| Part of the reason that the Met's previous P&B may have seemed "to be excruciating in its length" was that Levine just didn't seem to figure out how to bring the various pieces (full out opera, musical comedy, mixtures of the two) together. My preferences for the complete piece are DeMain, Houston Grand Opera on RCA which will never be bettered and Rattle/Glyndebourne. Both have an abilty to weave this piece into a cohesive whole, while so many other conductors simply don't. Levine, more than almost any other major conductor didn't seem to have a clue. At some point a recording was planned but scrapped based on the results which were not everything anyone hoped they might be. As for me, I have written several articles on the importance of not cutting the piece. |
