There’s a warmth problem with the orchestra, too. Their work is not easy to judge on the video, because when the principals’ voices, all used with full-out opera-house energy, not always centered and steady (Cassilly on occasion; Astrid Varnay, in her last Met appearances as Begbick, most of the time), and synaesthetically abetted by close-in studies of their vast faces, are given anything important to sing, the orchestra is put on background. But I recall sensing this in the house, too. Of course they’re top-notch, and play well. Levine’s tempos are all in the ballpark. But there’s seldom the bite, the timbral and rhythmic incisiveness or touch of harmonic harshness, that would keep the music on its toes. There’s a lushness in the sound, mostly string-based. Lushness should never be heard in this show. ^(I)

Once again, I’ve hit my time limit, and have not really discussed the physical production or staging. These are once again very hard to evaluate amid the isolations of video shot selection. So I’ll say of the sets and costumes of the expert Jocelyn Herbert only that the former were too lightheartedly cartoonish and the latter too lightheartedly glam, though always good to look at in their fashion. And of the glimpses we get of the staging and the overly intimate portraits of the Personenregie, I’ll just note that this is the only John Dexter production I ever saw that could be accused of being too “humanized.”

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NEXT TIME: Owing to the pressure of work, my next posting will be three weeks hence, on October 12. I plan to enter one more article in my “Before the First Lesson” series, dealing with the overall effects of microphone usage on the sending end, and to catch up on a couple of odds and ends. I will then be back on my usual bi-weekly schedule, and our season will be getting into the swing, with more live opera occasions to talk about.