Met Gala

I caught the end of the Met gala (in aid of Volpe's retirement) at the weekend and it seemed very much a mixed affair. The chorus seemed to be labouring somewhat in the Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana, the choral sound was heavily overladen with what I thought was unpleasant vibrato; rather worrying. I am not quite sure that having Frederika von Stade and Kiri te Kanawa doing something from Cosi van Tutte was ideal, could they have found them something a little more suitable for divas of a certain age? Still it was lovely to hear the younger generation (Susan Graham et al) in another excerpt. I must confess that I was also a bit bemused by Karita Mattila's Hanna Glawari, but perhaps she was a bit bemused as well having only just sung the title role in Fidelio in the same house. I realise that I did not hear the whole gala and probably missed the best bits, and also it was one of those things where the best response is probably 'you really just had to be there'