It’s a beautiful afternoon outside, I am drinking tea and eating a donut in the middle of the day – that’s a living! While busying myself with some browsing of the internets, I came across this great rendition of Verdi’s Ella giammai m´amo – King Filip’s aria from Don Carlo – one of the most amazing pieces of music written for bass I think.
This version is done by a German bass Rene Pape at the opening of Oslo Opera – enjoy!
Perverse Egalitarianism 
Tea and a donut? You Russians can’t get anything right!
I know, I know – but apparently we can easily survive a knife in back…
True, but the very fact that you can write that you were enjoying tea with a donut while listening to Verdi only confirms that I will never be as pretentious as you! Ack. But it’s good to have goals!
Everything’s possible, Shahar – I used to think the same way myself, but then I started reading An und Fur Sich every day and look where I am right now – you have to believe in yourself!
I have heard of this thing called the power of positive thinking–but how can I know it will work for me? When does imitation yield to inspiration?
… I heard Pape sing this live in Berlin- indeed, very good… though still no competition to the likes of Boris Chirstoff or Nicolai Ghiaurov, in their own prime…