What a wonderful collage of reviews, Ton! Thank you very much for your hard work in translating them all for us. But more importantly, thank you for your own account of the concert & related events, especially for including the "little things," the observations and details which help to bring the evening "to life" for us readers (no, nothing is ever as good as hearing & seeing Cecilia truly live, but it's still very nice to read!). Grazie mille. < wink >
Especially, I was struck by your mentioning the fans stuck in traffic jams in a snowstorm! I can imagine slogging down the sidewalk on foot through snow drifts up to my neck, if I had to, to get to a Cecilia concert on time! < grin > And Mariska has mentioned what good audiences the Concertgebouw can boast, so I was surprised about that cell phone ringing-- as Ruben says, during "Vanne pentita," of all terrible moments for such a crass interruption! Good grief. (Those cell phones are a BLIGHT on civilization, I say! NObody needs to talk to me THAT badly...) But based on hearing this piece in Chicago, I can reassure you that the CD version is almost as touching as the "unadulterated" live rendition, if that's any consolation...
Also, how sad that you folks apparently didn't get to greet and congratulate Cecilia "in person" at an autograph session afterward: but as you say, Ton, I'm sure she was fully aware that all her biggest fans were "front & center," and I'm sure that a single look at all your faces could've told her what pleasure she'd given everyone through her music, yes?! < grin > We all just wish we had been there with you.
As for what the reviews said: I, too, am eager for Cecilia to bring out another music DVD, or even a film. This past Sunday night, hardly able to contain my anticipation for the Amsterdam reviews we've now read here, I finally "broke out" the Don Giovanni DVD I've been "saving up" for a night when I really wanted to luxuriate in CB's singing, and I must say, I wasn't disappointed for having waited some months (since first buying it) to watch it! The sets were a little over-modern, perhaps, but cleverly constructed, and the cast as a whole was very satisfying, vocally and theatrically. And Cecilia, as Elvira-- well, she was La Suprema then, as she is today! And it's good lately to read reviews where her extraordinary talents are finally being appreciated as the supreme accomplishment they are.
Will the Salieri film ever come out on DVD?! If not, I wonder why not. Does French TV own the copyright? Are they, like me, saving a DVD "for a rainy day"?! I wish whoever owns the copyright would release the thing commercially soon. But meanwhile, what other operas or dramas would we like to see Cecilia performing in? There's an amusing question to ponder on a long cold night while those Netherlands are still blanketed in snow! < grin > Let's see... Fire up those imaginations and make some suggestions, folks! You never know: some "person of influence" might take a hint from the Forum...
Pen
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Bravo, Ton! Brava, Cecilia! (O.P. DVD? Please!) 
