Norman, are you listening?

[mint]

Back to winter here today so one's thoughts drift to Berlioz and les nuits d'été and this wonderful mezzo was on the radio this morning.

So, Berlioz plus summer nights plus Bernarda Fink give us this:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=bernarda%20fink%20youtube&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CEEQtwIwBA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DXmehRx0mUK8&ei=0ko_Ua2bKMS7hAfc_YCgBg&usg=AFQjCNF6M6LOcub0rHPFoJfqnJy0_Jyttg&bvm=bv.43287494,d.d2k

Hope you enjoy it.

[NormanH]

Thank you.  She is wonderful. One of the few people who can stand up to Janet Baker in a certain repertoire.

Thank you for the clip which has brought her to my notice[:)]

Thanks to you post I spent a good deal of time in pleasurable listening[:)]

I love this song, which I accompanied the last concert I played while  I was still able to do so.

She is magnificent in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRhzSh2bEcI

and that reminded me of that recital and this magnificent sombre Brahms (nothing to do with Bernarda Fink)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyY2Gy1Yfvw

Never more to go to you

I resolved and swore

And yet I go every evening

For all strength, all strength and every  restraint I have lost

I yearn to live no longer

To perish in the blink of an eye

And yet I long also to live

With you, for you, and never never die

Oh Speak, say one word only

A single word a clear word

Give life or death to me

Just tell me your feelings, the true ones...

[NormanH]

One for you Patf.

There is no-one like Bach for pure JOY :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bc-td6X0rw

[mint]

The days might theoretically be longer but my days aren't nearly long enough[8-)]

However, I just HAVE to take a couple of minutes to tell you about the marvellous programme on BBC 2 last night on Bach (varying times with different regions).  I think it was called A Passionate Life or something like that (I didn't catch it all but I think the "Passionate" was a word play to do with the St John and the St Matthew).  With John Eliot Gardiner and all the period instruments you could care to name....

Norman, don't miss it (if you haven't seen it already) and Pat, if you aren't able to watch, then please accept my apologies for this tantalising post.

à bientôt!  

[NormanH]

Thanks for the tip.

It is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01rrgg6/Bach_A_Passionate_Life/

You can watch it if you use Google Chrome and install the Hola Unblocker.

I usually download the programme to avoid the stop and start of 'buffering'. That is a bit more complicated to do though.

I use some external speakers with a bass unit (they cost me about 45€) which make a HUGE difference.

[mint]

Norman, this evening, TV, BBC 4, a gala concert with some remarkable performances; singing to give you goose bumps....

[NormanH]

This one?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pdt87/Placido_Domingos_Gala_Concert/

[mint]

yeah, I reckon, though I can't access it.

It was strange to hear PD singing the bass baritone part but he does produce a very rich sound!

I loved all 3 sopranos (well, 1 mezzo).

 

[mint]

This evening, BBC TV Channel 4, "The genius of Verdi" with Villazon presenting.  For once, the word "genius" is appropriately applied, not to footballers or to pop song writers.

I have a couple of Villazon DVDs and I am an admirer.  But, to have Renee Fleming as Violetta.........!

OH and I, not having had the best of days, were dragged into nostalgia; thinking about all the Traviatas and Rigolettos we'd attended and where....o, la, la![:D][:D][:D].

My favourite Traviata was in New York and my favourite Rigoletto was in, believe or not, Cardiff!

Happy days, lovely memories and makes the present a lot more bearable and somehow also more precious.....

[NormanH]

One of my favourite Brahms sung by one of your favourite singers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyY2Gy1Yfvw

Dark, how dark it is in the forest and field!
Night has fallen; the world now is silent.
Nowhere a light and nowhere smoke.
Yes, now even the lark is silent.
From yonder village there comes the young lad,
Taking his beloved home.
He leads her past the willow bushes,
Talking so much, and of so many things:
"If you suffer shame and if you grieve,
If you suffer disgrace before others because of me,
Then our love shall be ended ever so fast
As fast as we once came together;
It shall go with the rain and go with the wind,
As fast as we once came together."
Then says the maiden, the maiden says:
"Our love shall never end!
Steel is firm and iron is firm,
Yet our love is firmer still.
Iron and steel can be recast by the smith
But who would transform our love?
Iron and steel can melt;
Our love, our love will have to last forever!"

---

[mint]

And I thought you might like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J5cdzTw838

[mint]

Norman and anyone else who might be interested:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qn4b/features/2013-schedule

 

[mint]

Oops, sorry, I meant to post this link as well:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r2q2h/profiles/2013-competitors

[NormanH]

Nice to see the concert programmes in there [:D]

[NormanH]

Looking through the programmes I noticed that Ben Johnson has included the relatively unknown

Anakreons Grab by Hugo Wolf. This was introduced to me by a friend of mine (worth listening to her Purcell on that link) whom I accompanied in the the last recital I played before illness struck...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW4yL5Dbe7w

It is intense sombre and highly chromatic, but bears listening to (and playing) many times..

As a child prodigy, Hugo Wolf was praised as

an accomplished pianist and composer. He

held high teaching positions

and attended prestigious school

s but was, unfortunately,

known best as a wildly depressed and moody man. His music tends to express histemperamental demeanor, with wild chromaticism and dissonance.

“Anakreons Grab” is

a selection from Wolf’s

Goethe-Lieder

collection. The narrator of the song describes his

surroundings at the grave of

the legendary Greek poet, Anacreon. While the melody line

and text of the song display a picturesque and contented scene, the

piano brings out the

wonder and slight bewilderment the protagonist feels in being at the same place where

such a significant and ancient figure is buried.

Anakreon Grab Anacreon’s Grave

Wo die Rose hier blüht,   Here, where the rose blooms,

Wo Rebuen um Lorbeer sich schlingen,   where the vines entwine the laurel,

Wo das Turtelchen Lockt,    where the turtledove flirts,

Wo sich Grillchen ergötzt,   where the cricket delights.

Welch ein Grab ist hier What grave is this here?

Das alle Götter mit Leben     that all the gods and Life

Schöbefanzt und geziert?      Have so prettily decorated with plants.

Es ist Anakreons Ruh.    It is Anacreon’s grave.

Frühling, Sommer, und Herbst     Spring, summer, and autumn

Genoß der glückliche Dichter;      did that happy poet enjoy;

Vor dem Winter hat ihn endlich    from this winter now finally

Der Hügel geschützt.    This mound has protected him

The other one of Wolf's  we gave is less gloomy and had me chasing round the keyboard [:)]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIjP3JK-8xM

I have a lover living in Penna,
Another one in the Maremma plain,
One in the lovely harbor of Ancona,
And for the fourth I must go to Viterbo;
Another one lives in Casentino,
The next lives in the same  place as I,
And yet another one have I in  Magione,
Four in La Fratta, ten in  Castiglione!

[NormanH]

And one to make you homesick...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OUrafVroho&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

[mint]

Thank you, Norman.  The recent hot weather has had the computer in sultry and contrary mood.

But, once I mentioned Wolf to OH, he went scurrying down to the sous-sol to see what we have of Wolf's.  He's turned up with a vinyl of Kiri te Kanawa singing some Wolf so that's to be enjoyed later.

In the meantime, I heard Ileana Contrubas on France music a couple of days ago and so I am posting this for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtR6qUTU6Go

Such a young Domingo!

[NormanH]

Lovely fresh voices.

Reminds me of his very early recording which I still think shows his voice at his very best.

He had the control to dare the stunning piano on the high notes in the repeated phrase at the end of each verse.

[mint]

Oh, Norman, I want you to imagine my disappointment and, NATURALLY, to sympathise....[:(]

Last night, I rushed home from the gym, prepared myself to enjoy Cardiff singer, poured a nice chilled glass of Sardinian wine (excellent, on sale at Lidl at present BTW) and got myself some bits of toast and paté (well, I like to gratify ALL my senses at once whenever possible!) and .....how to describe the horrendous experience?

They only showed bits of the the singers' performance, not enough for you to make any sort of informed judgement and leaving you totally dissatisfied.  They have some light-weight and badly out of their depth presenters and one of the experts is definitely not someone of consequence in the music world.  I think the BBC should now have another letter added to their name, a pre-fix as in the "Bl***y BBC"

Why do they now think that we all suddenly need to be kept "entertained" by measures that hint at contempt for their audience and that we all have the attention span of gnats? 

[NormanH]

I sympathise completely.

It seems as if nobody really believes that classical music is of any intrinsic interest, and has to be dressed up and 'sold'. Dumbing down is rampant.

One of the worst was the insufferable Simon Russell Beale talking over the music in the series 'Sacred Music' telling us of his days as a chorister as if that was more important than the Tallis in the background

In another (I think it was the otherwise interesting programme about Delius) a 'critic' was talking loudly over the music telling us that this was a beautiful moment, and preventing us from hearing it...

It is all part of the tendence to seek 'human interest' and  find dramatically  emotional moments in things where that is irrelevant.

Even the Bach programmes by Eliot Gardiner had psycho-babble claptrap about the adult Bach showing signs of a neglected childhood

[mint]

Simon Russel Beale; can't stand the man, a real turn-off.

I think I know the moment you mention about the Bach programme.  Was that also the one when they have some "handwriting expert" to make assumptions about what malfunctioning bits of the composer were hidden in his handwriting?

Actually, having now walked the dog and complained to OH, emphasing and enlarging on some of the complaints I have made here, I am told that that was the BBC Wales version that I watched and that the "mainline" version was likely to be better.

Now I don't know whether to feel even more infuriated and insulted than I did!  Although I am not Welsh, I have lived in Wales for large parts of my adult life.  I fail to imagine why the BBC would feel justified in feeding this unsavoury pap to the poor old Welsh people.  They really don't deserve it! 

[NormanH]

A little consolation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht-cMwZ9gWY&html5=1

[mint]

OK, Norman, iplayer at the ready please.

I have now heard the full-length, main stream version and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I liked all 5 voices, if not all the pieces chosen.  You won't like the Handel!

The orchestra played beautifully and I recognised a couple of friends there.

PS  Thank you for my "little consolation"![:D]  Gemonimo coming to see me tomorrow so no doubt some of the conversation will be "camino talk".

[NormanH]

If anybody else is reading the link is here:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b02zc3km/BBC_Cardiff_Singer_of_the_World_2013_Concerts_Round_1/

[mint]

Tonight's winner not my choice!

Anybody else agree?