1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 25, 2017 15:21:33 GMT
Irving Berlin’s ‘Dance to the music of the ocarina’ is from ‘Call Me Madam’
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 25, 2017 15:15:22 GMT
Hello Caiphas, I can’t seem to make Quick Quote on my phone because my computer is still dead.... Anyway, I enjoyed your joke but the fact is that it was the American woman who borrowed my programme who was behind me — the ghost was just in front of me up on the stage! But good on you for getting into the panto spirit. Not long now before we all get to see Charlie Stemp’s you-know-what! Oh no it’s not! Oh yes it is! Now look what you’ve started C!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 25, 2017 12:44:06 GMT
I thoroughly enjoyed Cinderella at the Hackney Empire. It didn’t reach the heights of some previous pantos at that venue but was nevertheless very good with a very strong cast and a wonderful script ny Susie McKenna who also played the wicked stepmother very effectively. There was not one ounce of smut in the script but the ugly sisters (Cat B and Tony Whittle still managedto be very funny for the adults as well as for children. As usual at Hackney for a matinee there were a lot of school groups of young children and they all seemed to be having a whale of a time. Next to me on the front row I had two toddlers with their parents on one side and five teenagers on the other and they all remained engrossed in the show from beginning to end - and I loved it as well, so I reckon that for a suburban panto, that is job done!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Spamalot
Nov 22, 2017 12:01:14 GMT
via mobile
Post by tonyloco on Nov 22, 2017 12:01:14 GMT
I hadn’t quite anticipated how much time it took to travel from Zone 1 to the theatre The quickest route is Waterloo mainline to Wimbledon - 20 minutes. District line is 31 minutes from Westminster, Northern Line is 28 minutes from London Bridget to South Wimbledon. The mainline is worth the extra cash, I've found. Yes Monkey, but you haven’t factored in the frequency of the service on those various routes. I use the Edgeware Road branch of the District Line, catching it at Paddington, but I think there can be up to about ten minutes wait if I just miss one, which I usually do!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 22, 2017 11:44:33 GMT
That’s sad news. He was not one of my favourite singers, especially when he insisted on appearing with his own white hair in all his stage roles, but he was a distinctive performer and he will be missed. I once heard him do a concert of Russian songs from the First World War but although I was hoping for a few lively marching songs like the Russian equivalent of ‘It’s a long way to Vladivostok’, every song was a mournful dirge about the loss of young lives and heartbroken mothers and wives — certainly the most depressing concert I have ever attended, but Hvorostovsky sang superbly!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 21, 2017 15:02:55 GMT
So for my money, I would say it is the top 100 of what is freshest in people's minds, not the top 100 of all time. Hmmm. I'm inclined to agree. I am reminded about what I sometimes think when I read on the theatremonkey website that somebody says: 'This is the best musical I have ever seen' when what they really mean is 'This is the ONLY musical I have ever seen'
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 20, 2017 15:10:38 GMT
You know what I wanna know, and maybe someone who saw the Original or a different production of this show. Is it just that this production is so damn good, or is it just one of those shows that, you can't f*** it up, it is just that good! My only previous experience was the Chichester production a few years ago, which I found absolutely brilliant. I thought every aspect of it worked perfectly (setting, costumes, singing, dancing, orchestra, etc) and at the time I made the following observation: "It was curious to be both admiring how skillfully the film had been adapted to a live performance on stage, and how entirely legitimate and believable the show was in its own right as a stage musical, albeit within the conventions of those 1930s musical films." So, bearing in mind what theatregeek said about his amateur production, it looks like this show is a good'un to start with but it obviously needs a lot of love and devotion and hard work to get it on, just like "Pretty Lady"!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 20, 2017 11:25:40 GMT
Fantastique! Many thanks loureviews, that's brilliant. It was an article by Will Crutchfield called 'The Story of a Voice' about Callas in the NY Times that started off my quest. I can't give you the URL at present because of my email problems and the NY Times search failed to find it but I guess it was from the same era as 'Vocal Burnout at the Opera'. I particularly like 'Vocal Burnout' because it is all about singers that I am familiar with. He singles out Renata Scotto and Beverley Sills for special treatment and I am certainly well acquainted with those divas both from live performances and from recordings. Anyway, I will study what Mr Crutchfield has to say about overwork ruining voices and see how I can equate that with his hypothesis that it was not only overwork that finished Callas but a faulty instrument to start with. And of course some of the singers he cites developed serious wobbles but continued to sing for many years. I remember an amazing 'Frau ohne Schatten' in Munich in the mid 1960s when Hans Hotter sang the Spirit Messenger and Martha Mödl was the nurse and they both had such enormous vocal wobbles that in their duet I was expecting the sound waves to cancel each other out in some physical way, but no, they stood there, wobbling ferociously at each other and both collected enormous applause!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 19, 2017 16:47:32 GMT
The Trolley Song cured my acne Would you care to expand on that?
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 19, 2017 16:38:30 GMT
And as for the moaning about the show...I'm inclined to say, if you don't like it don't waste your time watching! Well, yes, but at its best it can be addictive, wonderful, exciting and great TV. But with unsuitable costumes, inappropriate routines, unsuitable music and bad styling, not to mention bad camera work and erratic marking by the judges, it all goes badly wrong. What has Michael Jackson got to do with the Viennese Waltz, or the Spice Girls with the Samba? For heavens sake, there are plenty of Viennese Waltzes – hundreds by the Strauss family alone – and plenty of genuine Latin numbers written for the samba. I don't want irrelevant pop songs when most of them are totally out of place for the dances being done. Those of us who are moaning just want our beloved Strictly back again to a sensible dancing competition that we can follow for three months and enjoy every episode like we used to!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 19, 2017 16:17:43 GMT
I didn't know you were specifically after "major international opera stars" as your first post just said "other opera singers". I wouldn't say Colin Lee was a star but I saw him sing several lead roles - Almaviva, Tonio & Don Narciso - at the ROH, so he had a fairly decent career. Sorry, Dawnstar, but as I am gathering information to make a comparison with Maria Callas and why she lost her voice then I need to find examples of major international stars to compare with her. I am of course interested to hear about Colin Lee, but from what I see on Wikipedia it looks as if he didn't actually have a mid-career vocal crisis that anybody was aware of but just retired for unspecified personal reasons. And we also have the mystery of why Anja Harteros has effectively put serious limitations on her career 'for personal reasons'. Wikipedia makes absolutely no mention of all her cancellations and withdrawals but an article in the NY Times recently hints at her need to stay near Germany to look after her ailing husband, so that's apparently not a vocal crisis.
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 19, 2017 15:56:14 GMT
Hi folks again, My computer seems to be in temporary partial remission so I will continue as usual until it stoips again.
Firstly, hello tenorandy. In reply to what you and Dawnstar have said about Schwarzkopf's Nazi connections, we will never know the truth of all that, and I think it is on record that ES changed her story explaining some of it. And there may also be something of the 'tall poppy' syndrome in the fact that she came in for quite a lot of criticism later in her life, but she and Walter did rather place themselves high when it came to their reputation and achievements. One might say artistically this was fully justified but criticism of ES's Nazi past is on a par with the fact that after Legge left EMI he received not one sniff of interest from any other record company nor any of the classical music festivals. I get the feeling that they were both being punished for having achieved so much BUT neither of them was actually a particularly nice person! Well, it's a thought, anyway.
Coming now to Callas and the Verdi Requiem, in the note that I wrote in 2007 for the EMI Maria Callas Complete Studio Recordings box and provided a slightly revised version in 2014 for the remastered set, I said about the Giulini recording:
"Callas believed that the company, through Legge,had promised the soprano role in this work to her, but Legge was now going ahead with the recording with his wife Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, in that part. Ideally, what Legge would really have liked would have been for Callas to sing the mezzo-soprano role, but that proposal was even more offensive to Callas (who always maintained that she was a soprano) than to be dropped from the project altogether."
I cannot now remember where I got that last sentence from. It is not in 'On and Off the Record' and I imagine that I found something in the Callas files in the EMI Archives. I am sure I didn't make it up (or did I?) but it's a pity I didn't cite a reference.
Interestingly, one whole side of the original 'Callas a Paris' LP consists of arias normally sung by a mezzo-soprano (Carmen, Delilah, Alceste, etc) but I remember the original LP sleeve notes talked about this repertoire being the domain of a particular kind of French singer known as a 'falcon' which was meant to be a kind of dramatic soprano with a strong middle register, thus implying that Callas was still a soprano!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 19, 2017 6:07:32 GMT
Hi Folks, See my latest post on Legge and Schwarzkopf. TL
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 19, 2017 6:05:43 GMT
Hi Folks, I think my PC has finally died and I find it very difficult to use TheatreBoard on my iPhone. I may try using an internet café if I can find one but otherwise, to paraphrase Oates, I am going off the air. I may be some time until I get a replacement. TL
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 18, 2017 16:39:22 GMT
15 December according to Amazon. I placed my order with Father Christmas last week. Father Christmas said I hadn't been good enough this year to warrant a £15 present so I have ordered it on my credit card, which means I will get it five weeks before Christmas anyway. Can't wait! Silly me! I'm so excited about getting my CD of 42nd Street that I can't read properly. I thought Amazon said they were delivering it next week but it is of course not coming until after 15 December so that's just a few days before Christmas.
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 18, 2017 15:55:45 GMT
But my avatar now shows Dame Elisabeth's fine facial bone structure AND the gap in her teeth!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 18, 2017 13:26:34 GMT
It looks as if I can’t attach images to my posts on my iPhone. Oh well. I will keep looking for ways to start a gallery in due course.
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 18, 2017 12:21:08 GMT
15 December according to Amazon. I placed my order with Father Christmas last week. Father Christmas said I hadn't been good enough this year to warrant a £15 present so I have ordered it on my credit card, which means I will get it five weeks before Christmas anyway. Can't wait!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 18, 2017 10:55:38 GMT
Yes, you are right about the Nipper hat. And very chic it looks! Because I am using ancient computer hardware and software I cannot post iimages except in my avatar but I intend to try putting some up on my iPhone when I have the time and the energy, so watch this space, but don’t hold your breath.
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 18, 2017 9:21:40 GMT
Thanks tmesis. Sounds like I hadn’t forgotten anything significant, except of course those evocative lyrics ‘dangerous rhythm’.
I expect we will be hearing a few dangerous rhythms tonight in Strictly from Blackpool but more likely in the wrong sense!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 23:32:58 GMT
I was teaching the song 'The Continental' the other day and. I had forgotten quite what a super song it is. That got me thinking - really in structure and 'feel' it's a lot like Berlin's Cheek to Cheek and therefore I assumed it was written by Con Conrad to cash in on it's success (for Astaire) but, written in 1934, and also a worthy oscar winner, it predates the Berlin masterpiece by a year! I had both of those songs in my cocktail repertoire but singing through 'The Continental' in my head just now I am a bit confused about how it ends. I seem to be trailing off with a coda of 'Heavenly music, beautiful music....' and I don't know where the printed music is. Can you help me tmesis?
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 22:45:03 GMT
I meant to say also that it was a great treat to attend one of Schwarzkopf's solo recitals at the Festival Hall, not only to hear her sing but to look at her hair, make up and dresses. She usually changed in the interval and she always looked fabulous. The Gerald Moore Farewell Concert was a particularly special occasion because we had both Schwarzkopf and De Los Angeles to look at on the stage – and Herr Fiskau, of course! If I remember rightly, the last solo recital Elisabeth gave in London was at the Wigmore Hall and you can imagine how that acoustic flattered her voice. She sang mezzo-forte most of the time but on the odd occasion when she opened up it sounded like she could have sung Brünnhilde. Very clever!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 22:35:21 GMT
I do feel a bit ungentlemanly mentioning this, but didn't she have slightly 'gappy' front teeth, so that she was always photographed wi I do feel a bit ungentlemanly mentioning this, but didn't she have slightly 'gappy' front teeth, so that she was always photographed with mouth firmly shut? Yes, the gap in Elisabeth's teeth is clearly visible in the original of this photo but is hard to see in the avatar. Believe me, it is definitely there.
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 22:00:44 GMT
Tenor Colin Lee vanished abruptly from the stage a couple of years ago but I don't know if that was due to vocal health or some other problem, there was just an announcement that he was retiring with immediate effect. Sorry, Dawnstar, but that's the first time I have ever heard of Colin Lee so I don't think he counts in the ranks of major international opera stars, and the announcement, which I have just looked up, just said he was retiring with immediate effect for personal reasons. I may well use Villazon as an example of a male opera star who had a mid-career vocal crisis but whether it was due to surgery or just to a vocal collapse is not clear. Of course I know all about him as he was a huge star on Virgin Classics and there was an internal battle as to whether he should remain with Virgin Classics or move over to EMI Classics, which at that time were the same company although that is no longer quite true because the names have changed to Erato and Warner Classics and Villazon has faded away. Sic transit gloria!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 21:48:05 GMT
What about Carlotta? Does she count? She can’t even get to the end of Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh... No, sorry Caiaphas. Carlotta manages to go on stage eight times a week and has been doing so for over thirty one years so I see no sign that she has had a mid-career vocal crisis. In fact, at this rate the only opera singer ahead of her soon will be Placido Domingo and he will be doing cameo appearances in bass roles like Sparafucile in 'Rigoletto' and Colline in 'La bohème'. I am sure his 'Coat Song' will be heart-breaking, with not a dry seat in the house.
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 14:03:01 GMT
This may be a little unfair because he has had surgery for his vocal problems but the tenor Rolando Villazon was sensational in his early 30s live at The Garden but now, aged only 45, when most tenors are in their prime, he is a shadow of his former self. Yes, I heard him several times being sensational when he first appeared and, as you say, he is now reduced almost to nothing. Maybe he might be worth including in my list even though he was not a dramatic tenor to start with, although his Hoffmann was certainly dramatic enough! Tmesis, do you know whether Bonisolli actually lost his voice or just made himself unemployable by his behaviour?
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 13:40:26 GMT
Thanks Mr Snow. Yes, we hope that Kaufmann will survive his vocal problems and so far he does seem to be doing so. I think these singers who have operations to remove nodules etc, like Julie Andrews for example, are somewhat different from those whose voices go prematurely in mid-career without any surgical intervention as I think happened with Callas, Welitsch and Souliotis.
I don't know that we have all that much information about what happened to Bonisolli although walking out on Karajan in the middle of a performance of 'Il trovatore' is unlikely to do a tenor much good career-wise! And I guess that some of the promising Italian tenors like Tagliavigni failed to stay the course when they moved up from light lyric roles to heavier dramatic ones. But I am really looking for men who started off with big powerful voices and then lost those voices in mid career, as the three aforementioned ladies did. Maybe that's Bonisolli? Did he actually lose his voice?
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 13:16:00 GMT
Interesting that you say tonyloco that the DG Wolf CD is a Legge production. I did not consult my copies of the reference books you mention but just looked at the double CD. On this there is no mention of Walter. It says, recording producer: Rainer Brock/Hans Ritter! That's naughty of DGG to omit Legge's name from the CD reissue. I wonder whether it appeared on the original LP sleeve? He would certainly have been present at the sessions and behaving as if he were the sole producer, and indeed Fischer-Dieskau in his days at EMI was usually a Legge artist too even though he was on HMV. Well, we will never know now why Walter's name is not there on the CD. Something else for Elisabeth to complain about!
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 12:49:48 GMT
PS. Did you know that Klemperer always addressed Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as "Herr Fiskau" which the very serious German baritone failed to find amusing, which is probably why Klemperer kept on doing it!
Oh, and I always laugh when I remember how Klemperer would pester Peter Andry to set up the recording of 'Così fan tutte' that he wanted to do to complete the Da Ponte Mozart operas and he would say: 'Herr Andry, if you don't record 'Così fan tutte' with me soon it will be a posthumous recording!'
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Nov 17, 2017 12:38:19 GMT
Yes, tmesis, that's a good list. I have previously said that I would not offer a list of Schwarzkopf favourites of my own but I did admit that the Operetta recital has given me much pleasure over the years. She manages to be exquisitely stylish and very camp at the same time in a way that is totally irresistable – and pretty much unique to her. EMI's German colleagues maintained that this was all just too Viennese (Schlagobers and such) and the German record buyers preferred the more straightforward style of Anneliese Rothenberger in that repertoire, which is why they made local recordings of many of the German and Hungarian and Austrian operettas using Anneliese with Rudolf Schock and then Nicolai Gedda as the principal male star. But I digress.
What makes you think the Wolf Spanish Songbook with DFD on DGG is not Legge? It certainly is. This is confirmed in both the complete Legge discography and Schwarzkopf's 'A Career on Record'. As far as I know, after the war, Legge produced all of Elisabeth's recordings except the ones I have already mentioned, namely the 'Contes d'Hoffmann' and the Klemperer 'Zauberflöte'.
The Christmas album with Mackerras is a funny one. She says in 'A Career on Record' that she was not happy with the duet she sings with herself on 'Silent Night' and that it was omitted from later reissues. This is not entirely correct. It is true that the EMI engineers were not aware of the doubling track when they first remastered the album for CD but I made sure that it was re-instated for subsequent use in things like the Schwarzkopf ICON box.
And, while still not admitting to favourites, there is something quite wonderful about the original LP of the Strauss Songs with Szell and the Berlin orchestra, including a glorious portrait of Dame Elisabeth on the front cover. The subsequent CD compilation of the Berlin and LSO Strauss orchestral songs is also a fine collection but in awarding my personal Grammy I think I would give it just to the original Berlin LP as being VERY special.
|
|