Opera Chic really digs Gluck's Orfeo, but it also makes her sad -- because the greatest Orfeo ever, the Ferrier/Barbirolli, only happened twice, before illness cruelly robbed the world of Kathleen Ferrier's luminous presence (as an hommage to Klever Kaff's immortal voice, VIP Records hosts a mp3 of the Che Farò Senza Euridice? aria of her Orfeo, under Stiedry's baton. The link is in the page linked above).
Anyway: a luckyducky friend who has just had the chance to catch the general rehearsal of Riccardo Muti conducting Gluck's Orfeo e Euridice at Maggio Musicale in Florence, with Daniela Barcellona and Andrea Rost, reports awesome things to Opera Chic -- "He really makes it fly: it's Muti impersonating his younger self, airy and light, unafraid of letting the music sing. Just beautiful".
Performances tonight and tomorrow for lucky fiorentini and visitors.