Comments on: Open thread 9/25/2024

By: Luis Rodrigues

Luis Rodrigues — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 09:38:44 +0000

Concerning Vivaldi: his arias and operas contain delightful moments. Try for instance L’Olympiade, act 2, scene 15, gemo in un punto e fremo…

By: AesopFan

AesopFan — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 06:41:57 +0000

@ huxley > “My eye and ear were caught by this guy singing alto, if not mezzo-soprano. If I closed my eyes, I would have been sure he was female.”

My high school choir included a tenor (male) whose voice was well up into the alto range, and an alto (female) who could almost get some of the bass notes.
We did a lot of good classic stuff, but to me our top performance was Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, then only 5 years past its debut.
It featured a lovely counter-tenor solo that our guy was perfect for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8gKSqVAXrg

By: sdferr

sdferr — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 04:14:09 +0000

Oberlin and Bressler, Monteverdi, Zephiro Torna: https://youtu.be/Lr5wzy1NiQ0

By: huxley

huxley — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 04:10:08 +0000

Rock’n’roll won my heart, but I still love classical and I admire the hell out of those who have climbed that mountain.

By: huxley

huxley — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 03:58:55 +0000

huxley, when I was in the school chorale, we sang the Vivaldi Magnificat once.

Philp Sells:

I’ve not heard that before!

Vivaldi, “Magnificat – Jordi Savall”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGJYPSSJM7k

Quite lovely. Even magnifying!

My eye and ear were caught by this guy singing alto, if not mezzo-soprano. If I closed my eyes, I would have been sure he was female.

https://youtu.be/kGJYPSSJM7k?t=123

In the notes he is listed as a contratenor, which is a new one on me.
______________________________________

A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types… Countertenors often have tenor or baritone chest voices, but sing in falsetto or head voice much more often than they do in their chest voice…

In the second half of the 20th century, there was great interest in and renewed popularity of the countertenor voice, partly due to pioneers such as Alfred Deller and Russell Oberlin, as well as the increased popularity of Baroque opera and the need of male singers to replace the castrati roles in such works. Although the voice has been considered largely an early music phenomenon, there is a growing modern repertoire collection for countertenors, especially in contemporary music

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countertenor
______________________________________

Perhaps more than I wanted to know.

By: sdferr

sdferr — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 02:28:57 +0000

The Gloria is peppy choral stuff: https://youtu.be/4GwdSF32PaQ

By: Philip Sells

Philip Sells — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 02:17:27 +0000

huxley, when I was in the school chorale, we sang the Vivaldi Magnificat once.

By: sdferr

sdferr — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 01:56:44 +0000

Gentleman Jimmy: https://youtu.be/M-J9u-1hbvs

By: sdferr

sdferr — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 01:49:33 +0000

https://nypost.com/2024/09/25/us-news/nyc-mayor-eric-adams-indicted-by-grand-jury-in-historic-federal-probe-sources/

By: huxley

huxley — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 22:48:31 +0000

Usually the Mandolin Concerto is one mandolin soloist with the usual string orchestra accompanying.

Here’s a fascinating live performance with six mandolins, four larger mandolins (alto, tenor?) plus double bass behind the soloist.

–“Avi Avital plays Vivaldi Mandolin Concerto in C Major | The 8th Osaka International Mandolin Festival”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OJ0bsyIryc

Avi Avital is obviously a god on the mandolin with fingers as long as Jimi Hendrix’s.