Anything Considered

I've spent the last few hours on youtube listening to music, and it leaves me with a strange melancholy. The playlist, if one could call it that, began with MLTR with a sprinkling of Chinese oldies (Jacky Cheung, anyone?), and progressed into popular opera with Pavarotti and Domingo.

I know and have heard precious little of the operatic voice, and as such would make a poor judge. But performances like that of Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma, or Bocelli's and Sarah Brightman's Time to Say Goodbye tug such deep heartstrings that I am reduced to tears. At the same time, I wonder, how critics sitting live in such performances can come out griping about sub-par performances. Music is meant to be appreciated.