idiot

Im said there are times he wonders whether they were right: “Maybe it’s true that I’m an idiot.”

He voiced frustration at the duo prematurely giving up its “lucky place on top of the world” and expressed he needed space from Simon, whom he called an “idiot” and “jerk” in the interview.

Two were Russian operas based on Dostoevsky novels: Prokofiev’s little-known “The Gambler” and Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s all-but-unknown “The Idiot.”

“The Idiot” is a nearly five-hour slog by a Polish-Russian contemporary of Shostakovich about another Dostoevsky outsider who succumbs to visions of grandeur.

And thanks to a terrific cast, led by sensational Ukrainian tenor Bogdan Volkov, and the vivid conducting of Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla’s sleekly modern production by Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski, “The Idiot” turned out to be Salzburg’s hottest ticket.