| weather | : | partially cloudy | |
| outside | : | 9°C | |
| mood | : |  | okay |
| music | : | Richard Strauss - Intermezzo, No. 10b Traumerei am Kamin | |
- Paganini - Caprice No. 02 in B minor, Moderato
- Ben Heppner - Plus Blanche Que la Blanche Hermine (Meyerbeer)
- Handel - Concerto Grosso, Op. 6 No. 4
- Kiri Te Kanawa - Po Atarau
- Ben Heppner - Sing To My Heart A Song (Giannini)
- Joan Sutherland - Norma, Casta Diva (Bellini)
- Schubert - Violin Sonatina No. 2
- Placido Domingo - MacBeth, O Figli (Verdi)
- Sumi Jo - O del mio dolce ardor (Gluck)
- Bach - Cello Suite No.1, Allemande (Yo-Yo Ma)
- Ben Heppner - Seul Pour Lutter (Berlioz)
- Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia, Overture
- Massenet - Meditation (Nigel Kennedy)
- Bryn Terfel - Die Zauberflote, Papageno's Aria (Mozart)
- Glazunov - Mazurka-Obereque (Perlman)
- Joan Sutherland - Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail (Mozart)
- Elgar - Cello Concerto in E minor, Adagio Moderato (Yo-Yo Ma)
- Ben Heppner - Danny Boy (Weatherley, trad. Irish Folk)
- Cecilia Bartoli - Sposa Son Disprezzata (Vivaldi)
- 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).
Comments
there was another soprano that I found intriguing... Kathleen Battle, I think. I heard she's a real "diva", but I think she's a good singer nonetheless.
You really like Papageno, don't you? I think I've heard you mention it several times. :P I like Mozart, though. Probably one of my favourite composers. For awhile I was obsessed with the Queen of the Night Aria from the Magic Flute (which was my favourite opera for awhile, BECAUSE of that aria, haha).
I'm obsessed with anyone who is a true soprano and can sing those damn high notes so effortlessly. There's a girl in my class who can sing a high B flat like it's nothing (I'm saying B flat because we had to hit that for a piece we did in choir, and to weed out those who could actually hit it and those who couldn't, we experimented individually), the note literally rings and is so clear. With me, it takes a lot of work, and even then, B flat doesn't sound that great from me. I'm sure with little practice I could sing above a high C pretty well, but I don't know. I'm lazy. :P
Hee, Die Zauberflöte is popular. Anybody who is anybody does one part or another at some point =) Queen of the Night is AMAZING with the right person. The high notes are bad, but those triplet runs are murder. And because everybody knows it so well, everyone can instantly tell when you've done it wrong =O =O It's a really good Measuring Stick for a singer =)
I don't remember what exactly it was I heard from Kathleen Battle (it was years ago when I was preparing for my audition to Canterbury), but it was quite good. And I remember my singing teacher at the time talking about what a diva she was, but how she was so good.
ahh.. coloratura's.. I'd like to be one. :P I've got some sort of obsession with high notes. Like every other soprano. Sopranos are such divas already. :P It's like saying you're a soprano suddenly gives you some kind of status, hahaha.