listen 12:01 a.m. precisely, every July 3rd.

Since my grandmother did the exact same thing before she passed away, I’ve adopted Mme Sayao as my “Avó”. We should all have a Brazilian grandmother, and now I’ve got mine. She calls me her “Dear Met” and I call her “Mammaw Bidu” (it sounds Portuguese, even if it isn’t)

Every year when Bidu Sayao calls, I listen amazed. The quality. It’s so lifelike. I wonder which cell phone carrier she uses?

“Julie Christie as Lara, the violent, sensual, sensitive girl” -Doctor Zhivago, Original Theatrical Trailer

Inevitably, watching Doctor Zhivago, seeing Julie Christie as Lara, or, most especially, hearing that damn theme of hers, there’s one question that I keep asking myself over and over again …

“I’m violent and sensual and sensitive too. Why don’t I have a theme? I want a theme. Why Lara? Why her? I want to be an “international hit” too. If only I had Lara’s theme, then everything would be alright.”

“What happens to a theme like that when a man like you is finished with her?”

“Interested? I give her to you - as a birthday present.”

theme

Apparently, Basque crooner Luis Mariano is what happens to a theme like this one when men like you are finished with her — and I’m so glad. I love it. Lara’s theme, finalmente mia! This is the best birthday present ever!

“Somewhere my love there will be songs to sing….”

Bruckner Symphony No. 7 (EMI CDM 5 66095 2 & Toshiba TOCE-13282): This legendary recording has been in the catalog since it was issued back in the 1970’s. Its first appearance on CD (EMI CDM 7 69923 2) came through OK since the engineers inserted all the edits. But all subsequent re-masterings have omitted bars 35-38 from the finale! EMI had been told about this error before but they chose to ignore it. Subsequently, when Yoshio Okazaki re-mastered the recording for Toshiba in Japan in 2006, he perpetuated EMI’s error. The MHS CD suffers from the same defect. Happily, EMI is now acknowledging the error and is supplying corrected discs. Your defective discs can be replaced through me. Unhappily, it appears that the faulty recording was used in EMI’s recent 160 CD Karajan commemorative set! And the story takes on another amazing twist. As part of the 100th Anniversary of Karajan’s birth, EMI released a special commemorative set in Japan (TOCE-56056/59). But the recording of the Bruckner 4th in this set turned out to be the one recorded by Simon Rattle. Once again EMI owned up to the error and repressed the CD with the Symphony No. 4 with the Karajan performance, but now it seems that Bars 233-236 (8:20 - 8:36) of the 1st Movement are incorrectly repeated twice! Keep trying EMI!!

More horrors await you at the Bruckner “Discographic Den Of Horrors” (and, surprisingly, all of them aren’t from EMI). Highly recommended. Scarier than most Stephen King novels, in fact. So scary that the Bruckner Den may induce nightmares in the fanatically-inclined (aka “me”).

I had this horrible nightmare about me waking-up to find that all my Maria Callas recordings had been remastered by EMI furtively during my sleep — and now they’re all Angela Gheorghiu instead! For example, my 1953 Tosca has been so poorly remastered that Callas, di Stefano, and Gobbi have become Gheorghiu, Alagna, and Ruggero Raimondi.

Since Maestro Levine’s 65th birthday was June 23rd, this post is rather belated. Few people realize, however, that it takes approximately seven days for birthday wishes from the Great Beyond to reach us here on earth — and if the prima donna / well-wisher is having a great day on the heavenly golf course, it could take even longer.

audio Soprano Dorothy Kirsten outs herself as the world’s first Jimmy queen in this radio interview from 1970.

Levine certainly went a long way, just as Miss Kirsten predicted almost 40 years ago, and he’s still goin! Dorothy Kirsten As Sibyl. Bravo Maestro. Brava Diva.