Music of the Day

[davidhuh]

Gentlemen,

this is a beautiful early spring morning, which makes me listen to Le spectre de la rose from Berlioz' Nuits d'été (call me impatient...).

Soulève ta paupière close
Qu'effleure un songe virginal;
Je suis le spectre d'une rose
Que tu portais hier au bal.
Tu me pris encore emperlée
Des pleurs d'argent de l'arrosoir,
Et, parmi la fête étoilée,
Tu me promenas tout le soir.

Ô toi qui de ma mort fus cause,
Sans que tu puisses le chasser,
Toute la nuit mon spectre rose
À ton chevet viendra danser.
Mais ne crains rien, je ne réclame
Ni messe ni De Profundis;
Ce léger parfum est mon âme,
Et j'arrive du paradis.

Mon destin fut digne d'envie,
Et pour avoir un trépas si beau,
Plus d'un aurait donné sa vie,
Car j'ai pour tombeau,
Et sur l'albâtre où je repose
Un poëte avec un baiser
Écrivit: "Ci-gît une rose
Que tous les rois vont jalouser."

The probably most legendary recording is by Régine Crespin on Decca, directed by Ansermet. A taster is on youtube, apparently a life recording from 1964: http://youtu.be/XxlchhfkC1I
And here the much praised recording with Ansermet: http://youtu.be/VmF1j3cIkgY

Dame Janet (Baker) has recorded it twice; with the City of London Symphony Orchestra under Hickox, (early 90s on Virgin, a bargain). Earlier, at the peak of her career, she performs with the New Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir John (Barbirolli). An exquisite recording - with Crespin/Ansermet a must have. Youtube has a Danish archive life recording from her great times, in 1972, under Blomstedt: http://youtu.be/kJzvqX_phcE

Fans of Marilyn Horne might also like this interpretation from 1964: http://youtu.be/sHz3GYqJIPA

Yet a very different style is this rare life recording with Turkish singer Leyla Gencer: http://youtu.be/CbBTlKWth0A
We are not used to hear this abundance of vibrato anymore, but it is executed with grandeur

Another rare interpretation is by Eleanor Steber: http://youtu.be/0sP41hzZUNw

Yet another classic is Elly Ameling with Atlanta Symphony, or Victoria de Los Angeles with the Boston Symphony (http://youtu.be/bT_eemxuEQE). Newer convincing recordings exist with Anne Sophie von Otter (http://youtu.be/wmUtwR7W9DM) and Véronique Gens (http://youtu.be/lMsUsdixvJM)

Countertenor David Daniels is the only male I know of recording it: http://youtu.be/NvELXmaBopg

cheers, david

[hectorm]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, David.
You´ve done a wonderful job putting all these versions together.
Curiously, the name Le spectre de la rose has always directed my mind much more in the direction of ballet and the names of Nijinsky and Nureyev, and not to Nuits d'été.
After listening to all these performances my appreciation of Berlioz´s song has skyrocketed. My favorite so far, given my state of heart today, is Dame Janet Baker´s. Sublime singing and full of the emotion that poem demands.
Don´t know about recordings but I have found several renditions of the song by men on Youtube.
One that is worth listening -just to get an idea of the different sensibility derived from the music transposition- by Brazilian tenor Joao Augusto de Almeida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=picR_KwtCSs

[davidhuh]

Dear Hectorm,

I am glad you like it. Les nuits d'été is my favourite Lied cycle with Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder.

Thank you for pointing me to Sr. João Augusto Ó de Almeida. I have never heard it by a tenor (and such a dark voice - Ms. Horne can hardly compete! ). Thanks to you, I found Nicolai Gedda, http://youtu.be/cwjWVtpqt6c - very convincing indeed.

If you need a good laugh right now, listen to Rufus Wainwright, http://youtu.be/NtbImX2_Rfk
A reincarnation of Ms. Foster Jenkins almost

Funny coincidence: Costi also got stuck with Dame Janet this morning

cheers, david

[hectorm]

If you need a good laugh right now, listen to Rufus Wainwright, a reincarnation of Ms. Foster Jenkins almost

You got me confused with the Foster. For a minute I thought of the second Mrs. Charles Foster Kane. Even she could have sung it better.

[davidhuh]

You got me confused with the Foster. For a minute I thought of the second Mrs. Charles Foster Kane. Even she could have sung it better.

Hectorm, I think we need to share the real one. It is a gem not to be missed in the history of Carnegie Hall and RCA recording studios http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins, http://youtu.be/HpiCIwLHI-w

The Lady is well documented on youtube. My favourites: Der Hölle Rache, http://youtu.be/6h4f77T-LoM and the Pavlovich song based on Bach's Prelude XVI, http://youtu.be/HJ5uZv1pG8g

Now I need a drink

[Costi]

Wainwright IS a spectre of Berlioz's music... Perfect interpretation, therefore!
And Jenkins is way beyond ridicule, she is sublime. Can you believe she was unaware of her singing? I think she did a great job of taking us all for fools to believe that. People kept coming to her recitals to understand whether she was for real.
Can you imagine what beautiful music these people hear in their minds that they feel such an urge to share it with the rest of us? Can you see Wainwright struggling to express with his hands and eye rolls what his voice cannot render?

Now I need a drink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiuWxLIysl4

PS: do you think M.me Dessay could sing like Jenkins even if she wanted to? I doubt it... That is the greatness of Jenkins

[davidhuh]

PS: do you think M.me Dessay could sing like Jenkins even if she wanted to? I doubt it... That is the greatness of Jenkins

Dear Costi,

I think Mme. Dessay has not "vu" Bacchus. She might have had a sweet dream of him perhaps... She is far too perfect, Offenbach is not her thing. Doña Teresa Berganza performs better in the Air de la Griserie from Offenbach's La Périchole; while retaining all her class (http://youtu.be/Mx0vZMY59CM). The older she is, the better she is performing: http://youtu.be/Uhq6TvxxLw8

Ah! quel diner je viens de faire!
Et quel vin extraordinaire!
J'en ai tant bu... mais tant et tant,
Que je crois bien que maintenant
Je suis un peu grise...
Mais chut!
Faut pas qu'on le dise!
Chut!

Si ma parole est un peu vague,
Si tout en marchant je zigzague,
Et si mon oeil est égrillard,
Il ne faut s'en étonner, car...
Je suis un peu grise...
Mais chut!
Faut pas qu'on le dise!
Chut!

A pity I cannot find Anne Sophie von Otter doing the Griserie. Her sense of humour is wonderful in the Chanson Militaire from the same operette: http://youtu.be/BGG6PCfn7JY

cheers, david

[Costi]

Ethno day today

Bucium, a kind of Alphorn...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MzrXd8C ... re=related

...plus a legendary voice (and a beauty) with a song inspired by its sound and feeling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ORQR8lsxo

[hectorm]

Costi, translate the signals please!
So we can hike the Carpathians without danger. We were thinking of some thermal springs near Sibiu for the next vacations

[Costi]

Hectorm, it's never without danger! And they change the signals often
But if you know a couple of tunes, you can get by unharmed, like this Brit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-kw56MJi1c

(sort of a spiritual pupil of Enescu, via Yehudi Menuhin who taught him the violin)

[Costi]

The choice of pictures remains a mystery , but they sing nicely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPGUL43StxA

[davidhuh]

The choice of pictures remains a mystery , but they sing nicely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPGUL43StxA

Dear Costi,

Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan are outstanding. Their Bach cantatas are all reference recordings. Here is something for Saturday evening http://youtu.be/78qPjLvVIBA

cheers, david

[Costi]

Oh, yes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js4v22H ... re=related

[hectorm]

Here is something for Saturday evening http://youtu.be/78qPjLvVIBA

First Rowly digs up Gardel, and now David posts yet another Uruguayan singer. Do you want to make me cry, guys?
BTW, there is quite a story in the lyrics of this tango: after an absence of many, many years, and traveling all the world, a jaded gentleman returns to the house of his childhood. The old butler opens the front door and doesn´t recognize him (later he will do it and only by his voice). He promises never to leave again and his very old mother, who has been waiting all her life, forgives him. Overall a bit depressing for a Saturday evening, though.

[davidhuh]

Dear Hectorm,

the little story behind posting THIS tango with Julio Sosa - after many months of rather hectic traveling, I returned home yesterday evening . Slept 11 hours, and just realised my neighbors and friends still know me

http://youtu.be/UWJEMUuTCUk

cheers, David