Well, clearly my idea of posting daily on music I've been listening to didn't go very far. Part of the cause lies in my tendency to saturate my ears in one album, listening over and over again until I've finally had enough. So the last few weeks have been filled with Los Romeros, and the album mentioned early this month.

But I've got a new obsession - Leonard Bernstein's marvelous score for WEST SIDE STORY. I was in Central City Colorado yesterday at the opera, where they are including the work in the annual summer series. The voices were just OK, the dancing fine, identification of the important characters hampered somewhat by repetitive costuming - but the orchestra was in top form. A fellow opera lover seated near me remarked that with WEST SIDE STORY, Bernstein was "at the top of his game." He certainly was.

I've got the opening song "Here come the Jets" in my head today, and it will probably be there for awhile. I don't currently have any recordings, but I'm on the trail of a studio recording of the score, with Kiri teKanewa and Jose Carreras in the lead roles, and Bernstein conducting. It's currently out of print, but an online outlet store somewhere in Florida has a copy. I think that copy is mine!