Here’s something so soothing that it will probably send you wafting back to sleep again, but it truly is gorgeous. If you’ve only ever heard the Nana Mouskouri version, please do give this one a listen, because it’s really quite different.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knmQ0-mDETg&hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0]
Something a bit different today. Van Canto is a German ‘hero metal’ band with a difference – their only musical instruments are their voices and a drumkit. They do all the guitar riffs and other accompaniment with their voices. And they are bloody good at it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ0n-1FmFiw&hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0] Continue reading
It’s a Monday morning in Autumn, and time for a bit of Sturm und Drang.
(and this is where I confess that I just had to look up ‘Drang’, which turns out to mean stress. There you go. We all learned something new there…)
Erlkönig is, when it comes down to it, just a fabulous piece of music. It’s clever, clever musical writing that builds on Goethe’s spooky poem until you can just about hear what’s going on without understanding the words. Incidentally, this is another one of those pieces of music where you slightly hate the composer for composing something so spectacular at the age of 18 – not to mention for writing something with such a wrist-destroying left right hand part (all those octave triplets are just cruel).
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8noeFpdfWcQ&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0]
… and then, of course, there are the times when Dowland took the day off from being depressed and reverted to that other classic of Elizabethan song-writing: innuendo.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS2NRgBBn-M&hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0]
I was up way too late last night, trying to get organised for the week ahead, and failing. It is to weep. And who better to weep with than John Dowland, the author of such cheery works as ‘Weep, O mine Eyes’, ‘Weep ye no more sad fountains’, ‘Lachrimae, or Seven Tears’, ‘I saw my lady weep’, and, of course, ‘Flow, my Tears’?
(I must admit, whenever I read my way down a list of Dowland song titles, I find myself becoming increasingly concerned for the man’s mental health. He wasn’t a happy man, that’s for sure.)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7vLOjzG4no&hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0]
As I think I’ve mentioned, I’m planning (hoping?) to do my ATCL singing exam this year, and got all excited about creating a Shakespeare / Renaissance-themed programme, with just a little baroque to spice things up (because I cannot resist baroque music). Only my programme has been blowing out to a ridiculous length, and is full of depressing Italian arias, which is not ideal.
Then, last week, I found a whole series of John Donne sonnets set to music by an Australian composer, Dorian Le Gallienne. They are all horribly atonal, which is a pity, and of course, I don’t exactly need *more* repertoire (says she who accidentally downloaded a whole book of 50 songs inspired by Shakespeare last night, including a truly appalling Victorian attempt to make Desdemona’s Willow Song in English scan to the Rossini Italian), but singing through them last night brought me a brainwave – if I take all the arias gleefully out of context, but stay true to the textual and emotional content, I can have a recital not merely with a theme, but with a plot! Of sorts. Assuming I can find that top D flat for the Lady Macbeth. And assuming that Trinity isn’t so appalled at my operatic blasphemy that they fail me on the spot.
Anyway, here’s the opening of my story…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiA84oXv_HE&w=420&h=315]
This one’s a bit silly, I must admit, but when it showed up on one of my feeds a couple of days ago, I couldn’t resist. It’s Carmina Burana, toddler style.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz0dvPZhaTU?rel=0]I think my favourite line is “Why do you look so happy?”, though “Where are your pants?” comes a close second. I’m not a parent myself, but I’ve definitely heard conversations along these lines when visiting friends with small children…
(it’s very well-sung, too. Kudos to the Sydney Philharmonia Choir, who are not *really* local, but still pleasingly Australian!)
Of course, one can’t possibly show this clip without acknowledging the spectacular beer ad which inspired it…
Happy Friday!
Really, how gorgeous is Patricia Petibon? I mean, first there is that impeccable, light coloratura voice, full of personality, and then there is her amazing, almost outrageously expressive face. I wish there were more videos of her singing live, because I could watch and listen to her for hours.
Actually, I kind of have been. But I’m saving some of those other posts for later. And swooning a little.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLtfYXY7Tno&hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0]Anyway, here she is, singing El Vito, a Spanish folk song that was, if I understand correctly (I do not have her Melancolia CD – yet! – so I can’t tell you based on the notes) set by Joaquín Nin y Castellanos. The lyrics are a little concerning, translating to “An old woman is worth a silver coin and a young girl two copper coins, but as I am so poor I go for the cheapest. On with the dancing, on with the dancing, ole! Stop your teasing, sir, else I’ll blush!”
But I don’t really care about dodgy lyrics, because Petibon is just so utterly gorgeous when she sings them. I’m sorry, I know I keep saying that. One of the other things I really love about Petibon’s work is her choice of repertoire – her CDs tend to be a combination of baroque arias with the sort of folk songs that are halfway to being dances – full of lively percussion. To me, that’s the perfect mix… or perhaps it’s just the way Petibon sings?
Because I am now officially a Petibon addict, I’m going to leave you with a couple more of her songs. Here’s her version of the Doll Song from Les Contes d’Hoffmann, complete with strange doll-like noises, broken creaks, and random attacks of Queen of the Night. And for contrast, here she is, singing ‘Lascia ch’io pianga‘ (let me weep), from Handel’s opera, Rinaldo.
Can I be her when I grow up?
Today’s post is a bit late, mostly because I’ve been on leave and got engrossed in another project until very late last night… and then woke up late and headachey moving in slow motion this morning. Since part of this project has involved trolling through ten years of online journal posts, and I did turn up one or two amusing posts about music during my travels, and since I’m still feeling a bit under the weather today, I’m departing from my usual interpretation of the Friday theme, and posting something I wrote about six years ago about a piece of music we sang in choir which, shall we say, did not entirely meet with my approval. I hope you find it amusing.
…So, we are singing an anthem that we like to call The Mathias. Its actual name is “Let all the people praise you, O God”, and it was written for the wedding of Charles and Diana, back in 1981.
Frankly, I think this piece of alleged music explains a lot about what went wrong in that marriage. Don’t let the harmonious part at the beginning fool you. It’s all downhill from there.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h47GMYnd_Cw&w=420&h=315] Continue reading
Now that Easter is over, we are reverting to my other current musical obsession, which would be Shakespeare operas! I told my teacher a few weeks ago that I wanted to have an Elizabethan / Shakespeare theme for my exam, only I had way too much repertoire, and she responded by suggesting a few more operas to look at… This was not entirely helpful.
One of the ones she suggested, however, was Rossini’s Otello, and specifically Desdemona’s Willow Tree aria. I’d been looking at this one, but couldn’t quite justify it in my (already excessively long program), but of course now I had to look at it again, and quickly realised that I am constitutionally incapable of resisting Rossini (it’s all those tiny little hemi-demi-semiquavers that do it for me. I have no self-control when it comes to teeny tiny notes…).
Judge for yourself whether you could resist this.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUC6bLj94rQ&hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0]