Gab on the Great Music

[kaylahar6]

I didn't know some of this stuff.

[Nathrad Sheare]

I hope that to know now is to have enjoyed learning, kaylahar6! Feel free to post about anything you liked particularly! Have a favorite piece, yourself?

[suzy1124]

Nathrad!
I thought of you when i heard the announcement of soprano Renee Fleming being chosen to sing the Nat'l Anthem at the superbowl...

I bet you were as thrilled as i was...

FINALLY, wise heads prevailed....

[Nathrad Sheare]

Ah, Renee Fleming... Now THERE'S a voice! She sang the role of La Traviata's Violetta in Los Angeles a few years ago... and she visited Scottsdale to perform a recital... I didn't get to see her... Darn... She's a part of what I think is the greatest trio of sopranos since that of Sutherland, Callas, and Caballe. She, Anna Netrebko, and Angela Gheorghiu are the most famed in the genre at the moment and, frankly, the most stunning in my opinion. Thanks for the thought, Suzy! Even if I'm not a fan of the Anthem, anyone who thinks to put any one of these towering talents in the spotlight is, indeed, a wise head!

[Bleeding_Soul]

Soft classic music is the best balm for my wounded soul! I love listening to saxophone instrumentals- that's wordless poetry as far as i am concerned.

[Nathrad Sheare]

Is there a particular saxophonist you like? I used to be into Kenny G.

There's wordless poetry in a lot of different pieces I like to listen to. Is there another kind of wordless music you like? Piano, violin, or orchestral music? How about choir? I have a very rapturous collection of choral music, and, no, not all the pieces are religious. I like the folk songs Gorecki arranged in the sixties and seventies. They're truly mesmerizing. His Miserere is my very favorite of his choral works, though. I found it some years ago when I needed something both that I could empathize with and that would uplift me. It's melody, in its first three quarters, is soft and unbelievably beautiful. Then it erupts at the end with emotion. I don't know... I just about lost it the first time.

Symphony is amazing for its color. There's so much a composer can pack into a symphony... I love it. My favorites are Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, Saint- Saens' Organ Symphony, and Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. The last one is for a cantata soprano voice and orchestra. It has to be the most beautifully passionate symphony I've ever heard. It reaches deeply into the heart.

Anyway, I'm glad to see another contributor! I've enjoyed your posts and hope to see more of that poetry you have inside. Anything else you have to write about poetic music I'd be glad to read here. Happy posting, happy writing, and happy listening, Bleeding_Soul!

[Bleeding_Soul]

Kenny G is my favorite too! Apart from that, I mostly listen to musicians from my native country and that can cheer me up any day.

The Viola is another instrument that can touch my soul without saying a word.

You know, its my dream to visit an opera for real Most girls my age long for pubs and discs, but I really really want to experience the magic of theatre, opera and symphony!!

BTW, Nathrad, I posted another one of my poems in this forum. You can read some more on http://th0ughtscape.wordpress.com/

[Nathrad Sheare]

I've been to four operas! I LOVED hearing and seeing my favorite music performed live! My first was a performance of Verdi's Rigoletto, which was my official introduction to the art of opera, and the reason I started collecting. My second was Verdi's Aida, one of the best operas out there. The row of seats my family was sitting in was all wet, we were weeping so hard by the end! My third was a mediocre performance of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, which I wasn't pleased with because of all the chopping the director did to the score... and the soprano REALLY sucked! No life, no heart, just voice... The last opera I went to was the crown jewel, a STUNNING performance of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. The voice of the soprano who sung Lucia's part was so huge and penetrating it made our seats vibrate and the walls ring! I'd KILL to experience that again... uh, figuratively... If you get the opportunity, go. You WILL love it. Do you listen to opera on a regular? It would enhance the experience! It's best if you set it on the highest volume you can handle.

The viola! It's one of my favorite instruments! Bach composed some great pieces for it, and I like the erratic style of Bartok's only viola concerto. The strings are great. I'm a big sucker for the violin and the cello, too. There are a few truly spectacular works written for them, both solo and with orchestra accompanying.

As for the symphony... I've been only once, a shame, really, because I liked it SO MUCH! My parents surprised me with a performance of symphony and concerti written by my favorite composer of all time, Sergei Rachmaninoff. I was in heaven for an hour and a half...

I've posted some links to videos of some of my favorite works and performances. Check them out!

You wrote that you like to listen to music from you native country... Where are you from? I'm not being too bold in asking, am I?

Thanks for the link! I'll be reading!

[Bleeding_Soul]

i am from india

[Nathrad Sheare]

Have you an artist you'd recommend to me? I like listening to music of different cultures. My musical preferences are quite varied. What? Don't look so shocked...

[Bleeding_Soul]

he..he.... Indian music is really, really variable and I would not know where to start. One of the greatest legends of our industry is the late "Kishore Kumar" and contemporary music has been graced by the talent of "A R Rehman". Also, if you go to youtube, you can search for Saxophone solos by "Stanley Samuel". He is not a celebrity, but is extremely talented. I also love "Adil and Vasundhara"- that is if you like blues.

The songs of Kishore Kumar often have excellent lyrics- deep and soulful.

[TanyaNa]

Absolutely LOVE Anna Moffo!!! And Edita Gruberova...she is something else. Perhaps its because I'm a coloratura myself, but those ladies are legendary Opera is awesome!!!!!

[Charles]

I just got done listening to the great Caruso, Vesti La Giubba, amazing! He is the standard for all others to emulate. What I wouldn't give to go back in time, to hear him live.

[Nathrad Sheare]

You ARE a coloratura, Tanya? A pleasure. The great coloratura roles are some of my favorites, that of Bellini's "Norma" being the most difficult and one of the very best of them all, particularly because it's a bit more dramatic than many of the others. Have you sung it? Maria Callas is the greatest I've ever heard in that part. She and Joan Sutherland were the best coloratura sopranos ever, at least in my mind... Anna Moffo famously costarred with Callas on a recording of Puccini's "La Boheme." It was one of her early roles. Wonderful.

Edita Gruberova's name is synonymous with Mozart's greatness, well, in my opinion. Her kind of voice is one of the reasons opera is legendary.

Very nice to meet you, Tanya. I hope you've enjoyed your time here thus far!

Now, Charles... Long time no read...Caruso... His voice was something else! So HUGE! With talent like that, he SHOULD have been the first superstar in opera! What do you think of Franco Corelli, Mario del Monaco, and Giuseppe di Stefano?

-- 26 Jan 2014, 00:13 --

So, Tanya, have you sung with a company? What roles have you sung? Have a favorite? I'm one of the world's biggest living opera buffs and always am up for a conversation with one who is keeping the art of the TRUE diva, the prima donna, alive!

-- 26 Jan 2014, 22:49 --

I heard, Tanya, one of Anna Moffo's recordings of "Sempre Libera" from Verdi's La Traviata and was blown away. Her voice is extremely flexible in coloratura, and HIGH! I also really enjoyed her rendition of Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise." Rachmaninoff is one of my favorite composers ever and that song of his is one of the best things he ever composed, I think. He was a master of the masterpiece. Amazing stuff... Moffo was a real beauty, too. Callas may be my favorite, but Moffo, too, had something special all around.

-- 29 Jan 2014, 21:03 --

I thought you all might like this... Every time I hear something great of Tchaikovsky's, I'm reminded of how amazing classical music really is. This is his violin concerto in full:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAkw_Wi4yIo

Please enjoy!

-- 29 Jan 2014, 22:45 --

Okay, and you HAVE to hear this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPf99EflpyI

[Charles]

Found another gem, Gabriel Faure's Requiem op. 48 , found him on accident, listen and enjoy, very relaxing.