NEW YORK CITY
JANUARY 26-27, 2002

Josie & Marjorie

We came in on short notice. The Feldmans' apartment was suddenly free, Carl had two prime tickets to see Levine conduct the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and Marjorie and Jonathan were glad to have a night out.

Unfortunately, Josie had a cold. She was sniffling and coughing, and each cough would make her cry. She had a slight fever which, together with her mild case of eczema, caused me to dub her "Hot and Crusty." She is still adorable and lovable. The pictures here are from a week ago, before she was ill. We had deli delivered from the Second Avenue Deli. It was fair. Too greasy. But, to be fair, a fabulous mushroom barley soup. We watched Hannibal on PayTV. Is this not one of the great movies of all time? Is not Anthony Hopkins a brilliant actor?Is it not an brilliant bit of casting and directing--Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta, Giancarlo Giannini, and Ridley Scott?

On Sunday, we brought several cartons of books up to Carol's office at JTS and went on to Carnegie Hall. We got a great parking space on the street. Is this not what makes a great New York weekend? We had a delicious light Greek lunch at Molyvos on Seventh Avenue. 

It was thrilling to be in Carnegie Hall, to see James Levine, and to hear Renée Fleming. She sang Seven Early Songs of Alban Berg, luscious with overripe romanicism. The orchestra accompanied her beautifully and clearly loved her. The Mahler Sixth was another matter. Perhaps it was that I, too, had a cold and was feeling out of sorts. But Carol, who is well, agreed that there was no magic. Perhaps we witnessed the greatest concert of the season in New York, but if we did, we didn't know it. It was monochromatic, boring, mostly bombast. Lots of errors in the brass and horns. The audience ate it up, though. We look forward to the review in the Times.

Josie

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