If only the virtues of the quieter de Niese weren’t outweighed by the drawbacks of de Niese at full throttle. The brighter the voice’s dazzle, the fuzzier the words become, as in Handel’s Let the bright Seraphim. She’s also somewhat distressing in her two Bach cantata arias, delivered either with lame “embellishments” or a headlight glare that obscures the litheness of the vocal line. – The Times
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.
