, introduced by Rouse as the soprano >said by (the polite and generous) Dawn Upshaw to sing the work "better than >I did" (Upshaw introduced the work originally). A surprising and dubious >statement in light of the skillful but lackluster performance Sunday night. For the record, Dawn Upshaw was ill the one and only time she sang "Kabir." I hope other singers take up this masterpiece, but they have to take on sanskrit! Jeff Dunn [log in to unmask]