Submitted by Ruffin Graham, Feb 12, 2007 12:28

Dear Jay,

I largely agreed with your critique of the production of Eugen Onegin. I too thought the orchestral ensemble was a little messy, but the singing was so superlative that one was easily distracted from the pit. I have a recording of this opera with the Gergiev/Hvorostovsky team, and I thought Gergiev's approach was almost the same. I wish he would give the orchestra a little more weight, because I find some of Tchaikovsky's music in this opera to be hair-raisingly exciting (e.g. Act II, scene i where he builds the suspense like a master). But all in all it was great night to be at the Met. I felt privileged.

P.S. I continue to read "Impromptus" devotedly in NR.

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