Don Giovanni

05. October 2008 · Comments Off on Don Giovanni · Categories: Announcements, Links, Videos, Watch




Want to see an opera for free? You can watch Don Giovanni here. Click on that link, and then look on the left of the page. Click on “Don Giovanni” and you’ll see Parts 1 through 10 underneath the video window. Cool, huh? I don’t know how long this will be available.

I haven’t watched it completely yet. I only saw the very beginning of the overture. But even that made me wonder; did the second oboe player not play the unison notes with the principal? I’m guessing so, as after the first chords he puts his oboe in his lap. That’s one way to avoid the intonation struggles! The tempo right after those unison notes is faster than I’ve ever heard. I like it!

Stanley Keenlyside is Don G in this production. Joyce DiDonato has blogged (you’ll have to look around, as I’m not giving the direct links to individual blog entries related to Don G) about her experience there as Donna Elvira, so I know it’ll be even more fun to watch, having followed her “adventure” with it.

[time lapse]

I clicked on the Part 10 … the banda looks so cool … alll women from what I can see. And once more the tempi are faster than I’m used to, and I like what I’m hearing. Unfortunately I can’t hear it very well. I guess I need to hook my computer up to speakers. Later.

Um. No. (BQOD)

05. October 2008 · Comments Off on Um. No. (BQOD) · Categories: BQOD

I sort of cracked up when I read this:

Do you know where I could get these pieces in one compilation?
Curious,
[name deleted]

Johann Pachelbel – Canon in D
Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1
Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
Bach – Air
Mozart Kaleidoscop
Rossini – William Tell overture
Ravel – Bolero
Beethoven – Symphony #5 in C Minor
Beethoven – Fur Elise
Beethoven – Symphony #5 in D Minor
Rossini – Barber of Seville Overture
Rossini – Barber of Seville Largo Al Factotum
Vivaldi – The Four Seasons “spring” – Allegro
Handel – Water Music – Hornpipe
Bach – Cantana #147 – Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Bach – Suite for Orchestra #3 in D Major Air on the G String
Haydn – Symphony No 94 Surprise Movement II
Boccherini – Minuet
Mozart – Sonata in A Rondo Alla Turea
Mozart – Piano Concerto No 21 Andante
Mozart – The Marriage of Figaro – Overture
Mozart – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Movement I
Mozart – Symphony No 40 Movement I
Mendelssohn – Midsummer Night’s Dream – Wedding March
Wagner – Lohengrin – Bridal Chorus
Chopin – Fantasie Impromptu
Chopin – Minute Waltz
Ambroise Thomas – Raymond – Overture
Liszt – Hungarian Rhapsody No 2
Liszt – Liebestraum No 3
Wagner – Die Walkure: Ride of the Valkyries
Verdi – Rigoletto – La Donna E’ Mobile
Verdi – Il Trovatore – Anvil Chorus
Verdi – Aida – Grand March
Gounod – Funeral March for a Marionette
Offenbach – Orpheus in Hades
Suppe – Poet and Peasant
Strauss – Blue Danube Waltz
Strauss – Tales from Vienna Woods
Borodin – Prince Igor – Polovtsian Dance No. 17
Brahms – Hungarian Dance No 5
Camille Saint-Saens – Dance Macabre
Camille Saint-Saens – The Swan from the Carnival of the Animals
Leo Delibes – Lakme’ – Flower Duet
Bizet – Carmen – Habanera
Bizet – Carmen – Toreador Song
Mussorgsky – Night on Bald Mountain
Tchaikovsky – Romeo & Juliet (I hate it, but I know it)
Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No.1
Tchaikovsky – Swan Lake
Tchaikovsky – 1812 Overture
Tchaikovsky – Sleeping Beauty
Tchaikovsky – The Nutcracker – Waltz of the Flowers
Dvorak – Symphony No 9 New World
Dvorak – Humoresque in G-flat Major
Massenet – Thais – Meditation
Grieg – Piano Concerto in A Minor
Grieg – Peer Gynt Suite No 1 – Morning
Grieg – Peer Gynt Suite No 1 – Anitra’s Dance
Rimsky-Korsakov – Flight of the Bumblebee
Faure’ – Pavane
Sousa – Semper Fidelis (don’t like, but know it)
Sousa – Stars and Stripes Forever (don’t like, but know it)
Elgar – Pomp and Circumstance (don’t like, but know it)
Debussy – Claire De Lune
Debussy – Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Mascagni – Cavalleria Rusticana – Intermezzo
Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra
Dukas – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Erik Satie – Gymnopedie No 1
Satie – Gnossienne No 1
Williams – Fantasia on “Greensleeves”
Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No 2
Rachmaninoff – Symphony No 2
Rachmaninoff – Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet – Montagues and Capulets
Orff – Carmina Burana – O Fortuna
Copland – Appalachian Spring
Chopin – nocturn #2 in e-flat major

I’m going to guess that the place I found this isn’t actually a real blog, but one of those places I land on and realize is a fake blog. (I don’t know what those are about, but I do find them … they pull things from other people’s blogs and what IS that all about? You smart people maybe have an answer for me, yes?)

Guess Which Opera?

05. October 2008 · Comments Off on Guess Which Opera? · Categories: BQOD

They say that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” That what is beautiful to one person is insignificant to another, and I would agree that that is true in many cases.

But, I would also make the argument that there are some things which are universally beautiful. Why is that? What is it about a certain snapshot, person or event that can touch many people, and not just a few?

I had the opportunity to attend [opera and company removed so you can play the game] … The result was phenominal. Going into the evening, I was a little skeptical […] but after the […] I was hooked.

I’ll give you the full quote tomorrow. 🙂

(Of course, perhaps for some of you, the misspelling might cause you to disregard this person’s opinion …?)

Whistler’s Mozart

05. October 2008 · Comments Off on Whistler’s Mozart · Categories: Links, Videos, Watch

(Thanks to Night After Night.)

MQOD & More

05. October 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Links, Quotes

Classical music has never been the passion of the young.

-Leon Botstein

I enjoyed reading this article. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; younger people don’t usually have the time, money or interest for a symphony concert, but they’ll get older. I happen to know they’ll get older even if they don’t. You can trust me on that one. I love reading “I’ve discovered classical music!” or some such thing at blogs of people younger than I. (And now that I’m 51 there are a lot of people who fit that bill.)

I must say, though, that the funniest blog I read was by a younger person who, when growing up, wasn’t allowed rock music. He (she?) has now discovered music other that classical and is enthralled, and realizes there is more to life than classical. So maybe some of it is that, as we get older, we “discover” new things and those appeal.

The article also included this:

Classical music has always appealed to older adults who, with the passing of years, tend to contemplate the kind of daily life conundrums that are freighted with ambiguity and complexity. The average classical listener has historically hovered around middle age. This is encouraging, as there is no shortage of baby boomers on the horizon. The challenge facing classical musicians is to persuade adults to listen, even those who have no experience with classical music. It would be swell if there were public investment in music education, but since that is unlikely, musicians and arts organizations have to assume leadership.

Heh. He used the word “swell”! Does that give away age? Seems like it might.

BQOD

05. October 2008 · Comments Off on BQOD · Categories: BQOD

The most beautiful aspect about this music is that it speaks in a language which is truly universal. One can be illiterate, but once the orchestra starts playing Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony, words are no longer needed; everybody understands.