I Bought An Opera, ...First Ever,...

[springrite]

I'm tempted to take a Valium and just lie there on the bed whilst listening. Or, would that be cheating? (does Valium make anything "cool")

No，it only makes the opera listener cool. 

[Cato]

For your consideration: Saariaho!

https://www.youtube.com/v/gHuO2JjT7UY&list=PLzjYcWlnOdAPP6A-b4lfQoMY12c9OB8uw&index=5

[jochanaan]

...though it really works best LIVE...

That's true of most operas.

[snyprrr]

For your consideration: Saariaho!

https://www.youtube.com/v/gHuO2JjT7UY&list=PLzjYcWlnOdAPP6A-b4lfQoMY12c9OB8uw&index=5

right there my problem in a nutshell:

1) Starts off great... mise en scene and all... color... music... movement...

2) FIRST PROB: Opera Singers aren't ususally "hot" to look at, from a movie goers perspective- he should've looked like a HERO, but looked like a Fat Finn. She was better...

3) 2nd PROB- he opened his mouth and "typical opera tones" came out.


UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should Opera Singing be done without single, diatonic intervals and "normal" sounding singing. "Opera Singing" is A Lie Straight From the Pits of the Opera- it's not how people sing.... really.... is it?


So, ultimately, I get pissed because such good music falls under the weight of "opera tradition", or something.

That clip was too much for me, must lay down for a .... while...
'Luonnatar' with Bryn-Julson is about the most I can stand.lip

[kishnevi]

right there my problem in a nutshell:

1) Starts off great... mise en scene and all... color... music... movement...

2) FIRST PROB: Opera Singers aren't ususally "hot" to look at, from a movie goers perspective- he should've looked like a HERO, but looked like a Fat Finn. She was better...

3) 2nd PROB- he opened his mouth and "typical opera tones" came out.


UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should Opera Singing be done without single, diatonic intervals and "normal" sounding singing. "Opera Singing" is A Lie Straight From the Pits of the Opera- it's not how people sing.... really.... is it?


So, ultimately, I get pissed because such good music falls under the weight of "opera tradition", or something.

That clip was too much for me, must lay down for a .... while...
'Luonnatar' with Bryn-Julson is about the most I can stand.lip

Note to self: 
Under no circumstances give snyprrr any Callas recording.

[snyprrr]

I was looking into other singing I might ... uh.... "enjoy"


Would I like 'Le Grand Macabre'? The music seems interesting.


Shouuuuld I try the Bryn-Julson 'Erwartung'?


I don't see me getting into Ferneyhough's 'Shadowtome'.


Sessions's 'Idyll of Theocratus' hear that one really hairy

[Cato]

I was looking into other singing I might ... uh.... "enjoy"


Would I like 'Le Grand Macabre'? The music seems interesting.


Shouuuuld I try the Bryn-Julson 'Erwartung'?


I don't see me getting into Ferneyhough's 'Shadowtome'.


Sessions's 'Idyll of Theocratus' hear that one really hairy

Dude!  Visit YouTube and get a sampling!

e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/v/6KbMnO-2eFI

[snyprrr]

Dude!  Visit YouTube and get a sampling!

e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/v/6KbMnO-2eFI

yea, love the car horns... yea, I'd probably get this, though, it's definitely for "Monty Python" listening... whatever meaning is given in bawdiness to the point of entertainment... whatever that means, lol... Zimmermann and Ligeti... what could possibly be after that? (still thinking 'Erwartung'...)... maybe will haaaave to go with the Babbitt pieces...

[Mirror Image]

snyprrr, here's an example of the kind of vocals that I do like (I hope you can view this as many people in other countries have trouble viewing these types of YT videos):

Szymanowski's Litany for the Virgin Mary

https://www.youtube.com/v/eDvA-pTlSmc

https://www.youtube.com/v/d6WZ0g4VU2U

[snyprrr]

snyprrr, here's an example of the kind of vocals that I do like (I hope you can view this as many people in other countries have trouble viewing these types of YT videos):

Szymanowski's Litany for the Virgin Mary

https://www.youtube.com/v/eDvA-pTlSmc

https://www.youtube.com/v/d6WZ0g4VU2U

Right. Same with the Gorecki. Stefania Wotocotowoisz wot wot is my favorite singer like that. I think I have the 'Song of the Night'...


AND- I DIDN'T MEAN LINDA RONSTADT LITERALLY (not you MI)!!

I like DeGaetani's voice for Crumb, or anything- those Modern Singers that had that really flat, laser beam, no vibrato, husky, easy sound. The other one...

Dawn Upshaw in the Schoenberg SQ No.2. Perfect



Penderecki doesn't count...




Barainsky, Tony Arnold...






I have some other singing on various random recitals, but there's no "Classical Music" I listen to for the voice. I had my Chant Phase. Madrigal non-Phase, Troubadour Phase. Choral non-Phase. But I balked at "Songs", or "LayderLeeder" or any post-Renaissance singing, until you get to, eh, the 1920s? Ute Lemper.lol

Helen Merrill


smoky singers



singers of the 70s






SO, A MUSICAL is when they sing "normal", and an OPERA is when they sing "classical:??

[Scion7]

We're still waiting on that drink, mate!

[snyprrr]

I love how you make us google to find out which opera recording you got...

This? 

[asin]B00000DNTI[/asin]

Even if it isn't  - congratulations!  Opera is a very amazing musical genre. And don't worry about not "getting" Mozart's operas... it will probably come eventually...He actually wrote some of the best operas in musical history. 

Q

I'm almost through Act1 of 'Die Soldaten'. The singing's OK... but it's the music and orchestration that are really outstanding to me, and holding it all together. The orchestra is like one giant nightmare factory that is micro/macro-utilized- I've never heard such "from solo to tutti" back and forth with diamond edged brightness and glitter- including harpsichord and electric guitar so far.

The 'Prelude' is everything one could want in 5 minutes- awesomely spectacular.


SO YEA- it's hard for me to count this an an "Opera Purchase", ha!!!

We're still waiting on that drink, mate!

wait... was I buying a round?...

I was just having too much time and forgot.

DRINKS ON THE HOUSE!!







QUE- that's you!!!!!

[snyprrr]

I'm admittedly not a big fan of the genre, but there's a few notable exceptions for me: Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle (!!!), Janacek's Kata Kabanova, Martinu's Julietta (really wish a more modern recording was available), and Ravel's L'enfant et les sortileges.

Getting to the end of CD1 on the Teldec set of 'Die Soldaten' (Act2,...). Well, it's overwhelmingly impressive, and there are actually moments where one can hear "everything going on at once" from different directions (though not manipulated, panning=wise). The organ entry was pretty pretty cool. The, I assume, rape scene- totally noted!!

The tuttis are tremendous. Oh, and the jazz section, lol, out of nowhere! Sounds a little like Mingus's 'Epitaph'?

BAZ's flute writing is of particular mention, out of this world- I'd say a notch up from Messiaen's bird-song flutes. BAZ is so very intricate, and with the eriting, or conducting, once can practically see the notes on the page as they're played- BAZ is literally the most "direct" Composer that way, much like Xenakis (BAZ seems a little more "international"m so to speak, ha, )-P

Anyhow, yea, it's the wildest cool thing fer shur- and more "meaningingful" perhaps than Ligeti? comedy vs tragedy?






Schnittke wishes he sounded like BAZ!!

[snyprrr]

Continuing on with 'Die, Soldaten'. Simply, this is superlative music- maybe Schnittke+Ferneyhough???......absolute technicality at the service of a totally personal/human agenda.

The lines are so etched, so delineated , that one hears everything- even though, behind it all is a dark black, silent screen of silence that crops up as an unseen partner when the music gets bare.

And, the orchestration is a hallucination's wet dream of four orchestras going at once, and being Dutilleaux on acid- guitar, harpsichord, all keyboard percussion, all other percussion, gongs, bells, serial string bursts, Xenakian and Beyond belief fast trumpets... oh, just so much great, dense meat... overwhelming certainly.



And this is 1959-60??

[kishnevi]

yea, love the car horns... yea, I'd probably get this, though, it's definitely for "Monty Python" listening... whatever meaning is given in bawdiness to the point of entertainment... whatever that means, lol... Zimmermann and Ligeti... what could possibly be after that? (still thinking 'Erwartung'...)... maybe will haaaave to go with the Babbitt pieces...

Snyprrr, get Grande Macabre.  If nothing else, its attitude about politics is right up your alley.

[ritter]

Snyprrr, get Grande Macabre.  If nothing else, its attitude about politics is right up your alley.

I'd say that what is really needed here is something like Cavalleria Rusticana. Then our friend can cliemb up the ladder into loftier territory...

[snyprrr]

I'd say that what is really needed here is something like Cavalleria Rusticana. Then our friend can cliemb up the ladder into loftier territory...

Snyprrr, get Grande Macabre.  If nothing else, its attitude about politics is right up your alley.

Yea, I don't know how this is going to work. I just made it through my first Opera without reading the synopsis, or following German, and what I got out of 'Die Soldaten' is that there's a girl named Marie, and she gets raped, and I'm guessing it's by a bunch of soldiers. I don't know if I needed to know much more... if 'CavRust' is about the finer nuances concerning Italian Politics, I'm not sure my method of listening would pick it up. FRANKLY, LIBRETTO PRINT WEARS ME OUT!!!!!

[ritter]

Yea, I don't know how this is going to work. I just made it through my first Opera without reading the synopsis, or following German, and what I got out of 'Die Soldaten' is that there's a girl named Marie, and she gets raped, and I'm guessing it's by a bunch of soldiers. I don't know if I needed to know much more... if 'CavRust' is about the finer nuances concerning Italian Politics, I'm not sure my method of listening would pick it up. FRANKLY, LIBRETTO PRINT WEARS ME OUT!!!!!

There's not much literary quality in the Cav libretto (or in the music, for that matter), just a story of unfaithfulness and revenge. But it's great fun to listen to the singers scream their lungs out

[snyprrr]

Dude!  Check out Linda in:

[asin]B000002GXE[/asin]

Today's listening started on Track6 of CD2 of the Teldec 'Soldaten'. Act3 seemed to have the most longeurs, and I found myself somewhat irritated, and wondering if I would make it passed this "passage work"- but, I decided it was my problem and not BAZ's. So then we get to Act4, which has four Tracks that are all @4mins., so I knew I'd get to the end before the trip was through (always car listening).

I CAM.

I had my Zimmergasm at the beginning  of... Track9?... where all the different gongs and cymbals clash away. Wonderful! And thn the man man laments "Marie"... and there is also a great great final tutti to take the breath away...

AND THEN!!!


The last Track introduces, I believe, a tape, and the next few minutes are the most harrowing and horrifying one could imagine, ending with the sound of jack stepping, and then a final spew of ultimate horror at the very very end, just absolutely the most horrifying ending of anything ever ever.

I mean... WOW!!

Absolutely the Best Thing Ever?

[Mandryka]

Soldaten, what's it about?