Cecilia Bartoli in Paris on Friday night

Cecilia Bartoli, originally uploaded by rsepulveda.

What can I say. Boring concert.
I've now seen Cecilia sing 13 times, hence I guess I can at least express an opinion. I've been listening to her live for the past 15 years.

Friday night's concert was an easy concert for her: she almost repeated aria for aria the concert she gave us last year in Paris. For those in the packed crowd that have bought her latest album, indeed she does sing it in the same way as on the CD. We don't expect her however to sing however the same way: we want interpretation (she gives plenty), ut different than a standardized Cecilia recital.

Of course the crowd was in total harmony with her, whatever new aria she announced, they went "aaaah".

And I found her voice or her choice now of arias to be more on the soprano side than the mezzo, and that is a shame.

So either I was in the wrong mood, or Cecilia needs to get back on track and bring to us more awe, more emotion, more excitement than the plain diva recital that you get on TV for new year's eve.