I’m not really big on modern opera, but I just caught the first act of Nixon in China on Sirius/XM. According to Wikipedia, the opera’s premier was met with such glowing reviews as "Mr. Adams does for the arpeggio what McDonald’s did for the hamburger." I’ll be working hard to use that as an insult in real life.
P.S. the full quote is apparently "Mr. Adams does for the arpeggio what McDonald’s did for the hamburger, grinding out one simple idea unto eternity." I think the abbreviated quotation is better because it’s got a much wider range of possible meanings (global commercialization either in a negative or positive sense, or just low-cost mass production).
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