Tonight's Semiramide at the Met

[lennygoran]

Some really great singing and a fine production made for an enjoyable opera experience-Rossini's music for this opera is right up my alley! Len

[lennygoran]

Some really great singing and a fine production made for an enjoyable opera experience-Rossini's music for this opera is right up my alley! Len

With regard to last night I enjoyed this comment from the program notes. "It is said that rossini, a famous gourmand, helped develop the sumptuous dish known as tournedos rossin. Julia Child commented that a platter of tournedos rossini takes the filet steak about as far as it can go-not surprising since her recipe calls for the filet to be fried in butter, placed on an artichoke heart [also cooked in butter], topped by a slice of foie gras [that has been basted in madeira and beef stock] garnished with slices of truffles, then drizzled with a madeira demi-glace. It is an appropriate tribute to a composer whose semiramide took bel canto opera about as far as it could go." We've had renditions of tournedos rossini twice over the years-sinful! Len from secaucus.

[maestrob]

Hi, Len!

Semiramide tests the singers, that's for sure. I guess you saw the recent picture posted here of the house 1/3 filled for a Tuesday performance of this rare opera, and I wondered how was the crowd size for your performance?

[barney]

Tournedos Rossini were in vogue in the 1980s, and I also had the dish a few times, but in Australia it came without the truffles, to my disappointment. Probably because that would push up the price of an already expensive dish.
Later, for a birthday, I went to Rockpool (a famous restaurant in both Sydney and Melbourne) and, for the only time in my life, had fresh shaved truffles. Delicious but expensive. The steak alone was $95, with more for salad or vegetables (including the truffles).
In all, several hundred dollars later, I felt it was vastly overpriced. I have in fact been to more expensive places once or twice, but they justified it.
A digression, but not too far. To conclude, a favourite anecdote about Rossini: He congratulated the American diva Adelina Patti by saying: "Madame, I have cried only twice in my life. Once when I dropped a wing of truffled chicken into Lake Como, and once when for the first time I heard you sing."

[lennygoran]

Hi, Len!

Semiramide tests the singers, that's for sure. I guess you saw the recent picture posted here of the house 1/3 filled for a Tuesday performance of this rare opera, and I wondered how was the crowd size for your performance?

Brian while not full it was as far as I could determine more than 1/3 full-I'd guess maybe 75% full but it's just a guess on my part. Len

[lennygoran]

Tournedos Rossini were in vogue in the 1980s, and I also had the dish a few times, but in Australia it came without the truffles, to my disappointment. Probably because that would push up the price of an already expensive dish.
Later, for a birthday, I went to Rockpool (a famous restaurant in both Sydney and Melbourne) and, for the only time in my life, had fresh shaved truffles. Delicious but expensive. The steak alone was $95, with more for salad or vegetables (including the truffles).
In all, several hundred dollars later, I felt it was vastly overpriced. I have in fact been to more expensive places once or twice, but they justified it.
A digression, but not too far. To conclude, a favourite anecdote about Rossini: He congratulated the American diva Adelina Patti by saying: "Madame, I have cried only twice in my life. Once when I dropped a wing of truffled chicken into Lake Como, and once when for the first time I heard you sing."

Barney loved the digression! Len