by Sedgwick Clark<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n An article on AOL early this week by Aaron Crowe profiles the U.S.\u2019s the ten worst cities to live in. The reasons are no surprise: unemployment, climate, crime, foreclosures. In the worst, El Centro, CA, unemployment is 27.5% and the cemetery is in foreclosure. Five cities caught my eye for reasons unspecified in the article but which my readers will understand: <\/span><\/p>\n 2. Cleveland<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n 3. Detroit<\/span><\/p>\n 6. Los Angeles<\/span><\/p>\n 8. Newark <\/span><\/p>\n 9. Miami<\/span><\/p>\n Last year more people left Cleveland than any other major city: 2,658. Brutal winters, political corruption, lousy sports teams, and high taxes are blamed. Unmentioned: the flight of large businesses that once contributed to the arts.<\/span><\/p>\n Detroit is crimewise the country\u2019s \u201cmost dangerous city,\u201d with 13.7% unemployment, a \u201cstumbling\u201d although hopefully improving auto industry, and the highest national office vacancy (30%) in the land. Last year you could buy a house for $10,000.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t really care about breathing,\u201d writes Crowe, \u201cLos Angeles is a great place.\u201d It has the worst ozone level and most congested traffic in the States. Best wear goggles.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPolitical and social dysfunction\u201d have plagued Newark for memory-defying years. The city\u2019s young, energetic mayor, Corey Booker, has made inroads into crime and poverty, but a $70 million deficit doesn\u2019t leave much for the New Jersey Symphony.<\/span><\/p>\n After Detroit, Miami is the worst place to raise a family. It also has some of the worst drivers and traffic in the country. The Miami Philharmonic folded a few years ago, just before the new arts center with no parking facilities opened. But it does have the New World Symphony, which recently announced that Frank Gehry would build it a new concert hall\u2014so don\u2019t abandon all<\/em> hope, ye who enter.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 40 Years of James Levine at the Met<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The Metropolitan Opera has announced the release of huge CD and DVD sets to honor James Levine\u2019s 40th anniversary, with 11 operas on each format and a bonus DVD of concert performances.\u00a0 <\/span>The complete list is below.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m especially happy to see the 1983 Pell\u00e9as et M\u00e9lisande<\/em> in the CD set. This was the second time around for Levine at the Met in Debussy\u2019s only completed opera. His first go at Pell\u00e9as <\/em>had been in 1978 with a brilliant theatrical touch at the beginning: The house lights dimmed to black, and Levine made his way to the podium in total darkness. The music welled up from the void, and ever so slowly the lights on the players\u2019 music stands began to glow. As the opera progressed, however, Levine\u2019s conducting struck me as perfect in every detail but shy of atmosphere overall. But by 1983 his Pell\u00e9as<\/em> was luminous, reminding me of Ansermet\u2019s stereo recording, and I can\u2019t wait to hear it. Jeannette Pilou<\/span>, Dale Duesing<\/span>, Jos\u00e9 van Dam, and Jerome Hines are featured<\/span> in the cast. A bonus CD contains excerpts from two other performances: one from 1978 with Stratas, Gabriel Bacquier<\/span>, and Hines, and a second from 1995 with Frederica von Stade<\/span> and Dwayne Croft<\/span>. I\u2019ll be interested to hear how my memory holds up.<\/span><\/p>\n Longtime broadcast producer Jay David Saks promises revelations in his digital remastering of these recordings. Many of them date back to c. 1980, and at the time I often found their sonic perspective overly close (undoubtedly in the interest of vocal clarity) and lacking in atmosphere. These qualities are a death knell to Pell\u00e9as<\/em>. (I especially recall my disappointment with the broadcast\u2019s sonic dissection of Manuel Rosenthal\u2019s wondrous performance of Ravel\u2019s L\u2019Enfant et les Sort\u00ecleges<\/em>, which was so magical in the house.). But who knows what glories are possible in the remixing process? I cross my fingers.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 11 Titles on 32 CDs<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Berg: Lulu<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Christine Sch\u00e4fer, Hanna Schwarz, David Kuebler, Clifton Forbis, James Courtney; April 21, 2001<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Berg: Wozzeck<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 van Dam, Anja Silja, Ragnar Ulfung, Richard Cassilly, Dieter Weller; March 8, 1980<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Marcello Giordani, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Kristine Jepson, Peter Coleman-Wright, John Del Carlo, Robert Lloyd; December 27, 2003<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Berlioz: Les Troyens<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Deborah Voigt, Ben Heppner, Dwayne Croft, Robert Lloyd; February 22, 2003<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Debussy:\u00a0Pell\u00e9as et M\u00e9lisande <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Jeannette Pilou, Dale Duesing, Jocelyne Taillon, Jos\u00e9 van Dam, Jerome Hines; January 22, 1983 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Harbison: The Great Gatsby<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Jerry Hadley, Dawn Upshaw, Dwayne Croft, Susan Graham, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mark Baker; January 1, 2000<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Parade <\/span><\/em><\/strong>(triple bill)\u2014Satie: Parade<\/em> \/ Poulenc: Les Mamelles de Tir\u00e9sias<\/em> \/ Ravel: L\u2019Enfant et les Sortil\u00e8ges<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Ainhoa Arteta, Danielle de Niese, Earle Patriarco, Ruth Ann Swenson, Wendy White; March 16, 2002<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Schoenberg: Moses und Aron <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Philip Langridge, John Tomlinson; February 20, 1999<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Stravinsky: The Rake\u2019s Progress<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Dawn Upshaw, Paul Groves, Samuel Ramey, Stephanie Blythe; April 19, 2003<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Stravinsky<\/em> (triple bill)\u2014Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps \/ Le Rossignol \/ Oedipus Rex<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n William Lewis, Florence Quivar, Franz Mazura, Gianna Rolandi, Philip Creech; February 25, 1984<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Wagner: Lohengrin<\/em> <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Ben Heppner, Deborah Voigt, Deborah Polaski, Hans-Joachim Ketelsen, Eric Halfvarson; March 21, 1998<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 12 Titles on 21 DVDs <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Berg: Lulu <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Julia Migenes, Franz Mazura, Evelyn Lear, Kenneth Riegel; December 1980 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Berg: Wozzeck<\/em><\/strong> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Falk Struckmann, Katarina Dalayman, Wolfgang Neumann, Graham Clark, Michael Devlin; October 2001<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Teresa Stratas, H\u00e5kan Hageg\u00e5rd, Marilyn Horne, Gino Quilico, Graham Clark, Ren\u00e9e Fleming; January 1992<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Carol Vaness, Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Allen, Ruggero Raimondi; December 1985<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Puccini: Il Trittico <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n