Let me know how you found me, where you're from, why you're here, a little about yourself, recommend a book, recommend a movie, tell me a secret, tell me something, ask me a question, etc. =)

Ad Astra,

The Bride of the First House.
bride (at) livejournal (dot) com

weather	:		light rain
outside	:		11.8°C
mood	:		...

Hi there! Welcome to my journal =) I thought I'd put this up at the top for you =)

The short story is: it would be really cool if it were, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. And you could have a very valuable violin there, even if it's not a real Stradivarius.

I'd be interested in what you find out. Do come back and let me know one way or another, if you're so inclined. =)

I'm no expert (to make an understatement =), but I do know that if this violin in your family has been played often and maintained properly in these last 100 years, it would be very very valuable anyway. If not in market value, then at least in sentimental value.

GET IT INSURED ANYWAY!! ... is my point. Make sure someone is making beautiful music with it regularly and taking good care of it. Don't let it sit idle.

As to whether it is a real Stradivarius, I'm almost certain it is not. Allowing for a little uncertainty, all real ones have been accounted for.

I don't know where you might get a proper appraisal. You could look for a violin repair shop in your area and ask to be referred to an antiques appraiser who specializes in stringed instruments. If you're in a big city, someone in your local symphony orchestra society might be able to help you out as well.

You really would want to know the market value for insurance purposes.

Good luck! =)

weather	:		mostly sunny
outside	:		7.4°C
mood	:		...

I don't think anyone would disagree with me much when I say that, on the scale of preferences, travelling to New York to see a Met production ranks a little higher than a dress rehearsal. Not that that would prevent the possibility of sitting behind someone with a fat head that just so happened to block the most important bit of the stage where most of the action was.

It's probably not entirely fair of me to say anything about the dress rehearsal, to begin with, but I'm going to anyway. =)

I was at the dress rehearsal of the Vancouver Opera production of Fidelio.

The story is timeless. Illegal detainment and torture of political prisoners for speaking the truth, disagreeing in one way or another is as front and centre to us today as it was in the World War II era, as it was when Napoleon dominated Europe, time and time before, and time and time again hereafter.

For this production, a non-descript prison in the Cold War era was chosen. Even though the Vancouver Opera website says it's an eastern European location, the multicultural nature of the ethnic backgrounds in the cast, chorus and supernumeraries makes the location very difficult to pinpoint. Well, that makes it either very easy or very difficult to pinpoint, depending on your context. =)

I still think that German is a bit abrupt and awkward for opera in certain places. At least for me, there's a tiny pause-and-hiccoughing feeling in some places that catches me. I don't get that catching feeling with French or Italian. But I find Beethoven a lot smoother than, say, Wagner.

I was very impressed that the use of the main backdrop.

There was an enormous "wall" which was a sheer-ish material on a 3 or 4 story scaffolding. The sheer-ish material was painted with a large brick pattern that was visible when the light shone on it at an angle.

There was an invisible ghoulish splatter pattern along the top that was only visible to the audience when the light came right through it from behind it. With a bright red backlight, it alluded to dried blood splatter. With a white backlight, it was a thick, heavy and miserable rain splatter.

Sometimes, there were images projected on to the wall for ambience or reminiscence. At the end, the wall came apart in two pieces, one-third and two-thirds of the length. In the scene itself, the prison doors had opened and the prisoners were freed. But it was symbolic of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

The most amazing use of this wall was during Pizarro's introductory scene where he's asserting his dominance over his staff — and Tom Fox is a fantastic dramatic baritone, BTW.

The wall was at an acute angle to the edge of the stage. While he's at stage right, facing the audience with his left arm almost pointed directly out in front of him, his shadow is about ¾ the height of the wall, but facing to the left directly at the prison staff with his arm pointed directly at them. Pizarro's character was meant to intimidate and be very intimidating. His giant shadow on the wall was a really neat and very apt visual effect.

What was even more amazing was, in the same scene, when Rocco was cowering in response to Pizarro's posturing. Rocco was positioned on Pizarro's left. The wall was angled such that Rocco's shadow on the wall was ironically bigger than Pizarro's.

         That          nearly          blew          me          away.

It says Rocco is A Bigger Man™, in the metaphysical sense. It alludes to the Napoleon Complex and I thought that was so very clever in the way they did that. It's true to Pizarro as a tyrant. And it's an incredibly deft homage to the original 1805 production when the French military, under the Emperor Napoleon, had its iron grip over most of Europe.

Very, very well done.

Minor gaffs, which I'm sure the production crew will get sorted out before opening night:

• spelling errors in the subtitles... "Oh Go," for "Oh, God" and a few others I don't remember now.
• the cast list on the website is "in order of vocal appearance", but Marzelline was on stage before Leonore.
• the mad humming projector for the subtitles. They tried to muffle it, but they can't do too much because the muffling foam causes it to overheat too. It might be time for new quieter projector.

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		9.4°C
mood	:		...

No stranger to the stage, lyric tenor and Gemini Award nominee Charles Logan has appeared in concert across North America. In addition to his performances in Washington, Arizona, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, his solo work has been recorded and broadcast on Classic KING-FM radio in Seattle. ...

I'm fussy about Lyric Tenors. I tend to gravitate away from them and favour listening to the Heldontenor instead. It's one of those types of voices that, for me, can very easily become annoying if it's not done well. And even then, those who DO do it well are still capable of annoying me.

But he's recently posted a few recordings to his website and I wanted to show Dad this young man's amazing voice. I thought I'd put it here as well.

Random Thoughts:

• There were a few times when I wanted to shoot his accompanist...
• What a hottie! =D
• Charles Logan has this randomizing effect on me. =D
• He's a talented artist/designer as well. He designed his own website and he also did an exceptionally beautiful, elegant one for a certain flautist that shall remain nameless.
• He's also a pretty big geek.
• I'd SO LOVE to hear what he does with a Gregorian Chant... maybe one day.
• See what I mean about randomization? =)

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		7.9°C
mood	:		...

UBC in Verona, Italy: Language, Opera and Cuisine

Experience the famous city of Romeo and Juliette. Morning language classes at a renowned school are complemented by historical excursions in the afternoons. The program also includes tickets for four opera performances in the incredible setting of the Roman Arena.

June 17 - July 1. CAD$3,250
Airfare not included.

An Operatic Tour of Salzburg and Munich with Diane King

Join UBC instructor and opera expert Diane King for this adventure in Bavaria and Austria, renowned for their rich musical history and dramatic countryside. Experience the operas of Mozart and Wagner, and travel to the locations where they were composed. Opera performances at the Salzburg Summer Festival and Munich Opera House are included.

July 2007. Price TBA.
Airfare not included.

The very idea of going on programs like these makes me meltie. Most likely not this year, but maybe in the 2010 timeframe, give or take.

I may not go on these exact programs, but I would like some kind of educational, structured activity vacation. Italy takes precedence over Germany for me, so if there were an Operatic Tour of Italy that includes Teatro alla Scala, I'm all there.

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		12.8°C
mood	:		...

They sing very very well, but it's not in the vocal style we expect for Italian opera.

I like sharp, crisp voices that remind me of the feeling of a newly opened bottle of champagne. With good singers, the voice connects with you. It's the kind of thing you need to hear in person. You need to be in the audience of a live performance without amplification of any kind.

I like voices that sing the notes, not just hit them. I don't like the pushing or upward straining quality that some singers have. I like it when the low, mid and high ranges have the same consistent flowing/sailing quality. I can't really describe it, but I can hear it.

I bring my parents out to see a Ben Heppner recital and anything interesting like that, so they can see what to do and what not to do when they sing. The Ben Heppner recital earlier this year was very worthwhile for Dad. He learned so much in those few hours alone.

I'm slightly regretting not taking them to see Turandot, but oh well. There will be other performances.

weather	:		raining
outside	:		11.2°C
mood	:		cheerful

Had a wonderful Sunday brunch with cloganese and cavin who came up from Seattle for a weekend getaway to see the Vancouver Opera production of Turandot*. Vancouver also had a home hockey game and a home football game on that Saturday night, all in that same area of downtown, so it was totally bananas, I hear =P And they say we're the No Fun City...

But, I'm glad the guys had a good time despite that.

I suggested The Elixir again, a French restaurant at the Opus Hotel in Yaletown. I'd been here for lunch before and it's very nice.

Lots of laughter, chatting, geeking, eating, way lots of fun =) I forgot to tell them about the washrooms though, but that's okay, I don't think anyone noticed. XD XD

We did get a group pic of the four of us, but the cables and camera software are on Husband Guy's machine =P

I'll get that uploaded as soon as I can... PROMISE! =) Or I could hold it ransom for the .mov of cloganese's rendition of Nessun Dorma (he's a Tenor, see) =D

... sheesh, how am I supposed to tag this entry?!?! XD

weather	:		mostly sunny
outside	:		19.3°C
mood	:		happy

They did a joint performance with another choir group down there. The Artistic Director of the Seattle group, Auntie Janet, is the sister of one of the senior members of Grand Ensemble (the Vancouver group), Auntie Jean. They performed at the Meydenbauer Theatre in Bellevue, Washington. The Meydenbauer and I go back a looong way *grin*, so it was a very pleasant surprise when the bus pulled up to the front steps. It really was like seeing an old friend again.

The theme for this weekend's concert was 萬水千山總是情 (2.8M MP3). This song is best described as Chinese Country & Western... which doesn't sound like it could EVER work XD, but amazingly, it's quite a lovely song and very well known in the Cantonese speaking community. ( Lyrics and English translation )

It's one of the few old style Country songs I can stomach. The lyrics are very inspiringly beautiful and the tune is just cute as all buttons. =) The title sounds like it might be a quote from a classical Chinese poem or something, but I don't recognize where it could be from. It was a Hong Kong drama series that aired in 1982 starring Liza Wang and Patrick Tse*.

萬水千山總是情 was set in a period of war-torn China at the turn of the century when countless families were scattered to the winds when everyone fled attacks, air raids, the Japanese and what-not. As the title theme of the series, the song is saying that "no matter what fate deals us, no matter where we are and how far apart we are, we're still family and love will always be love." It's very fitting that Aunt Jean and Aunt Janet chose this theme, being sisters living in different countries.

Anyway, both groups are just hobbyist choirs. The recitals and public performances are for fun, for the experience, something to practice for and pressure to improve. It's also a chance for my parents to get out, socialize, be a part of something and do stuff with other people. They're much happier for it. Realistically, they're beginning to see more days behind them than ahead; Dad's 66 and Mom's 60. I had wanted to spend some time with them while they're still young enough to take their mobility and faculties for granted. It's also good for me to get out more too.

The choir members are sane, down-to-earth, well educated people, very vivacious and full of life. They can be serious and heavy duty on the philosophizing, but they're also very silly and lighthearted as well. During a head count: "If you're not here, please speak up." XD They're all classical music and opera lovers, mostly a Mandarin speaking bunch with Cantonese speakers. The repertoire they choose from is usually from classics translated into Chinese, Chinese classical and folk songs. They'll do some well-known arias in English, Spanish and Italian on occasion too.

I love hearing them sing. The bel canto voice really connects and resonates with me in a way that no other type of vocal technique does. It really needs to be heard on its own. I would have much preferred it if they didn't use microphones and amplification, but they usually do. Still, I had the best seats in the house: pre-equipment setup in rehearsal (I was blown away, it sounded SO MUCH BETTER than hearing them partially through speakers); in the ladies' powder room where Auntie Vivian was warming up and practicing; sitting in between my Mom and Dad in an informal, sit down rehearsal; and in the wing of stage right; ad hoc, on the bus going down the I-5 at 90mph with most of the windows open a crack... they even sound wonderful     ON     A     MOVING     BUS .

I very much enjoy being The Rabid Fan Girl™ after the show and running around getting everyone's autographs. I do it after every concert I go to, but this is the first time I've gotten the complete set of everyone's autograph. They were all smiles, telling my Mom and Dad how they feel like stars and how they've never been asked for an autograph other than on the cheques they write or the bills they pay. I've made 45 people very happy to feel good about themselves and their performance, even if it's just for the weekend. And that is fun.

On the way back, we:

• stormed a Denny's at breakfast. XD
• took pictures and meandered a bit around Lake Washington.
• walked a little loop around the beautiful University of Washington campus, stopping for a good long gander at the view standing between the entrances of the School of Art and School of Music buildings.
• tottered around a factory outlet where no one wanted to really buy anything they didn't absolutely need because the prices aren't low enough compared to what we can get back home to risk the hassle going across the border.

* Patrick Tse is the father of Nicholas Tse, the spoiled brat-ass rich kid who is trying big time to clean up his extremely negative public image with Jackie Chan's help. You know you're in a hole when you need JACKIE CHAN to give you a Good Guy Role in his movie to get people to stop hating you.

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		22.5°C
mood	:		musical

I usually hate the sound of tangos. Maybe I just don't like the ballroom tango and I'm actually okay with the Spanish/Argentine style that were meant to be listened to and not danced to. Perhaps it's because the ballroom tango is the one that is most popularly associated with the word "tango" and that's what I think of.

I have never understood how people could describe it as "sexy". It has to be one of the most unsexy things to me. But I don't like staccato to begin with... which means I'm not much of a Baroque fan either. And I MAD HATE strobe lights at clubs... but that's neither here nor there =}

However, this afternoon, I heard the most smooth and liquid and evoking tango.

Tango in D by Isaac Albeniz.

Wow, was that ever beautiful!

And I wasn't sure if I should have been driving at that moment =} It still had that distinct tango rhythm in 2/4 time, but it wasn't nearly as severe and jarring as what I'm used to hearing. It was done FABULOUSLY by Viveza, a small Canadian chamber ensemble. I heard two strings and a piano, but I could have just been enjoying it too much to try to pick out the double bass.

It really was ALMOST sexy. Almost. =) I would buy their Tango, Tango CD, but I'm really afraid that all the other tracks are the ballroom style tango that I don't like. =P

weather	:		rainshower
outside	:		18.6°C
mood	:		musical

It's very fitting that the opening production was Antonio Salieri's L'Europa Riconosciuta (Europa Recognized). It's a lesser known work of his, but it was the inaugural performance for the first opening of La Scala back in 1778. And it was supposedly very innovative for its time — two pairs of leads, a much larger role for the chorus, the dramatic opening with the violent storm on the high seas, lightning and thunder, etc.

Salieri is a great composer in his own right and deserves to be known for more than just "Mozart's jealous villain antagonist"... which he really wasn't, despite what Peter Shaffer says. *eyeroll*

I probably won't be able to get to Milan soon enough to see it. And even if I had the means, I'd probably be fighting myself over going to that or going to Covent Garden to see Ben Heppner in Turandot in 2006. But I'm sure that there will be something fantastic going on whenever I can haul myself over to Italy.

In the meantime, I might post something to classical_music and opera to ask if there's an album with some of the arias... I really don't expect there to be a full recording of it out there.

weather	:		snowfall warning
outside	:		1°C
mood	:		loopy/excited

I would expect a brand new German violin to be about (USD)$200/(CAD)$250-300 (possibly more) and that one doesn't look brand new. For those who may not know, stringed instruments should generally appreciate in value as it gets used because playing it will condition the wood and make it sound better over time. All other things being equal, the preference should _always_ be to take the used one over a brand new one. That particular eBay violin is a good value for $100... even if they took a brand new one, threw it down a flight of stairs, worked it back into a playable condition and called it "antique". It's just not a real Strad.

But I immediately thought of Mark Simonson when I looked at the label in the ( f-hole shots. )

So I wrote to him asking about it. =) If you don't know who Mark Simonson is, well... *remove glove* *slap you across the face with it*. You need to read this — Typecasting: The Use (and Misuse) of Period Typography in Movies. The SHEER NIFTINESS of that just blows me away. =)

Antonio Stradivari lived from 1644-1737, which IS after the invention of the metal type printing press. I WAS smart enough to try that first XD I was thinking the printed label looked way too "neat" to be from that time period. I would have expected older printing presses to be messier and more higgledy-piggledy.

Anyway, he wrote back to me saying:

I don't know about the violin, but the label is definitely
a more recent vintage. The face used is Halbfette Lateinisch
(Latin Bold) produced by H. Berthold in Germany starting
around 1903. In the number "1735" on the label, the 3 and
5 have been written in. It seems a bit odd to me that "Made
in Germany" is in English, but I don't know if it actually is odd
for such things. The label does appear to have been printed
with metal type at any rate, but no earlier than about 1903.

... and I have his permission to post that.

The part about the font was what I wanted to hear =) I think that's so so so cool.

And, of course, it says "Made in Germany" in English (it doesn't say "Deutschland"). After 1891, the United States required all imports to bear a "Made in" designation.

There's a lot of information scattered around the internet about these instruments that are known to sell for millions. All of them left are accounted for. The fact is, almost all violins today are modelled after The Master's instruments to begin with. Those labels were really meant to indicate which Strad the violin was MODELLED AFTER and not to indicate that it ACTUALLY IS. I guess profiteers capitalize on this kind of misunderstanding... who knew, eh?

Pointing And Laughing At The Bad Latin In The Labels™ seems to also be a favorite pastime with the Strings crowd as well. =)

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		15°C
mood	:		happy

groomzilla asked me for some vocal selections that he and his fiancée could audition for an intermission piece or the Signing of the Register for his wedding. I promised to think on it and get back to him. Well, this is too big for a comment, so I'll put it here instead =D

M, this post and this comment of mine have a few instrumental-only recommendations =)

Here are a few of my favorite vocal pieces. Keep in mind that I listen to these with no regard for occasion. I said in a comment that some of the most beautiful love arias are from the most tragic operas. I love listening to these even though some of them are not in English and I don't understand a thing they're saying. =) Some people like the songs in and of themselves and don't care about the rest of the story. Some people don't like their music to come from a story with a tragic or non-ideal ending. For some, the information surrounding the aria (say, the history of the time period that the story occurs or even the composer's life and works) significantly impact what they will and will not use.

( I'll spare the rest of you... )

Let me know if you have trouble finding these =)

weather	:		partially cloudy
outside	:		9°C
mood	:		okay
music	:	Richard Strauss - Intermezzo, No. 10b Traumerei am Kamin

1. Paganini - Caprice No. 02 in B minor, Moderato
2. Ben Heppner - Plus Blanche Que la Blanche Hermine (Meyerbeer)
3. Handel - Concerto Grosso, Op. 6 No. 4
4. Kiri Te Kanawa - Po Atarau
5. Ben Heppner - Sing To My Heart A Song (Giannini)
6. Joan Sutherland - Norma, Casta Diva (Bellini)
7. Schubert - Violin Sonatina No. 2
8. Placido Domingo - MacBeth, O Figli (Verdi)
9. Sumi Jo - O del mio dolce ardor (Gluck)
10. Bach - Cello Suite No.1, Allemande (Yo-Yo Ma)
11. Ben Heppner - Seul Pour Lutter (Berlioz)
12. Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia, Overture
13. Massenet - Meditation (Nigel Kennedy)
14. Bryn Terfel - Die Zauberflote, Papageno's Aria (Mozart)
15. Glazunov - Mazurka-Obereque (Perlman)
16. Joan Sutherland - Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail (Mozart)
17. Elgar - Cello Concerto in E minor, Adagio Moderato (Yo-Yo Ma)
18. Ben Heppner - Danny Boy (Weatherley, trad. Irish Folk)
19. Cecilia Bartoli - Sposa Son Disprezzata (Vivaldi)
20. Richard Strauss - Intermezzo, No. 10b Traumerei am Kamin

And, just because that doesn't make me look stuck up enough, I have to give everyone a stuck up opinion that no one cares about, to boot =) Here's another soprano that everyone else likes and I don't.

I find Cecilia Bartoli*'s voice very breathy and weird. It doesn't have the ringing quality that I like in a female opera voice (like in Kiri Te Kanawa, Renée Fleming, my Mom, etc.).

I first heard her with Bryn Terfel in the Papageno-Papagena duet from Die Zauberflöte. I thought maybe it was for dramatic effect in that particular recording. Maybe she was doing it on purpose to try to get the dynamics right and to make sort of like a "whispering" quality to it. But I've been listening to other stuff of hers and it's the same thing. All breathy and scrapey.

* — cheh-CHEE-lee-ah BAR-toh-li (she's Italian).

weather	:		ominously cloudy
outside	:		9°C
mood	:		relaxed
music	:	Sarasate - Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 (Perlman)

*distracted mind wandering and muttering*

How did I play violin for so long without doing much Sarasate work? Or hearing some of Zigeunerweisen at the very least?

This must be all three movements. It's one of his earlier pieces. I have to look it up on Amazon and add a few Sarasate CDs to my wishlist...

OH! And Sarah Chang! I completely forgot about her over the years too.

...

...

Okay. NO. Stop this! I have too much work to do.

weather	:		raining
outside	:		16°C
mood	:		happy

I had joined a summer music program run by the Vancouver School Board that used the classrooms at Eric Hamber Secondary. I was in Grade 6 or 7, still in Elementary school. I had been playing violin for a while and wanted to play in an orchestra with others. My parents and I were looking at the description for the program. There were two groups, a "Beginners" and an "Intermediate". I'd been playing for a few years and I had private lessons, so I wasn't a beginner. The Intermediate blurb just said, "for students with a few years of experience." So, I thought, great, that's me.

When I got there on the first day, everybody sucked. Seriously. "Beginner" meant "just bought the instrument this morning." There weren't enough Intermediate level students to make up a full orchestra. There were just enough of us to make a small chamber group, a Trio or a Quartet if we pulled Elizabeth out of the beginners to play second violin. And if we were lucky, one of the instructors' teenage daughter, Alli, would graciously come in with her big double bass and we'd have a Quintet.

So they just combined everybody into the Beginner's class. Naturally, I became the Concert Master. A few of the more advanced players would get pulled out and do chamber pieces for the end of program concert. But we still had to participate in the full orchestra stuff.

When your skills are head and shoulders above everyone else, you're bored as all get-out. I was never the misbehaving kind of bored kid, but the instructors could see that I wasn't in the best spirits when I was in the main class. I was so much happier in the chamber group.

Violins are a very popular instrument. Everyone wants to play violin. It's that "limelight" mentality that parents push onto their kids, I'm sure. No one wants to play viola or even cello because they were seen as background, supporting roles. So, there was an overabundance of violins and only two or three of each of the other instruments.

Because I was basically sitting there doing nothing, I decided to learn cello. In the cello section, there was James (Principal Cello), Amanda and Pansy sitting by herself behind James and Amanda. That was perfect, I could sit with Pansy. I borrowed an extra cello from one of the instructors. It was a beautiful German cello with a very rich, deep sound. Pansy was a beginner as well, so we both helped each other out. James and Amanda were fairly competent, so they practiced with us.

Vibrato comes much easier on the cello than the violin. Blessed, blessed gravity.

The hardest thing to get used to, for me, was not using my second finger nearly as much as I do on the violin. I nearly ripped my hand apart several times because I'd forget that I had to put my second and third finger down together to get that note instead of just stretching out my second finger. =D

At one point, I'd shift my whole hand into second position so that it would feel more natural to me. But when the music isn't written for the shifting, it's easy to get messed up and it sounds like crap if you can't get it perfect.

Reading the bass clef took a while to get used to. But eventually, I worked through all of that.

I played well enough that the conductor asked me to do a cello solo for the final concert night. My solo piece was Mendelssohn(-Bartholdy)'s On Wings of Song, Op. 34, No. 2 with piano accompaniment. It's not that hard, but it was just challenging enough for me... though, I played it a bit slower than that one and I don't quite remember it being that repetitive. And I also figured out very quickly that female cellists can't wear short skirts... long black flowing skirts only. =)

I didn't persue cello lessons after that one summer. We couldn't afford both violin and cello, instruments and lessons. I stuck with the violin because it was smaller and easier to carry around. Sometimes I regret not taking cello lessons further, but ah well. Maybe in the future when I retire, I'll take it up again.

Oh right, the picture. I don't have the picture because it was taken on the afternoon of the last concert. I was promised a print, but I ended up not seeing the person who took it, so I don't have one. The doll will just have to do. =)

weather	:		a bit cloudy
outside	:		12°C
mood	:		happy
music	:	Ben Heppner - Die Frau ohne Schatten (Strauss)

I catch the tail end of Music & Company on the way to work. I get Take Five midday. Then Music For A While and In Performance in the evening.

The Music For A While host, Danielle Charbonneau has a great radio voice and that kind of lovely French accent that sounds really beautiful speaking English (it's 60% French; 20% British English; 20% other European languages, there are times that I swear there's some Greek and/or German in it). I don't like all French accents. Jean Cretien gets annoying at length, for example (even though he's so poo-poo-ler), but I love listening to Danielle.

The point of all this was, I kept getting these really weird phase shift experiences these last two days listening online during the day, then getting in my car in the evening and hearing exactly the same thing.

I have to remember that the live stream is on Eastern time, it's 3 hours ahead. =)

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		8°C
mood	:		ecstatic
music	:	Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake, Act 3: No.20a: Danse Russe: Moderato & Andante Simplice

I had an old audio tape set of the complete Swan Lake Suite that was one of the very rare gifts from my parents. I was 10 or 12 at the time. I was completely mesmerized by the Moderato violin solo and the following Andante Simplice from the Danse Russe in Act III.

Audio tapes have no tracks that you can repeat like CDs, so I dubbed these two sections onto a 90 minute tape on its own. It was all of 3 minutes long, but I listened to it 30 times in a row, over and over. I couldn't figure out from the tape what exactly it was that I was listening to though. For the longest time, I thought it was Danses des Petits Cygnes from Act IV because it sounded so dainty and adorable.

But both tapes have been lost in the shuffle. I know there are people out there who will completely understand when I say: I know EXACTLY where they are, but they're not there... *arm wringing* =O

I'd been scouring the Internet MP3Land for it for a long time now. Part of the difficulty is the utter dingbats out there who misname classical music. No, people, the Moonlight Sonata is not a Mozart. =P I never knew what I would get if I downloaded an MP3 entitled "5w4n_1ak3.mp3" (which BTW, is the Techno Remix of the Finale).

Part of the problem was also that these two sections are two out of four movements of the Russian Dance in the suite. The first three movements, the Moderato, Andante and the Allegro, are often cut in the ballet productions (apparently, much to the chagrin of Tchaikovsky, himself, and Mme. Nadezhda von Meck, who both really liked the first two movements as well). So, it would be missing from most CD compilations which I would guess are mostly based off the ballets. The Presto is the only thing that most people associate with "the Russian Dance". Only complete recordings of Swan Lake would have what I want.

And I found it! *bouncie* =)

The one I have right now is a Vanessa Mae recording with the New Belgian Chamber Orchestra/Nicholas Cleobury. I don't like it as much as my original. The technique, inflection and passions are just not there. In fact, I'm almost positive now that my original was an Itzhak Perlman solo. It could not have been anyone else.

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		3°C
mood	:		ecstatic

The 45th Grammy Awards Category 100: Best Classical Vocal Performance - Award to the Vocal Soloist(s).

Renée Fleming, Soprano.

For Bel Canto (Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, etc.)

I didn't help with this one (though I wish I could have)... I'm just excited that Renée won =D

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		4°C
mood	:		imaginative
music	:	Joan Sutherland - Rigoletto, Gualtier Maldè (Verdi)

So would Steven Mercurio. He's a symphony orchestra conductor. I saw him conducting the Vienna Philharmonic for The Three Tenors Christmas in 2000. I kept thinking that he had a cute back, then I saw his face and it was even cuter =)

I'll add to this when I think of them...

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		11°C
mood	:		impressed
music	:	Renée Fleming - Norma, Casta Diva (Bellini)

I've found that I really do like Vincenzo Bellini's "Casta Diva" from his opera, Norma. I just don't like Maria Callas' voice. Blasphemy, I know... =\ but I'm listening to Renée Fleming's version, over and over again, and I love it.

It must be my problem because everyone else just plain adores Maria Callas. Her voice has been described as "the voice of the century", "ethereal", "one of the greatest and most versatile operatic singers in recent history", "greatest theatrical musical artist of all time", "a voice and a legend", etc.

And.     The.     Woman.     Just.     IS.     Norma.

Which is why I thought it was the aria that I didn't like.

But she does this weird thing when she sings - she curls up both sides of her tongue which gives her voice a strange, strange quality that bugs me. I thought maybe the recording I got was wonky, but every single Callas piece I got was like that as well. Maybe I really need to get a good quality recording and see if it bothers me as much then.

But I'm so reluctant to buy anything because even the snippets from the "Best Of --" and "Maria Callas, The Voice Of The Century" CDs at Amazon don't sound all that much better to me... I realize that all her recordings would have been done at a time when we didn't have the equipment and technique of today, but still...

[Update]

On phatladysings' recommendation, I got a Joan Sutherland version of Casta Diva... very nice, very nice. I like Sutherland's "embellishments" =)

Haven't found a Marilyn Horne one yet...

weather	:		clear
outside	:		16°C
mood	:		happy
music	:	Bryn Terfel - Bugail Aberdyfi

I was a bit upset today because I couldn't find any Angela Hewitt *harumph*. But I did find some Cecilia Bartoli and some Bryn Terfel.

I have to try very hard not to call BT, "Papageno" because that's the only thing I see in my mind when I hear his voice. =)

I'm still unsure of CB. Her voice is a bit flat compared to Kiri Te Kanawa in the arias that I've heard so far. But, I really like her La Pastorella (Schubert) though.

I really want to find some Magda Olivero, at the different stages of her career and voice (the "slender, shiny, young girl" tone as opposed to the "large, dark, mature woman" tone). I probably won't be able to hear the difference, lacking the training and all, but just for kicks.

I really want to find out who did the Queen of the Night Aria in the Die Zauberflote recording that I have. "Holy shit" is about the only thing I can say about that =}