.

[toucan]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                .

[Mandryka]

Outstanding sequence of the three Petrarc Sonnets here
[asin]B0000041UJ[/asin]

[The new erato]

Very timely post! I have this:



first volume in a planned complete series nearly at the top of my to-listen-to pile.

[Harry Powell]

Outstanding sequence of the three Petrarc Sonnets here
[asin]B0000041UJ[/asin]

That set has the interest of including "Io vidi in terra" but pales when you listen to Pavarotti's earlier live recordings of "Benedetto sia il giorno" and "Pace non trovo". There's a 1978 broadcast from German TV which defies description.

[Mandryka]

That set has the interest of including "Io vidi in terra" but pales when you listen to Pavarotti's earlier live recordings of "Benedetto sia il giorno" and "Pace non trovo". There's a 1978 broadcast from German TV which defies description.

Ah -- you've made me interested 

Can you give me a link to this description defying broadcast? Or failing that, to other earlier lives.

[Harry Powell]

Of course I can. Here you have two posts from my blog (with comments in Spanish):

http://estanochebarralibre.blogspot.com/2007/09/benedetto-sial-giorno-el-mese-e-lanno.html
http://estanochebarralibre.blogspot.com/2007/11/pavarotti-en-recital.html

When Pavarotti sang like that he was the best tenor in the world.

[MishaK]

For proper German, capitalize all nouns and no apostrophe for the genitive -s. I.e.: Liebst du Listzs Lieder? 

[Harry Powell]

For proper listening experience find better singers than the superficial, showy, vulgar, loud and therefore popular Pavarotti....

Wow, you are a true comedian!

[Florestan]

Wow, you are a true comedian!

He's far from being funny. He just like to throw bombs in a crowded place and then run away never looking back.  Not worth more of your time than needed to read its posts. 

[The new erato]

He's far from being funny. He just like to throw bombs in a crowded place and then run away never looking back.  Not worth more of your time than needed to read its posts. 

Good advice. All boards have some of these, as you are new you can save some time (and frustration) by listening to this.

[Harry Powell]

I was considering the possibility of a mere troll, but also that of a false connoisseur who has a superficial knowledge of Pavarotti's career.

For good taste and intelligence, avoid internet morons...

Good advice. Goobdye and good riddance.

[Florestan]

a superficial knowledge of Pavarotti's career.

I see nothing wrong in Pavarotti's being both a consummate performer and a popular one. Actually, I think this is an ideal state of things, when someone achieves popular status without in the least compromising his artistry.

[Harry Powell]

Well, it's a complex matter. I indeed think that Pavarotti compromised his artistry when he devoted to performing in non-operatic venues. He became a singer interested just in pleasing his fans and singing in a recognizable but superficial way (the comparison with crooners it's obvious). He was also in decline and took advantage of the microphone. The problem is to ignore how good he was during his first twenty years of career: one of the few postwar tenors to revive Golden Age singing.

[The new erato]

Well, it's a complex matter. I indeed think that Pavarotti compromised his artistry when he devoted to performing in non-operatic venues. He became a singer interested just in pleasing his fans and singing in a recognizable but superficial way (the comparison with crooners it's obvious). He was also in decline and took advantage of the microphone. The problem is to ignore how good he was during his first twenty years of career: one of the few postwar tenors to revive Golden Age singing.

Yes...wondered if to post along these lines earlier, now you made it unneccessary!

[Florestan]

Well, it's a complex matter. I indeed think that Pavarotti compromised his artistry when he devoted to performing in non-operatic venues.

Well, as you said he was already in decline --- I am more than willing to see this as a conscientious sacrifice in order to attract more audience to opera (the lucrative side of the whole thing notwithstanding). 

What do you think of Placido Domingo / Jose Carreras in the same respect?

[Florestan]

A thread devoted to a man - Liszt - who let go of earthly vanities,

Are you being serious? Liszt (alongside Paganini) invented the one-man-show to impress the faint-hearted bourgeoisie; his body of works features, alongisde truly divine and spiritually lifting compositions, the most bombastic, vulgar and popular-appealing pastiches one could think of; he tasted all earthly pleasures, physical love being not the least of them --- and you would us believe he "let go of early vanities"? Well, yes, he did --- but only after trying them all. 

[Florestan]

As suggested in the opening post, the deepened and pessimistic Liszt of the end is obviously and regretably little known.

Little known by whom? Certainly not by Liszt lovers.

Liszt tasted all earthly pleasures because he could.

This is true of many people, nothing peculiar to Liszt.

he had the good heart to be destroyed within by the deaths of his children

This is a common human trait, nothing peculiar to Liszt either.

To enjoy life while one can, and then to be deepened by disappointment and experience: a perfect life.

Perfect? Would you be willing to trade the life of your children for a "deepening" experience?

[Harry Powell]

Well, as you said he was already in decline --- I am more than willing to see this as a conscientious sacrifice in order to attract more audience to opera (the lucrative side of the whole thing notwithstanding). 

What do you think of Placido Domingo / Jose Carreras in the same respect?

Well, Domingo has followed Pavarotti's example to the letter (for him the Pav was an obsession). As a matter of fact he's extended his career for the last twenty years relying on the same principle of being a recognizable rather than a truly personal singer. One has just to study his singing to realise that he just exploits the beauty of his timbre and is faithful to a number of habits which his fans always expect to hear.

Carreras ruined his voice before he could follow these steps.

I never cared too much for these singers, anyway. They lacked the classical-schooled technique that Pavarotti boasted.

[The new erato]

Are you being serious? Liszt (alongside Paganini) invented the one-man-show to impress the faint-hearted bourgeoisie; his body of works features, alongisde truly divine and spiritually lifting compositions, the most bombastic, vulgar and popular-appealing pastiches one could think of; he tasted all earthly pleasures, physical love being not the least of them --- and you would us believe he "let go of early vanities"? Well, yes, he did --- but only after trying them all. 

In short, he was the Mick Jagger of the time.

[Florestan]

In short, he was the Mick Jagger of the time.

Has Mick Jagger joined the Franciscans? Wow!