Coloratura-ing

Here's a totally uncynical blogpost that you should go look at. It's about opera!

It's only from a couple months ago, so new enough, and both videos are definitely worth watching the whole way through, just for comparison's sake. The Rachel Gilmore version of that aria is definitely fantastic.

I think there's an interesting conversation to be had around it, but actually, homeboy over there at that other blog does a really nice job of it, so I think maybe I'll keep my mouth shut for now. (Except to note that Rachel Gilmore also has the advantage of having a high-def recording in which, even through computer speakers, you can hear how she fills the hall. Of course, that does nothing to cancel out the notes she hits up there. Holy crap.)

Go check it out!

Mr. Grumpy Pants

In a recent (hot off the presses, really) email exchanged with Nate, in which we were, amongst other things, writing back and forth about the upcoming seasons for the Seattle and Oregon symphonies, I was reminded that I really enjoying cursing about Classical music.

Now, I suppose you could say "Hey! You like to swear about everything!" But then I would say "Not so fast!"

Not so fast. I really do enjoy writing and saying curse words about orchestral music. Mention the composer Rachmaninoff, I will curse him profusely. Mention Berlioz, I will joyously amplify my praises with the most swearingest of adjectives and adverbs, convinced that the man himself would have enjoyed using them too.

Tho, in much of my normal life, I don't think I swear as much as I used to. Maybe this is an aspect of getting to be, like, almost 30 years old. You don't have to swear so much. Or, you realize that all that swearing makes you sound really angry all the time, and dagnabbit, if you want to go on griping so much, you at least need to take the edge off of it.

So, then, given the convenient (and now five years old!) archive of blog posts there to my right, I went ahead and checked back on some younger versions of myself. And I do sound angry! Boy oh boy.

I'm thinking to limit myself to a list of topics, then, to reserve my (negative) swearing for, within classical music. As a starting point, I've got:

Sergei Rachmaninoff
John Adams
Alex Ross

...well, actually, that's a pretty good list right there. I guess that means I'm still just curmudgeonly. But also meta-curmudgeonly!