In Brief: It's April!

Here is your regular Sunday dosage of interesting items, from Blogville and beyond:

• Leon Dominguez wrote a great post about why the David Fielding production of Strauss's Die Ägyptische Helena failed. It is ultimately not my concern: I am just thrilled to get to hear the opera live several times on my Sirius radio. Major gratitude must be given to Deborah Voigt for prevailing on the Met to stage it. [Sieglinde's Diaries]


• Last week, I referred to Fred Himebaugh refraining from making one of "his anti-Catholic jokes." Upon reconsideration, Fred's jokes are definitely not "anti-Catholic." I should have said one of "his jokes about the weirder fringes of Catholicism." Sorry, Fred! Clearly, I need to see a doctor about my Hyper-Sensitive Catholic Disorder. [The Fredösphere]


• Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian is an Ionarts favorite. Jessa Crispin tells us that his new book, The Road, has an unlikely ally, Oprah Winfrey, who has included it on the reading list for her very influential book club. I have not read The Road yet, and while I am glad for the money that this will put in McCarthy's pocket, Oprah's imprimatur makes me wonder if I should bother. Is this another All the Shitty Horses? [Blog of a Bookslut]


• "The breath needs to kind of just flow out like vomit, and the consonants are like chunks in the vomit." This was how someone coached Anne-Carolyn Bird to sing something fast in Italian. After some reflection, she thought it was good advice. [The Concert]


• Mmmm... Chocolate Jesus would be delicious AND salvific. Edward Winkleman has an intelligent response to the latest art show to get shut down before it can even open. [Edward Winkleman]


• The Queen of England has all the luck: Helen Mirren portrays her in a movie, there is a piece in Carmina Burana about her, AND now she owns two paintings that have turned out to be Caravaggios. [The Guardian]


• Helen Radice had Harrison Birtwhistle blot his bleeding finger on her music, one of his scores, which she is recording, that is. [Twang Twang Twang]


• Owen Wingrave is one of the Britten operas that I have never seen staged, live or on DVD. Tim Ashley, who calls the opera "a cruel allegory of repressed homosexuality and pacifist rage," says it is high time to revive it. [The Guardian]


• Newbie blogger Norman Lebrecht's first non-ArtsJournal link in the sidebar of his blog is to Ionarts. It happened today, March 32. [Slipped Disc]