Music of the Day

[Costi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycQquES2vvA

[hectorm]

Celentano can work all he wants - strike or no strike: if he doesn't make love WELL, he gets NO dinner anyway from Mina...
(translation copied, not mine)

Well, Costi, not exactly the language of Alighieri in that song. But the dialect comes across anyway (my free translation into English would have been "slightly" different but not suitable for the LL)
Now, you made up to us with Richard Strauss. Good.

[Costi]

Ahem!...
Dante doesn't seem shy with words at all:

E mentre ch'io là giù con l'occhio cerco,
vidi un col capo sì di merda lordo,
che non parëa s'era laico o cherco.

Canto XVIII, La Divina Commedia

(translation upon request and by private message only )

Poor Alessio Interminei of Lucca... flattery did take him very far indeed!

But even Dante's use of strong words is... divine I am on the side of Cesare Pavese on this: "[...] nothing is vulgar in itself but [...] talking and thinking make it so". So let's not talk about it much anymore, lest we should make it what it is not

To redeem our irreverence, I propose a different kind of music (or musicality) for today in a masterly and most inspired interpretation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qOwaA_QbT8
(plus Mozart on the side)

[hectorm]

.Poor Alessio Interminei of Lucca... flattery did take him very far indeed!
To redeem our irreverence, I propose a different kind of music (or musicality) for today in a masterly and most inspired interpretation
(plus Mozart on the side)

You got me scrumbling for my Divina Commedia and running through the pages. It´s been years since...
You´re redeemed.
BTW:
i) Begnini is more entertaining than Vittorio Gassman, who I always thought was No. 1 in reciting Dante;
ii) given the context, why choosing Mozart´s Requiem and not Verdi´s?

[Costi]

You´re redeemed.

ignoscere divinum...

I think Gassman "recites", sings the verses. Benigni proves that this is not necessary - he simply speaks them out meaningfully and lets the inherent music (of the language, of the meter) come through. Isn't that the case with so many things in life (dressing included )?...
That is also why I think no musical background whatsoever was needed. Mozart competes for my attention and takes me somewhere else, wasting the charm of Benigni's uttering. How can one do something that turns Mozart into a nuisance?! Never thought it possible until now...
But why do you consider Verdi's Requiem to be more suitable?

[davidhuh]

Dear Costi, dear Hectorm,

nice to follow your exchange - you make it really difficult to add something. But there is Frau Gundula Janowitz singing the Countess in the Capriccio Finale, "Kein Andres, das mir so im Herzen loht". Perhaps you like it.

http://youtu.be/Jh9QIaWU6Zc

cheers, David

[Costi]

http://youtu.be/Jh9QIaWU6Zc

cheers, David

L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle

Since we are in Paradise, let's explore:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVF9eB3R ... re=related

[hectorm]

How can one do something that turns Mozart into a nuisance?! Never thought it possible until now...
But why do you consider Verdi's Requiem to be more suitable?

Well, this gathering at Piazza de Santa Croce in Florence was mainly among Italians and with the purpose –stated by Begnini at the start- of celebrating the fact that the greatest poem of all times was written in Italian. Verdi is Italian, and wrote his Requiem in honor of another Italian poet (his friend Manzoni). Verdi also included several of the historical characters of Dante´s poem in his operas with similar political awareness and had Dante himself in some of his other compositions (Pater Noster).
Moreover, it has been said that Verdi´s Requiem is like The Divine Comedy in miniature. Going the full circle from the initial death, through the judgment of hell, and the passing to life again for the faithful souls.
For my simple mind, Verdi was the obvious choice.
Maybe anticipating what you said about Mozart´s, they didn´t choose Verdi´s because they didn´t want their beloved music to be a nuisance to anybody´s years.

[Costi]

Maybe anticipating what you said about Mozart´s, they didn´t choose Verdi´s because they didn´t want their beloved music to be a nuisance to anybody´s years.

That must be it!

And thank you for the Verdi reasoning - most interesting.

Moreover, it has been said that Verdi´s Requiem is like The Divine Comedy in miniature. Going the full circle from the initial death, through the judgment of hell, and the passing to life again for the faithful souls.

Here is my favourite moment in Haendel's "La Resurrezione", when the Angel orders the gates of hell open (and my favourite interpretation, luckily present on youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QseluBDXLlc

Be unbarred, ye gates of Avernus!


(Auguste Rodin)

[yialabis]

Costi , thank you for all the music and the concistency you have been showing to this thread ... I learn a lot on music I don't know that well ..
Vassilis

[Costi]

I do, too, Vassilis!
Music can also be a way to elegance, as it addresses the heart (not the ears, as some may believe), so it works on the inside.
We should thank uppercase for creating this thread where we can share so much beauty. Or fun
It would be nice if more of us joined and shared - as Caliban put it:

Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked,
I cried to dream again.

Sometimes a whisper is enough...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbjLqvUTuHo

...and when a whisper and a dream doesn't do it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rudFsWdHb3s

[hectorm]

Here is my favourite moment in Haendel's "La Resurrezione", when the Angel orders the gates of hell open (and my favourite interpretation, luckily present on youtube)

Now is my turn to ask and, hopefully, learn.
Why is this your favorite interpretation of La Resurrezione?
I have a CD with Handel´s Italian Cantatas and the Angel is sung by soprano Klaartje van Veldhoven who sounds clearer and sweeter (more angelical if you want) than Ms. Tilling (who IMO sounds a bit forced in her phrasing).
On second thought, maybe an angel demanding that the gates of hell be open shouldn´t be angelical after all
PS: Sorry the one I mention is not in Youtube.

[Costi]

It may well be that it is my favourite interpretation because I have not listened to van Veldhoven with this Haendel, as usually, found a genius solution for the Angel, who doesn't lull or charm the gates of hell open, but orders them open: he wrote the piece for soprano, but built into it a determination worthy of an Archangel Michael with the sword in hand, rather than a sweet cupid. I think Tilling's interpretation is the closest to this spirit, her voice is strong, her modulations seem to have the effect of making the gates tremble, like the walls of Jericho. It's a meaningful, intelligent approach. I think it is technically competent, too, many others (some great names included) sound like sheep bleating when they perform the baroque agility flourishes here.
Haim does a great job directing, too!

Here is a piece you that I am sure you will enjoy very much!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewzv4D6gbh4
It is a blasphemy (musically speaking), but it is... devilishly well done

You see, it is true that the devil can ridicule anything, but when an interpretation is EXPOSED to ridicule in such measure that the above performance is possible at all, something is wrong. Her "cedete" is so soft, so inviting... A great musician that I love and admire, but she just doesn't capture the spirit here.

Then there is the kind that sounds like she has been fasting for days before the concert, loses volume and goes out of breath easily: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDd57KOxGfc (nevermind the accent...)

There is also the kind that improvises where she cannot reach (like the trumpets do, too, at a certain point): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSlSR2JvVtk

Also bear in mind the tempo in the Haim / Tilling recording.

I know this is all subjective and that it is very, very difficult to sing and very easy to criticize, but when you find an interpretation that truly resonates within, it is a moment of revelation.

[davidhuh]

Here is a piece you that I am sure you will enjoy very much!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewzv4D6gbh4
It is a blasphemy (musically speaking), but it is... devilishly well done

[hectorm]

..he wrote the piece for soprano, but built into it a determination worthy of an Archangel Michael with the sword in hand, rather than a sweet cupid. I think Tilling's interpretation is the closest to this spirit, her voice is strong, her modulations seem to have the effect of making the gates tremble, like the walls of Jericho.

Very good points, Costi. I thought "angelical” would not work here.
I also thought Handel´s solution was given indirectly by the fact that these parts were sung by castratos.

Here is a piece you that I am sure you will enjoy very much!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewzv4D6gbh4

You see now that I was right. You have to close your eyes to love Donna Cecilia.
In this clip she´s looking particularly ugly in her outfit of modern day angel although, I have to "concede", also unusually restrained in her mannerisms and facial effects