I am Music

[Tzara]

Musical Interlude

Beatles, Byrds, Buffalo Springfield: breathless beatitudes, boundless joy.

Quite probably my three favorite bands when I was young. I received Buffalo Springfield Again as a present when I was a freshman in high school and played the living [expletive] out of it.

So, let's see.

My two favorite Beatles songs:

• Ticket to Ride
  (Cover version by Adam Levine and Maroon 5)
• Paperback Writer

My two favorite Byrds songs:

• Eight Miles High
• So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star (Tom Petty cover version)
  (Patti Smith cover version)

Two of my favorite Buffalo Springfield songs:

• For What It's Worth
• Mr. Soul (reunion version at Bonnaroo 2011)

 

[Angeline]

Quite probably my three favorite bands when I was young. I received Buffalo Springfield Again as a present when I was a freshman in high school and played the living [expletive] out of it.

So, let's see.

My two favorite Beatles songs:

• Ticket to Ride
  (Cover version by Adam Levine and Maroon 5)
• Paperback Writer

My two favorite Byrds songs:

• Eight Miles High
• So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star (Tom Petty cover version)
  (Patti Smith cover version)

Two of my favorite Buffalo Springfield songs:

• For What It's Worth
• Mr. Soul (reunion version at Bonnaroo 2011)

Took me a few days but there was no way I could just let this go by!

We just like so many of the same things. You posted my two favorite Byrds songs though I also love many of their covers, especially these two:

The Bells of Rhymney

My Back Pages

As for the Beatles, my favorites probably change on a daily basis but two I especially love at the moment:

Hey Bulldog

Two of Us (Reminds me of eagleyez and our many driving trips )

And of course my favorite Buffalo Springfield songs are Stephen's (though I love most all of them):

Questions

Special Care

*******************************************

Oh and one last Honorable Mention

 

[AlwaysHungry]

I was big on those groups as a lad, but I later gravitated more toward songs by Black artists. One tune, however, I never get tired of is "Drive My Car" by the Beatles. There is no version available on YouTube.

 

[Angeline]

I was big on those groups as a lad, but I later gravitated more toward songs by Black artists. One tune, however, I never get tired of is "Drive My Car" by the Beatles. There is no version available on YouTube.

AH, I love soul, motown, r&b, gospel too. I would say Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Smoky Robinson, Al Green are just a few faves and I could go on and on.

Also my beloved Laura Nyro did an album with the group LaBelle that I adore.

ETA: Etta James. I just love Miss Peaches!

So what do you like?

 

[AlwaysHungry]

So what do you like?

I'm a big fan of the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who wrote pretty much the whole Motown songbook. Some of my favorite tunes (that I play in my band) are "Reach Out, I'll Be There" (Four Tops) and "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (Supremes). I also like Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Ray Charles, Isley Brothers. Oh, and I love Sam and Dave.

When I was a lad and first playing professionally, I played a lot of Tower of Power and Earth, Wind and Fire.

 

[Tzara]

Train Kept a Rollin':

• Tiny Bradshaw
• Yardbirds
• Aerosmith
• Johnny Burnette Trio
• Jeff Beck
• Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ronnie Wood, and Metallica
• Led Zepellin

 

[UnderYourSpell]

if you're feeling a bit of an animal

 

[Tzara]

Arias

Mozart: "Dove sono" from Le nozze di Figaro, performed by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Vienna, 1946

 

[Angeline]

Mozart: "Dove sono" from Le nozze di Figaro, performed by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Vienna, 1946

That's lovely. I like Violetta's Waltz and much of La Boheme and Carmen (stuff I grew up with), but this has really moved me ever since I heard it on the Amadeus soundtrack.

Clinks your glass.



And as you know, my dad was a big G&S fan so I heard a fair amount of that. I think The Mikado was his favorite. I still laugh picturing him dancing around and singing I've Got A Little List! (Er yeah, I've got a modern version in that video but I guess it evolves.)

 

[Tzara]

Arias

That's lovely. I like Violetta's Waltz and much of La Boheme and Carmen (stuff I grew up with), but this has really moved me ever since I heard it on the Amadeus soundtrack.

Clinks your glass.



And as you know, my dad was a big G&S fan so I heard a fair amount of that. I think The Mikado was his favorite. I still laugh picturing him dancing around and singing I've Got A Little List! (Er yeah, I've got a modern version in that video but I guess it evolves.)

Mozart had a wonderful sense of setting music for women's voices. Well, for anything, but he was especially good at writing for the female voice. Your track is lovely.

And you know I love G&S too, although Mikado in particular now is subject to accusations of yellowface, which is unfortunate as I love the operetta, but not being of Asian descent, I am perhaps not sensitive to its cultural flaws.

I did a lot of research this last year on Eugene Onegin for my critical paper, and fell in love with the Tchaikovsky opera, especially Tatyana's "letter scene."




I'd say I played that aria 'til the grooves wore out, but it was on CD, so that wouldn't make any sense.

 

[Angeline]

Mozart had a wonderful sense of setting music for women's voices. Well, for anything, but he was especially good at writing for the female voice. Your track is lovely.

And you know I love G&S too, although Mikado in particular now is subject to accusations of yellowface, which is unfortunate as I love the operetta, but not being of Asian descent, I am perhaps not sensitive to its cultural flaws.

I did a lot of research this last year on Eugene Onegin for my critical paper, and fell in love with the Tchaikovsky opera, especially Tatyana's "letter scene."




I'd say I played that aria 'til the grooves wore out, but it was on CD, so that wouldn't make any sense.

Of course you are correct about The Mikado. I do understand. I have very mixed feelings about Shylock. I just got caught up in that memory of my dad. It was very cool to grow up with someone who loved the arts. He was basically raised on the streets of the Lower East Side and for a time in a home for poor children. He was the beneficiary of charitable organizations who would take the poor kids to the opera, ballet, museums, symphony. A strange upbringing. He was like Nathan Detroit but with culture lol.

 

[Tzara]

Arias

Philip Glass: Satyagraha, The Evening Song from Act III.

I was lucky enough to see this performed live by the Seattle Opera in 1988. It's a difficult experience to describe--something about the calmness of the presentation combined with the rhythmic drive of the music and the purity of the scale the tenor sings wrenches the emotional guts out of you (well, at least out of me). I cry every time I hear this, though the text is in Sanskrit and I, at least, don't speak a word of it.

Beautiful, tremendously emotional, mysterious. One of the great opera experiences of my life.

 

[Angeline]

Philip Glass: Satyagraha, The Evening Song from Act III.

I was lucky enough to see this performed live by the Seattle Opera in 1988. It's a difficult experience to describe--something about the calmness of the presentation combined with the rhythmic drive of the music and the purity of the scale the tenor sings wrenches the emotional guts out of you (well, at least out of me). I cry every time I hear this, though the text is in Sanskrit and I, at least, don't speak a word of it.

Beautiful, tremendously emotional, mysterious. One of the great opera experiences of my life.

It does convey a cleanness, a purity. It's not really moving me but I think to be part of a live experience as you described would be very special. I am picking up on the calmness of the voice set against the urgency of the music.

 

[Tzara]

Arias

OK. The big one, at least for me. The liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, by Richard Wagner. My favorite opera, even though there is not much action in it, it lasts something north of four hours, and the principals stand around a lot while singing.

But, oh my God, the music. Transcendent. And modern! The music is glorious.




Sorry. Being a fan.




Here's the liebestod performed by Waltraud Meier at Bayreuth in an extremely weird video that tracks her face singing. Fabulous performance, and a vid that shows how difficult (and how physically demanding) the thing is to sing.


And a bonus video where Stephen Fry investigates the Tristan chord om Wagner's own piano!




I know. I should post something about Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Maybe.

Showing my age, I guess.

 

[Angeline]

OK. The big one, at least for me. The liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, by Richard Wagner. My favorite opera, even though there is not much action in it, it lasts something north of four hours, and the principals stand around a lot while singing.

But, oh my God, the music. Transcendent. And modern! The music is glorious.




Sorry. Being a fan.




Here's the liebestod performed by Waltraud Meier at Bayreuth in an extremely weird video that tracks her face singing. Fabulous performance, and a vid that shows how difficult (and how physically demanding) the thing is to sing.


And a bonus video where Stephen Fry investigates the Tristan chord om Wagner's own piano!




I know. I should post something about Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Maybe.

Showing my age, I guess.

You're fine. I like reading this. I still have to listen though. I had a doc's appointment yesterday and it exhausted me to go out for a few hours (it has been very warm and humid, which is bad for the old respiratory system). I kept falling asleep until I opened my eyes and it was morning lol.

But I shall listen today.

PS Have you seen the series (on Amazon) Mozart In The Jungle?

 

[Tzara]

Arias

This one is from Puccini's one-act opera Gianni Schicchi: "O mio babbino caro," sung by the incomparable (and über hot) Renée Fleming.

Which is, um, Why I posted it.

Carry on.

Have you seen the series (on Amazon) Mozart In The Jungle?

Not yet, but I'll take a look at it.

 

[Tzara]

Arias

"The Trees on the mountain," from Susannah by the American composer Carlisle Floyd. The performance is by Marie-Sophie Caspar. I actually prefer this performance to this one, by Renée Fleming, though it's easier to hear the lyrics in the Fleming version.

And, oh my God her hair in that initial picture. (I did say I thought Ms. Fleming was attractive?)

 

[Angeline]

I like the Puccini best, but I've heard it before.

I grew up in an Italian neighborhood, my city's Little Italy. The Italian composers especially make me remember hearing snatches of these arias on someone's record player or even song or whistle. Good memories. I mean we are talking rooftop vinyards and Sunday gravy here lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmncKLGx3wA


And of course I love this which is close enough for well...jazz. And a nice reminder that we are a nation of immigrants. It makes me tear up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf_pBHMcyHQ

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Let's hear it for the men. The Pearl Fishers ….. "4581 women's ovaries exploded on this day, listening to this duet; 348 others were tone deaf women or jealous men!" (quote from comments, my ovaries didn't explode but the eye candy didn't hurt.)

 

[Tzara]

Let's hear it for the men. The Pearl Fishers ….. "4581 women's ovaries exploded on this day, listening to this duet; 348 others were tone deaf women or jealous men!" (quote from comments, my ovaries didn't explode but the eye candy didn't hurt.)

Pretty awesome, Tess. And, yes, I've probably ignored male arias.

I'd envy Hvorostovsky's wonderfully thick and long gray hair, but he died young. Guy was a awesome presence on stage. Supposed to be among the best Onegins ever (here performing with Renée Fleming as Tatyana, a combination that is perfect, vocally and personally).

So, yes. You're right.

 

[Tzara]

Arias

I like the Puccini best, but I've heard it before.

I grew up in an Italian neighborhood, my city's Little Italy. The Italian composers especially make me remember hearing snatches of these arias on someone's record player or even song or whistle. Good memories. I mean we are talking rooftop vinyards and Sunday gravy here lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmncKLGx3wA


And of course I love this which is close enough for well...jazz. And a nice reminder that we are a nation of immigrants. It makes me tear up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf_pBHMcyHQ

Callas, of course. I was about to link her Vissi d'arte, from Tosca, which is my favorite aria of hers but that selection from La Traviata is pretty excellent also.

And, yeah. Bernstein's West Side Story. I especially like the (Danish? I think Danish rather than Norwegian or Swedish.) subtitles, which underscores your point.

 

[Tzara]

Arias

This one isn't an aria. It's a complete opera. In nine or so minutes.

Music by Samuel Barber, libretto by his partner (and fellow opera composer) Gian-Carlo Menotti, A Hand of Bridge is clever, kind of jazzy (I'm thinking of the rhythm, Angie), and at least to me very satisfying as opera. This performance is a little odd in how the bridge players pass around the table and particularly how the baritone stands up to read the score as he sings his aria, but, you know. The thing is miked, after all.

Wikipedia tells me that Andy Warhol designed the cover for the vocal score, as he was a friend of Barber.

Coolness.

 

[Tzara]

Sometimes a track just grabs you and won't let go. I'm trying to cut down my CD collection--I have boxes of discs I haven't listened to in a year, two years, even ten years and I'm trying to cycle through them to decide what to keep, what to cast away. That might sound weird, but my main interest is in classical music and virtually all of the "readily available" discs (i.e. those in racks near my stereo) are of classical music. So Rock, Pop, Jazz, etc. tends to drift into the archives of boxes in the basement.

The album in question here is Lucinda Williams' Essence. A good album, but nowhere near as good in general as her classic Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. So, somehow, Essence ended up in storage. Until now.

And oh, baby, that title track. It could just be me and the phase of the moon, but her lyrics and especially her voice make the thing sexy as hell for me.

Your opinion may be different, though. Here it is live, slightly expurgated. Here is the original track from the LP.

Awesome, awesome song.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Does this sound like Jazz/

 

[Angeline]

Sometimes a track just grabs you and won't let go. I'm trying to cut down my CD collection--I have boxes of discs I haven't listened to in a year, two years, even ten years and I'm trying to cycle through them to decide what to keep, what to cast away. That might sound weird, but my main interest is in classical music and virtually all of the "readily available" discs (i.e. those in racks near my stereo) are of classical music. So Rock, Pop, Jazz, etc. tends to drift into the archives of boxes in the basement.

The album in question here is Lucinda Williams' Essence. A good album, but nowhere near as good in general as her classic Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. So, somehow, Essence ended up in storage. Until now.

And oh, baby, that title track. It could just be me and the phase of the moon, but her lyrics and especially her voice make the thing sexy as hell for me.

Your opinion may be different, though. Here it is live, slightly expurgated. Here is the original track from the LP.

Awesome, awesome song.

Oh yes. Lucinda can be incindiary and Essence just lays it out there, doesn't it?

World Without Tears is my favorite of her albums, but Unsuffer Me from West gives me chills. Always has. Just wow!