Submitted by Dick, Aug 13, 2007 06:21

I find this review rather disappointing, and somewhat puzzling in places as well. The first thing that puzzles me is the sentence which mentions that Domingo was "miked" during the concert. As far as I know the microphones were the ones one usually sees during classical concerts. Nothing unusual in that, and not worth a special mention which made it sound as if it was some sort of special requirement or need of Domingo to be miked. And there were very good reasons for the microphones, because the concert was recorded and will be aired on both Austrian national television and radio in the coming days.

The bit about the fact that there were probably few Spanish-speakers in the audience and that there were no supertitles or texts also sounds somewhat strange to me. One doesn't have to speak Spanish in order to like zarzuelas. But then, after reading many of the reviews Domingo's efforts to bring zarzuela music to audiences in the US, I am beginning to think that people in Europe are on the whole far more knowledgeable about, and receptive of zarzuela music than many audiences, and critics in the US . And the fact that there were no supertitles or texts for this concert had a very good reason. Villazón only pulled out after he sang a concert in Trondheim (Norway) on the 5th of August and Domingo had been singing in Ravinia on the 4th. That meant that there was very little time to put a new programme together and no time to make texts or supertitles. I believe that was common knowledge among concert-goers that evening.

The final bit which struck me as strange, and even somewhat sloppy, in this review is the bit about the award ceremony after the concert. That was not something which was cobbled together by a couple of local officials, but Domingo was awarded the Gold Medal of the State of Salzburg. Some elementary research, or even a quick glance at the articles about the concert ( available in English and German) in the excellent magazine which the organisation of the festival publishes both in print and on its website every day, would have explained all that.

As far as I am concerned a rather disappointing and somewhat sloppy-looking review.

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