The LEVNET Zone: Part 3

Gordon wrote:

....... Jessye Norman was in the headache zone.

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This woman had one of the most beautiful voices in the world in the mid 1980's. Not only was it rich and full, it was a voice bigger than life - like the woman herself. Health problems (partly due to her weight) nagged her for years and the voice went.

It is a great shame.

What is even a greater shame, is that she continues to concertize.

Well, I've had chance to listen to the Janet Baker version, and it was certainly better than the other. I liked the first half more than the second and I'm on the Operatic Heathens bench with Fred, I'm afraid - no shivers, no tears.

And just to confirm what a heathen I am, I liked the Alison Moyet version better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85ytCrJ_ygI


(In case anyone is wondering why I am interested in the subject of playing in tune after asserting it is something I don't do, and in being able to discern off-pitch playing, it is because I am interested in the use of dissonance in my own music. I know there is a limit to my ability to discern pitches, because I frequently make pitch changes smaller than I can distinguish directly - I play, most of the time, with a [i]lot[/i] of echo and, for example, use phasing and beats to build up a deep, rich, vibrant drone by moving only a single finger, quite slowly. (It's about as much like a didj as Pamelia Kurstin's "walking bass" is like a double bass, i.e. not very much at all, but to describe it so might give some idea of what it's like.)

"I liked the Alison Moyet version better"

- Yep, so did I.. Whats more, I recognised it and could sing along to it - I knew I was familiar with this piece, but never realised the other performances were this piece!

Ho hummm .. I Better move down to the bench reserved for unwashed pagans, LOL.. But first, time for a smoke... 8<))

... In case anyone is wondering why I am interested in the subject of playing in tune - its probably because I am drawn to argument like a fly is attracted to shit... oh, I do loathe this aspect of myself! :-(

Gordon wrote:

And just to confirm what a heathen I am, I liked the Alison Moyet version better.

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I loved Alison Moyet's version too! For me, however, it is like listening to a transcription of the piece for an entirely different instrument.

Why would liking one version preclude liking another?

And I love the way you boys facetiously put yourselves down, referring to yourselves as "heathen" and "unwashed" (which could be viewed as a sarcastic and not-so-subtle way of calling others purists and musical snobs).

Sometimes popular singers can do wonderfully moving and sensitive versions of classical repertoire. Streisand's recording CLASSICAL BARBRA is an example of this.

Opera singers can also occasionally do surprisingly "contemporary" versions of pop songs. Here is Renee Fleming's rendition of ANSWER ME, MY LOVE from her CD, HAUNTED HEART.

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

Of course, Fleming is wisely using throat and chest tones to sing this, and NOT the head tones of an opera singer. She can do this because she is able to do it but I doubt that Alison Moyet could sing RUSALKA to save her life.

Sometimes accomplished pop singers are blinded by their love of the opera repertoire and offer performances that are so misguided they are laughable (while their fans, for whom they can apparently do no wrong, cheer them on).

Here are Sting and Romanian opera diva Angela Gheorghiu singing an aria from Mozart's DON GIOVANNI (as poor Wolfgang revolves in his grave).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqUqRwlWxZ0

As the great prima donna Maria Callas pointed out years ago, it is extremely important for an artist to know what NOT to perform. This is advice that all thereminists should take to heart. There are pieces - like Bach's JESU, JOY OF MAN'S DESIRING - that just don't work for the theremin but that does not stop thereminists from proudly publishing their often painfully comical attempts to make it work.

As for DIDO'S LAMENT, if you are going to play it on the theremin you are going to have to play a rendition that more or less emulates the classical version. I have never heard the theremin sound like a sultry, smoky voiced cabaret singer.

Has ANYONE ever heard a theremin sound like a sultry, smoky voiced cabaret singer?

The theremin is a "singing lady", not a "red hot mama".

Fred wrote:

... In case anyone is wondering why I am interested in the subject of playing in tune - its probably because I am drawn to argument like a fly is attracted to shit... oh, I do loathe this aspect of myself! :-(

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Me too, Fred.

Although I prefer to think of it as "debate" rather than "argument". I think I inherited this from my father. The dinner table at our house when I was a boy, by the end of the meal, was stacked with dictionaries, volumes of the encyclopedia Britannica, and reference books of all kinds to substantiate some point of view or other in regard to something none of us had probably ever thought about before.

It took me years to realize that dad would often espouse some totally outrageous proposition just to induce us kids, with whatever eloquence we could muster, to rip it apart.

I fell for it every time.....and still do!

[i]"I think I inherited this from my father. The dinner table at our house when I was a boy, by the end of the meal, was stacked with dictionaries, volumes of the encyclopedia Britannica, and reference books of all kinds to substantiate some point of view or other in regard to something none of us had probably ever thought about before." - Coalport [/i]

I could have written the above! Except that bibles and concordances occupied more of the table than encyclopedias or worthy reference books.. And there was no interest in really 'educating' us - To my Father, everything he said was the word of god .. and our soul's were in mortal danger if we didnt buy every word of bullshit he spouted - even if the debate was over some "reletively minor" theological issue.. The biggest continuing argument for me was on the idea of an eternal hell sanctioned by a loving god.. I thought this the most repulsive repressive disgusting concept ever concieved.. That argument only ended when he died.

I carry (as all of us probably do) these influences, and in my case TONS of repressed anger.. ( I still boil when I remember how my album collection was edited with a nail).. Have gone through all the therapies, and come out the other side ok.. a godless pagan! LOL!

[i]And I love the way you boys facetiously put yourselves down, referring to yourselves as "heathen" and "unwashed" (which could be viewed as a sarcastic and not-so-subtle way of calling others purists and musical snobs). [/i]

No facetiousness intended here, only jocular self-depreciation.

If I were to mock operagoers, it would not be the minority of true aficionados who go because they love it but the people that bulk out the audience and are there purely in order to be seen to be there - in the UK the stereotype holds; I have been to the Royal Opera House and seen them for myself - the upwardly mobile businessmen with their trophy wives, out to impress their would-be clients by out-pompousing them; the inbred Hooray-Henries, drunk as Lords, broadcasting their ignorant opinions to the sycophantic braying of their horse-headed girlfriends; the Barbara Cartland lookalikes, pinch-faced and ghoulish. In short the very worst the British class system has to offer. Snobs, yes dahling, but not of the musical variety.

LOL Gordon -

Here in the USA we have the same type of opera-goers. Sometimes the most fun to be had at an opera can be listening to the comments and conversations during intermission. There seems to be a class of folks who attend opera for the sheer pomp of it. I actually am glad that this contingent exists, as they fill the seats and help keep opera companies going for the rest who actually enjoy it. :)

It is an interesting sidenote that historically, Opera was a "spectator sport" and was more akin to going to the movies - opera singers were the equivalent of today's Hollywood stars, and composers were the equivalent of today's directors ("did you see the latest Mozart opera - I hear it is the BOMB!"). The audience was very involved in the performance - if a singer sang badly, they were booed and had fruit thrown at them (yes this is a real stereotype - oranges were served as refreshment back then, and italians loved to hurl them at "bad" singers). Conversely, if an aria was particularly pleasing, the audience would cheer and applaud - this would often prompt the singer to repeat the aria again before the opera would continue. There are reports of an aria being sung five times in a row before the opera would continue. The singers were international stars, and their sex-lives were gossiped about, much like happens today with screen stars.

Somewhere along the line, opera became something that one sits through with respect, reverence, and quiet - and became associated with class, not for the everyday person. I have often thought that it sure would be fun to step into a time machine and attend an opera premiere a few centuries back.

Well, Etherspiel, my TARDIS is not functional at the moment (except as a telephone) but I can tell you that some years ago, towards the end of the late 20th century, I arranged for a group of around fifty mostly middle aged men and their partners, all in our best evening dress, to attend the play Amadeus by Peter Shaffer where we were very solemn and serious, except for several occasions throughout the play when we burst out laughing en-masse at seemingly (*) inappropriate moments, to the tetchy glares of the rest of the audience.



(*) Seemingly, except that we were members of Internet Lodge, and as part of my year as founding Master I had arranged a themed weekend, "Mozart, Masonry and Music" which included seeing the play - which is scattered with Masonic in-jokes that most of the audience did not notice.

Oh!
Now, I suppose I must Hail you as Worshipful!
Oh, well... the Craft goes on.
MM in Northern Light Lodge Ohio #47. Demitted.
Good Luck!
teslatheremin