vilaine fille

Pensée du lundi 21 janvier

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sorrisi e canzoni III

19. tough love from tender friends (repeat)
20. chi mi insegna ròbba tipo scodinzolare e capoccione e mi manda abbraccioni galattici
    
21. chi mi manda un milione di good vibes (condito con baci baci)
22. finding the New York source of this so I can make this (thank you, AKS)
23. fabulous Timberlands! (spasiba, moi drug)
24. une première dame piémontaise ?!? (merci, mon bon patron)
25. Yasmin
26. Volevo che fosse per te anche l’attesa che diventa ritorno…
27. Just one star

Pensée du dimanche 20 janvier

Pensavi fosse un fiore
che conoscevi già,
invece aveva spine tutt’intorno
che pungono e fan male.
Pensavi fosse un fiore…

Pensavi fosse amore,
invece era così,
erano soltanto due parole,
solo due parole, solo due parole…
—Biagio Antonacci

Juan Diego Flórez: Arias for Rubini

Here is my Time Out New York review of the latest CD by Don Juan Diego, Arias for Rubini.

Strangely enough, for the xenophobic United States market, the disc seems to have acquired an additional title, Voce d’Italia. (I mean, let’s give credit where it is due: Voz del Perú, no? Yeah, well, that probably wouldn’t appeal to the Fendi-and-Lambrusco crowd.)

View the trailer here. Go here to read the booklet note by the great Philip Gossett. Listen to Arnoldo’s cabaletta from Guglielmo Tell here. Read reviews and articles at the indispensable Voce di tenore site.

Grazie, Don Juan Diego!

Pensée du mercredi 16 janvier

Portami fuori da qui
nell’aria che si muove…

Portami via da qui se vuoi
e vengo io, vengo con te,
con la tua voce…
—Gianmaria Testa

Gràssie, monsù!

Festa nazionale chez vilaine fille (2008)

Buon compleanno, Don Juan Diego!
Che il Signore La conservi a lungo in salute, amore e felicità.

Juan Diego Flórez turns 35 today. How blessed we all are to be on the planet at the same time as this supremely great artist. If you will forgive the self-quoting, I write in my forthcoming TONY review of his new CD, Arias for Rubini:

Revel in the crystal-clear enunciation, faultless intonation, jaw-dropping agility, and patrician sense of musical architecture that make Flórez a singer without peer.

Let the celebrations begin!

1. Rossini, Matilde di Shabran (1996)
2. Rossini, Le Comte Ory, I and II (1998)
3. Rossini, “Stabat mater” (1999)
4. Puccini, Gianni Schicchi, I and II (2000)
5. Rossini, L’Italiana in Algeri (2001)
6. Tosti, “L’alba separa dalla luce l’ombra” (2002)
7. Donizetti, Maria Stuarda (2003)
8. Bellini, I puritani (2004)
9. Donizetti, L’elisir d’amore I, II, and III (2005)
10. Donizetti, La favorita (2006)
11. Lara, “Granada” (2007)
12. Rossini, La Cenerentola (2008)

Useful JDF links:

• Voce di tenore (the best—thank you, J!)
• Foro Florezidos
• JDF’s Decca site
• Articles by yours truly on JDF from Newsday, Time Out New York, and the New York Times/International Herald Tribune

Sorrisi e canzoni II

10. that the Poste Italiane came through again*
11. that a faraway friend honored me with precious and unexpected gifts
12. Zhivago ink (oh, baby!)
13. an invite to Cuba (even more meaningful than it seems)
14. the donuts metaphor (thank you, KMA)
15. serendipity = miracles + ease
16. Sido Calon, whom I have loved for three decades
17. this (repeat from 2007)
18. Stella del mare

* These things are entirely relative…

Pensée du dimanche 13 janvier

I am bird girl now.
I’ve got my heart
here in my hands now.
I’ve been searching
for my wings sometime.
I’m gonna be born
into soon the sky.
‘Cause I’m a bird girl,
and the bird girls go to heaven.
I’m a bird girl,
and bird girls can fly.
—Antony and the Johnsons

Haiku per l’11 gennaio

Poesie pazzoidi per un artista genialoide. Grazie e tanti auguri!

Cupo fremesti
quale mar che mormora
sotto ciel glauco.

Di beltà mortal
subito risplendette
orrida notte.

In cor serbammo
di te memoria viva—
piaga feconda.

Aggiornamento: Happy Peeps’ Day! (Grazie, sor!)

Pensée du mercredi 9 janvier

Ring the bells that still can ring,
forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in,
that’s how the light gets in,
that’s how the light gets in…
—Father Leonard, “Anthem”

Thank you, AKS.