There are some very high tenor parts in really exposed places. It calls for heroic tenors.

It's unrelenting in its activity.

It's really a landmark piece. It's compelling. It's descriptive. As a piece of music, it has something to say and does it with a lot of energy and inner logic.

I'm a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice.

Tenors are noble, pure and heroic and get the soprano, if she has not tragically expired before the final curtain. But baritones are born villains in opera. Always the heavy and never the hero-that's me.

We weren't getting any phone calls. The smoke was going up and out over the Cascades at a very high altitude. That continued to about 4:30 - and then started to go south, literally.