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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 17:31:00 GMT
Moon River... one of my Desert Island Discs. Is that one allowed? (I think it's just after your cut off point!) For my partner's Big Birthday, one of the things we did was have Afternoon Tea at the Ritz. A pianist tickles the keys while you sip, and there's a little card by each place setting asking if you would like any requests played. Unbeknown to eachother, Birthday Boy and I had both written Moon River, as no doubt had lots of others there that afternoon. And when it was played we both cried! (I also requested Joyce Grenfell's I'm Going To See You Today, another little masterpiece, written with Richard Addinsell, but it wasn't played. ) Moon River is definitely allowed because I adore it (so there.) An exquisite tune with classy poignant harmonies. Definitely one of the greatest songs ever written.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 17:24:58 GMT
I've a feeling it could be just you and me Tony....
But pressing on, I'll have a start at the top of my list of the greats with
Gershwin
I can't think of a single song of his that I don't like; and I still like, and find fresh his well-known stuff - I got Rhythm, They can't take that away, A Foggy Day. His songs are particularly satisfying to play on piano, whereas I don't find Porter and Berlin quite so appealing from a playing point of view.
Among his well known stuff I really like:
Embraceable You Somebody Loves me How long has this been going on Someone to watch over me
Among slightly more esoteric stuff:
I've got a crush on you Shall we Dance Soon.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 13:21:37 GMT
Over the Rainbow is probably the most successful song (financially definitely, though White Christmas will trump it) and it's an extremely fine song (I actually enjoy playing it on the piano more than listening to it) but if we stick only to Arlen, I much prefer Stormy Weather and The Man that got Away, with those wonderful lyrics by Ira. I'm surprised Sondheim doesn't rate Ira more highly, as he's almost my most favourite lyricist of all. I'll come back later with more, although I love so many of these songs, that a greatest is almost impossible.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 11:32:20 GMT
I've just started a Great American Songbook thread. (In the Musicals section)
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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 11:07:56 GMT
I thought I'd start this, as it often turns into a discussion about this in other threads.
First of all we had better define the parameters.
I've put it in the musicals section because the majority come originally from stage or screen musicals, even though the song is classic and the musical long forgotten; but a few were stand alone songs written for a particular performer like Sinatra.
At the top of the tree for sheer quality and quantity to we have:
Gershwin Berlin Rodgers Kern Porter
and then a little lower down the branches we have:
Loesser Loewe Carmichael Styne Youmens Van Heusen De Silva, Brown, Henderson Vernon Duke Ellington Arlen
I also think there should be a cut off point around 1960, that's why I've not included Kander or Sondheim, but frankly I think the rules are meant to be broken a tad. I've also not included Bernstein or Weill, as I don't think they quite fit, but I'm a huge fan of both.
There are are also a few one hit wonders like Garner's 'Misty', Gross's 'Tenderly' etc. And two by a Brit that sound as American as they come, namely Ray Noble's 'The Very Thought of You' and 'Love is the Sweetest Thing.'
I'm sure I've left out some stonking composers, and I think this should also, of course, be a discussion about lyricists with just a few that come to mind:
Ira Gershwin Dorothy Fields Larry Hart Oscar Hammerstein Alan Jay Lerner Yip Harburg Johnny Mercer Sammy Cahn
Anyway, who is in and who is not, is not really important, it's just an excuse to waffle on about songs I love to both play and listen to. I'll come back with a few of my favs, but what do you like?
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Post by tmesis on Sept 15, 2017 21:25:01 GMT
An obvious one this but I'll never forget the original NT production of Guys and Dolls (1982) with that amazing cast of Ian Charleson, Bob Hoskins, Julie Covington and Julia McKenzie. Superb production from Richard Eyre and then a fab revival in 1996 with an almost unknown Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman. The only black mark was some poor band arrangements, trying to give it a spurious and uncalled for 'modern' feel.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 15, 2017 20:52:17 GMT
I too remember that (1980?) Pal Joey with great affection. A classy performance of a classy musical but, hey, it's yet another example of the brilliance of Rodgers, this time with the superb Hart rather than Hammerstein. Much as I love Gershwin, Porter, Berlin and (especially) Kern I think Rodgers is the one I admire the most for the sheer number of really great songs he (apparently effortlessly) composed. Right from 'Manhattan' onwards there's an embarrassment of riches.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 14, 2017 14:27:35 GMT
That sounds really interesting, shame I can't go since I'm already booked for Oslo at NT. I'll be fascinated to know how it works as I love Berg's opera and obviously Winterreise is a masterpiece.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 14, 2017 6:52:26 GMT
All the euphemisms for second hand, like pre-owned, or worse, previously loved or previously cherished.
There's one shop in the village of Westcott not far from me; this is a place that's so up itself even the bus shelters are thatched. (true)
In this village is a second hand shop with the hilarious name of 'Second User Centre.'
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Post by tmesis on Sept 13, 2017 9:54:54 GMT
Yep, me too on password-reset!
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Post by tmesis on Sept 12, 2017 15:56:02 GMT
Ah now, argon, if I could remember them I could cite you numerous examples where set designers and directors of productions at the Royal Opera House in the past have made no concessions for what people in the Amphitheatre can see or not see. I rather suspect they never get higher in the auditorium than the Stalls when they are working on new productions. I might be doing some of them a grave injustice but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, not to mention the seeing! Will be interesting to see this years revival of Lucia. On its inagural run, despite the sets and one or two bits of Directorial nonsense, I went a second time and sat even higher in the slips. At one point a bath is left running and up there it completely drowned(sic) out the singing. Going Monday the 25th . Happy to meet at an interval. I hated the Katie Mitchell Lucia to the point where I never want to see the current production again. I must confess that any version of Lucia is a bit of a problem for me. I've tried to like it but I can't. Even seeing Joan Sutherland in the role one or two times couldn't turn me on to it. re Boheme - I'm going at the weekend; in fact all my visits tend to be at the weekend, or occasionally Fridays.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 12, 2017 10:28:30 GMT
I'm going in about ten days. Early reviews are quite favourable but Jones has an almost impossible task in replacing Copley's 41year old production which I have seen so many times I've lost count. When it was pensioned off it was still looking good with Julia Trevelyan Oman's fantastically detailed sets. With Pappano in the the pit it should be great musically.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 12, 2017 9:55:25 GMT
Farming Today; why they are allowed the luxury of a daily 15 mins baffles me. "They"? Farming Today reports "the latest news about food, farming and the countryside". Over 99% of the population consumes food, so the target audience is quite an inclusive "they". And the programme's length is 13 minutes. How fabulously pedantic.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 12, 2017 6:54:33 GMT
It's not all bad news - maybe they can now scrap Farming Today; why they are allowed the luxury of a daily 15 mins baffles me. Also if they aren't obliged to do religious services they might now think of scraping the awful Thought for the Day.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 12, 2017 6:44:43 GMT
Renee Fleming will sing the heck out of You'll Never Walk Alone - but Carousel is still Carousel. It is just so difficult to make the plot palatable for modern audiences. What luxury to have Renee!
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Post by tmesis on Sept 11, 2017 6:57:57 GMT
I've been Boring for England about it to two of of my friends and have said I will never speak to them again if they don't see it soon. Really there's no excuse with great deals on todaytix. When I saw it for the first time I only paid £25 for a great seat and I said to the nice family next to me that I actually felt guilty to get so much pleasure, for so little money.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 11, 2017 6:47:09 GMT
Tickets on sale now - just booked.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 10, 2017 22:55:06 GMT
The Grand Tour - Jerry Herman
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Post by tmesis on Sept 10, 2017 17:36:29 GMT
I suppose if I could throw away all operas but just keep one composer it would be Mozart (although I'd cry over letting go Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Eugene Onegin.)
I love Flute. It's a piece that shouldn't work, part panto, part music hall part Masonic ritual but all these elements weirdly come together to produce a sublime work.
I was at yesterday's Friends Dress Rehearsal and on the whole enjoyed it. The David McVicar production is excellent; handsome looking but able to encompass both the child-like simplicity and the sublime. It was also very well conducted by Julia Jones.
The stand out performance was Roderick Williams as Papageno. He was too old for the part but what a glorious voice and he acted the part superbly.
Elsewhere performances by a fairly inexperienced cast were mixed. Mauro Peter playing Tamino had a pleasant voice but no more. The really classy Mozart tenor of yore really doesn't seem to exist anymore. Ian Bostridge was pretty good a decade or so ago but he doesn't seem to do much opera these days. Going back a bit further Anthony Rolfe Johnson was terrific but for me, the best Mozart tenor was Stuart Burrows (yes I am aware of Fritz Wunderlich) who was always underrated, probably because he was no actor. If you want to hear Mozart tenoring at it's best, listen to him in Solti's otherwise dodgy recording.
It's the purity of line that seems to be lacking, which was also the problem with Siobhan Stagg's Pamina. I think we are better off for good Mozart sopranos but Felicity Lott, Ann Murray, Kiri Te Kanawa, Lucia Popp are all in a different league. Mika Karen was an impressive Sarastro, although a bit lacking in heft in the lower notes. Sabine Devielhe was an accurate and effective Queen of the Night (nothing more is required of this role.)
Reading back over the above I think I've maybe been too negative - it's a really enjoyable show. Just forgive an old git's moans about a dearth of really good Mozart singers.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 10, 2017 13:12:33 GMT
Sorry Mr Snow that we're straying off-topic but one more point re classical recording sales; in one of Norman Lebrecht's doom laden books about the parlous state of the classical recording industry (Norman can be a bit dramatic, but all of his predictions have come true with knobs on) he gives out a neat statistic that has stayed with me,namely: The total world-wide sales of all classical recordings is no more than the total world-wide sales of the whole of The Beatles catalogue. Tony, with your greater knowledge than me of the industry, do you think that's about right? Funnily enough, I was going to mention Norman Lebrecht in one of my replies about sales but thought better of it. I think Norman's comparison is rather far-fetched but there may be some truth in it in a very generalised way in that, as I said before, sales of most individual classical recordings are much lower than people imagine and it's only the occasional high profile item, like the Three Tenors, the Vivaldi Four Seasons and the Canto Gregoriano by the Monks of Silos that suddenly take off, but also aided by intensive international marketing including TV advertising. Movie soundtracks also occasionally hit the jackpot as indeed 'Titanic' did. As far as Callas is concerned, her big sales have been achieved only by those compilations like 'The Romantic Callas' and 'Popular Arias from TV, Films and Opera' aimed at the widest popular market that have achieved really big numbers. Coming back now to Lebrecht's statement, does he mean that in any one year, the total world-wide sales of all classical recordings is no more than the sales of the whole of the Beatles catalogue in that same year? And, if so, is he talking about some particular year around the time he made that statement? I very much doubt whether he has actually got any factual basis for saying this and I think we should take the statement in a metaphorical way. Also, the international record business has changed out of all recognition in recent years with the decline of CD sales and the rise of digital downloading and streaming. The alleged rebirth of the vinyl market is also greatly exaggerated. So while I would discount Lebrecht's Beatles comparison on a factual basis, he has nevertheless drawn attention to the fact that the international classical record business in total. is very much smaller than even one very specific segment of the pop business, namely The Beatles. By the way, I am speaking here from a position of authority because I did actually meet The Beatles once and I also met Callas once – so what I say must be true! I've just found the book, it's from 'Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness' (2007) So one assumes he is speaking of up to the date the book was written: 'Adding up the top-selling artists...one arrives at total classical sales of somewhere between 1 and 1.3 billion...[he then discusses pop sales ending with the statement] the all-time leaders are the Beatles which EMI estimates is 1 to 1.3 billion.' Even though Norm can be a bit sensationalist that actually sounds pretty credible. He gives lists for total classical sales by artist and you were right, Herbie's tops with 200m. Here's the list: 1) Karajan 200m 2)Pavarotti 100m 3)Solti 50m 3)Fiedler/Boston Pops 50m 5)Bernstein, Callas, Galway, Domingo, Marriner (all equal 5th) 30m
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Post by tmesis on Sept 10, 2017 12:27:45 GMT
Interrupted by the s summons to dinner! I expect you had a nice Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie with an accompaniment of tinned ratatouille.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 10, 2017 7:09:48 GMT
Now back to Callas...
Yes I'm a big fan. I'm not quite old enough to have ever seen her live but have many of her complete opera recordings. So much has been written about her voice that I'll probably be re-forking old ground but the main thing about her, for me, is her charisma; just one second of her performance and you're immediately drawn in; you're compelled to listen, like few other sopranos and carried away with the drama.
Favourite recordings:
Tosca (di Stefano/Gobbi/deSabata)
Norma (Ludwig/Corelli/Serafin)
Turandot (Fernandi/Schwarzkopf/Serafin)
Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Gobbi/Alva/Galliera)
The last one I absolutely cherish; she's unexpectedly brilliant at comedy and gives a scintillating performance. Her 'Una voce poco fa' has never been bettered.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 10, 2017 6:44:37 GMT
Sorry Mr Snow that we're straying off-topic but one more point re classical recording sales; in one of Norman Lebrecht's doom laden books about the parlous state of the classical recording industry (Norman can be a bit dramatic, but all of his predictions have come true with knobs on) he gives out a neat statistic that has stayed with me,namely:
The total world-wide sales of all classical recordings is no more than the total world-wide sales of the whole of The Beatles catalogue.
Tony, with your greater knowledge than me of the industry, do you think that's about right?
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Post by tmesis on Sept 9, 2017 22:36:00 GMT
Tony - regarding sales, don't Sir Nev and The Academy come pretty damn high too?
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Post by tmesis on Sept 9, 2017 22:25:15 GMT
Just on the train back from this evening's performance. Yes it meanders and doesn't really go anywhere but I still really enjoyed it. Love the simple, but very fluid and lucid production. The lampooning of gender/sexual politics was excellently done and Ben Whishaw was superb.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 9, 2017 12:42:30 GMT
Coming back to the basic question of saving the ENO, I have just got around to booking a seat for their new production of Aida. This is a major mainstream opera, of which I know and love every note. I didn't book earlier because I find going to the opera these days generally a major disappointment but I just couldn't resist Verdi's great feast of wonderful music. What do I find? Loads and loads of unsold seats for just about all the performances and even on the opening night, although the more expensive parts of the house are just about sold out, the Balcony, where one sees and hears extremely well at an affordable price, is still half empty. So I really wonder for whom is ENO at the Coliseum actually catering? Today I had an email from them about £20 tickets to 'Opera Undressed' for two performances of Aida but these tickets are only available to people who have never been to an opera at the ENO before in an attempt to find a new audience. I think this is confirming what I said in an earlier post that ENO should be in a smaller house and attracting an audience that wants to see the repertoire that they can do best and not trying to compete with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden. The clue is in the name: ENGLISH NATIONAL Opera. Although I have almost given up on ENO, I too cannot resist Aida. It's got to be his most musically sumptuous opera. This new production can't be worse than their last one; a truly p*ss-poor effort, with ludicrous costumes by Zandra Rhodes. I remember their production in the late 70s, which the critics hated but I rather liked. It was kitsch, camp with a MGM style act 2 processional and more fake gold than in Julie Goodyear's bathroom but at least it looked like a bit of dosh had been spent. Even ROH have largely cheapskated in their last two or three productions, the one in the 80s with Ricciarelli and Pavarotti was particularly lacklustre. Well ENO don't have the money to do sumptuous so let's hope it's musically decent.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 9, 2017 11:46:05 GMT
I hate the word artisan (and the very clumsy sounding artisanal) - not the word itself, and it's true meaning, but it's now used indiscriminately to indicate often a spurious, faux authenticity and usually with an unjustified price hike over something else that is supposedly more mass-produced. Also, it now seems that if you stick the word 'craft' in front of anything you want to drink or eat, a similar smug, superiority of quality and purpose is implied. This obviously comes from craft beer (I still prefer proper real ale myself) but I've now seen the ludicrous term craft coffee at some cafes in London. and the pretentious use of 'bespoke.' There was a time when only tailors used the expression but now anything that's a little bit individual is bespoke. bespoke kitchens bespoke itineraries bespoke insurance policy
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Post by tmesis on Sept 8, 2017 22:23:37 GMT
....and people who are passionate about everything. Any website that begins 'I'm passionate about...' doesn't get my business. Anybody at work who says that... even worse. There's an excellent YouTube clip about this from David Mitchell with another one about the almost as annoying 'going forward.'
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Post by tmesis on Sept 8, 2017 17:51:51 GMT
....and people who are passionate about everything. Any website that begins 'I'm passionate about...' doesn't get my business.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 8, 2017 17:47:55 GMT
Pacific for specific. And don't even start me on the huge percentage of the population that seems to think the plural of anything we commonly use abbreviated letters for (CDs, LPs, DVDs etc.) should be in the possessive, ie. CD's, LP's, DVD's.....no no no no no no NO! I so agree.
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