Signs I should be working harder

Had a dream about the library of my undergraduate alma mater, but there was also this weird version  of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda being performed that involved French baroque drums and a tambourine.

I spent the morning listening to that Il Complesso recording of Handel’s Floridante and shopping for speakers rather than in deep consideration of the  colonial volumes of the Calendar of State Papers – there is some really nice music in it. (I was worried it might be one of those Handel operas you never hear about for a reason). Highlights included Elmira and Floridante’s Act 2 duet and Rossane’s “si risolvi abbandonarmi.” One review I read emphasized Marjana Mijanovic (Floridante) as a weak link – the criticism was that the technique was not up to what she was trying to do. Other than registering that she sounds uncannily like a countertenor and this is not unmitigatedly wonderful, nothing horrible about her performance jumped out at me.