The Fredösphere

Who stood to benefit?  My buddy Victor loaned me his copy of an odd, unknown mockumentary on the events surrounding the assassination of Bill Gates:  Nothing So Strange.  I will give a full report.

Right now, however, I'm listening to White Moon:  Songs to Orpheus, a song recital by Dawn Upshaw.  This is the first time I've heard her sing for a chamber setting, and her technique is startling.  Her diction is so clear, and so transparently American in its accent (in the English songs, of course) that at first I couldn't believe she was pulling it off.  That's vulgar, isn't it?  It must be -- right??  She's chewing her vowels -- no??  Well, no.  For too long we've put up with diction (from sopranos, anyway) that is, by turns, garbled and affected.  Blame it on opera.