Search found 34 matches
- Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:23 pm
- Forum: Corner Pub
- Topic: Another example of why the death penalty should be abolished
- Replies: 24
- Views: 4182
- Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:59 am
- Forum: Corner Pub
- Topic: Another example of why the death penalty should be abolished
- Replies: 24
- Views: 4182
Forgive me for joining in where I'm sure I'm not wanted, but it seems unbelievable to me that any country that dares to call itself civilised should have the death penalty. In Britain in the 1950s when I was a teenager, I used to hear about the latest execution with disbelief, and say, "One day we w...
- Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:07 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Good DVDs of Britten Operas/Operettas?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3093
Re: Good DVDs of Britten Operas/Operettas?
[quote="KenazFilan"] (What I wouldn't give for a film of Pears singing the Madwoman in [i]Curlew River[/i]...)[/quote] Just noticed this bit. Have you seen the DVD "Benjamin Britten: A Time There Was"?, Tony Palmer's film from 1979 (I think)? There's a bit of Pears in Curlew River in that. Very styl...
- Sun Mar 02, 2008 3:28 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Good DVDs of Britten Operas/Operettas?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3093
The 1969 BBC television performance of Peter Grimes with Peter Pears (in colour, by the way) was available on DVD for a while, but I don't think it's still around - it turns up on eBay from time to time, and there's a clip on Youtube. It's the real thing, conducted by Britten, straightforward produc...
- Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:52 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox May 2006 to Feb 26 2007
- Topic: November 22: Names and Notes in Music
- Replies: 7
- Views: 2629
- Sat Aug 19, 2006 1:41 pm
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox May 2006 to Feb 26 2007
- Topic: Jay Greenberg, Composer (age 14)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 4001
Certainly it's rare among people in general, but is it rare among composers, who are the people I was talking about? The names of Mozart (obviously), Saint-Saens, Mendelssohn, Britten come to mind at once, and I'm quite sure many others were similar - not to mention, of course, many who were eventua...
- Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:19 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox May 2006 to Feb 26 2007
- Topic: Jay Greenberg, Composer (age 14)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 4001
- Sat Jul 01, 2006 2:10 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox May 2006 to Feb 26 2007
- Topic: Sir Benjamin Britten
- Replies: 14
- Views: 7474
[quote="davidreece"]I think Britten's music is genius. I've performed many of his works, but the closest to my heart is the cantata 'St. Nicolas' which I think is an overlooked masterpiece. There are two excellent recordings and one of historic note. The original Decca release is interesting to hear...
- Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:41 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox May 2006 to Feb 26 2007
- Topic: Sir Benjamin Britten
- Replies: 14
- Views: 7474
- Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:36 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox May 2006 to Feb 26 2007
- Topic: Sir Benjamin Britten
- Replies: 14
- Views: 7474
As well as the operas, all the song cycles are great works - not only the Serenade. Try the Michelangelo Sonnets, John Donne Sonnets, Les Illuminations, Nocturne, Winter Words, On this Island. It does help if you like and understand poetry, and for Michelangelo and Illuminations Italian and French p...
- Thu Jun 01, 2006 5:34 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox May 2006 to Feb 26 2007
- Topic: Brendel on Rattle
- Replies: 11
- Views: 8708
Very interesting. I must say I've been surprised by the Rattle-bashing. I haven't been to many Rattle concerts, and none in Berlin, but the ones I have been to have been very, very memorable for the sheer vivacity and LIFE he brought to the music - and, one must add, to the players. I have never see...
- Tue May 16, 2006 11:10 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Which of these three cellists do you prefer?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 11076
- Tue May 16, 2006 8:32 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Intellectual snobbery that we can do without ...
- Replies: 30
- Views: 17210
I was probably a little hasty! Classic FM does drive me mad, though I was grateful for it at the dentist this morning when the alternative might have been something far worse! I hate the sloppy presenting style, and the commercials, but what I dislike most is the unadventurousness - nothing challeng...
- Tue May 16, 2006 7:16 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Intellectual snobbery that we can do without ...
- Replies: 30
- Views: 17210
- Mon May 15, 2006 5:58 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Lebrecht: Britten Was a Poufter, Not a Pedophile
- Replies: 8
- Views: 9980
I didn't realise that the British (of whom I'm one) were "squeamish" about Britten. I've always had the impression that he was regarded by many as our greatest composer, and his love of children has had some very remarkable musical results. Funny how times change - in his lifetime it was his lifelon...
- Sun Mar 19, 2006 4:44 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Who is William Walton?
- Replies: 11
- Views: 3520
I find some Walton a bit shallow. I've sung in Belshazzar's Feast many times, and at first it seems exciting, but after repeated exposure you realise it's somewhat hollow excitement, based largely on making a lot of noise. It doesn't have a lot of meaning under all that bluster. More in common with ...
- Fri Feb 24, 2006 3:01 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Boy Soprano Singing Mozart's "Queen of the Night"
- Replies: 16
- Views: 5497
[quote="jbuck919"] Sometimes the transformation works. The boy who sang the premiere of Amahl and the Night Visitors went on to become a very fine baritone (I cannot remember his name, but heard him sing as an adult in a radio performance). [/quote] Yes - Many (I might even say most) well known Engl...
- Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:48 pm
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Boy Soprano Singing Mozart's "Queen of the Night"
- Replies: 16
- Views: 5497
On the video there are messages with comments, and now there's one from someone who obviously knows what he's talking about. He (or she, I suppose) says the boy is called Robin Schlotz, and it was recorded at a concert for parents given last July by the Tolz Boys' Choir. I looked around the net a bi...
- Wed Feb 22, 2006 12:06 pm
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Boy Soprano Singing Mozart's "Queen of the Night"
- Replies: 16
- Views: 5497
- Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:48 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Boy Soprano Singing Mozart's "Queen of the Night"
- Replies: 16
- Views: 5497
Not exactly in tune, but pretty amazing, though I would rather a boy of obvious talent wasn't put through performing-monkey tricks like this. Does anyone know who he is? Is he perhaps German or Austrian? (The clothes look a bit like the sort worn by German boys' choirs, and there is obviously a choi...
- Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:41 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Great Christmas Music
- Replies: 12
- Views: 5609
- Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:35 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Great Christmas Music
- Replies: 12
- Views: 5609
Re: Great Christmas Music
[quote="jbuck919"][quote="Cyril Ignatius"] 5) A couple of Vienna Boys Choir CDs (both on Philips) are among my very favorites. "Christmas Angels" has many standard carols along with Britten's Ceremony of the Carols. "Christmas in Vienna" has a variety of carols, and good number of these tracks featu...
- Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:56 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Favourite Classical Christams Song/Carol
- Replies: 51
- Views: 18999
- Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:07 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: Exciting songs to perform
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4193
Britten did occasionally accompany singers other than Pears, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Schubert and the song cycle BB wrote for him"Songs and Proverbs of Wiiliam Blake", and also Kathleen Ferrier and Janet Baker, but not often. He also played in chamber concerts sometimes. But you are right, almos...
- Sat Aug 27, 2005 8:57 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: A Tip of the Hat to Tippett
- Replies: 7
- Views: 4403
I agree with Karlhenning's use of the words "self-indulgent", though perhaps I would use "self-centred", and I don't think it applies only to his dreadful librettos. It was central to his character, I suspect - it is exactly the quality that comes across in his autobiography. He could have done with...
- Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:20 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED Classical Music Chatterbox March-August 05
- Topic: A little Sarah Brightman discussion :)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 25057
I think her voice is quite sweet, and would be all right in a choir - otherwise, no. Real singers don't need microphones, and a bit of good taste and humility doesn't harm, either. I have been in a concert with Ms Brightman, and we, the humble choir members, were instructed by her and her entourage ...
- Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:25 pm
- Forum: ARCHIVED: Classical Music Chatterbox August 2005 to May 31, 2006
- Topic: What are your views on PIANO ROLLS?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 15796
My grandmother had a Pianola, and shelves and shelves of piano rolls. (They took up a lot of room.) As a small child I used to love "playing" the Pianola, pretending to be Rachmaninov or whoever. But best of all was to stop "playing", and watch the piano keys move all by themselves! I was too young ...
- Sat Jul 23, 2005 10:26 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED Classical Music Chatterbox March-August 05
- Topic: Pizza Won't Like Julian Lloyd Webber's Take on Barenboim
- Replies: 6
- Views: 5378
I agree with Michael that there isn't a really good concert hall in London - apart, as he says, from the Wigmore for chamber music and lieder. One is certainly needed. There are, however, superb halls elsewhere in Britain - the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Snape Maltings in Suffolk, Symphony Hall...
- Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:03 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED Corner Pub March-August 05
- Topic: French Poet Arthur Rimbaud
- Replies: 7
- Views: 10190
The difficulty with these wonderful poems, if you don't speak French, is that they are just about impossible to translate, since they are sound-pictures and the sound of the language is essential to them. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. Anyone who doesn't know the Britten song cycle should try it - it m...
- Wed Jun 29, 2005 12:35 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED Corner Pub March-August 05
- Topic: Trafalgar Bicentennial
- Replies: 35
- Views: 7414
I think that there are groups who re-enact battles in England, too, though I have never come across them. I see it as a very immature, naive occupation for people without imagination. Ralph, I do have heroes - but not people whose primary purpose is killing, whether directly or indirectly. There wer...
- Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:59 pm
- Forum: ARCHIVED Corner Pub March-August 05
- Topic: Trafalgar Bicentennial
- Replies: 35
- Views: 7414
I'm English, and I find it interesting to read your comments. The commemorations offend me. However much people say it isn't a celebration of "victory", that is exactly what it is. The whole atmosphere is festive, carnival-like. For goodness' sake, this was a BATTLE. Thousands of people on both side...
- Tue Apr 26, 2005 10:26 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED Classical Music Chatterbox March-August 05
- Topic: John Rutter - some insights
- Replies: 6
- Views: 4015
That's interesting - I didn't know he'd been in the Highgate choir. What an experience! On the latest re-issue of the War Requiem, there are extracts from rehearsals, with Britten talkng to the performers. To the boys he says, "Don't make it sound NICE. It isn't nice, it's horrid. It's MODERN music!...
- Thu Apr 21, 2005 4:25 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED Classical Music Chatterbox March-August 05
- Topic: "Springy" songs
- Replies: 13
- Views: 5736
- Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:12 am
- Forum: ARCHIVED Classical Music Chatterbox March-August 05
- Topic: The Met Needs To Garner More Top Voices!
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4859