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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:25 pm
by Parodite
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Saw these guys live, friggin awesome. Could be headbanging this right at the wailing wall. :D

Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 6:55 pm
by Apollonius
There were those even in the baroque era who had unkind things to say about the castrati, mostly relating to their supposed effeminacy or unusual affectations:


This criticism, very rare on the part of the Italians, was in fact submerged in the ocean of praise which had brought about the triumph of the castrati for more than two centuries. Their strength lay elsewhere, and certainly not in the over-intellectual attitude of many foreigners. It mattered little to the Italians that Scipio was a soprano and Pompey a contralto, that Hydaspes fought for twenty minutes with a make-believe lion while vocalising in all keys, or that Narcissus fell in love not with himself but with the nymph Echo! All these operatic conventions had been accepted for a long time and the Italians thought that it was only those French Cartesians who chose to assess and dissect what was dramatic and what was not. The Italians, and along with them many foreign courts, went to the theatre with only one aim: to enjoy themselves, to enjoy the performance, the matchless voice of the musico, his gestures, his escapades and his whims, his confrontation with the prima donna, his struggle with the 'cruel monster' or his feigned terror in the 'fearful wood'; they wanted to enjoy everything. For the Italians the crucial word 'enjoyment' swept away all prejudices and discussions concerning castration, the dissolute morality of the singers and the pseudo-absurdity of these heroes of antiquity with their high voices.


In the satisfaction this unlimited desire for overwhelming emotions and sensual pleasures the virtuosi knew no equals; the great castrati possessed simultaneously masculine presence and feminine grace, they were equally at ease in vocal fireworks and the heartrending expression of pathos, their voices were both flexible and agile, tender and powerful. As a result they had no difficulty in captivating their audiences and making them weep. An indescribable sensuality emanated from their acting and their asexual voices, causing men to shiver and women to faint, creating that moment of vertiginous delight that might partially compensate the singers for what they had lost.


[...]


Indeed, no description could convery the atmosphere of that evening 1776 at Forli, when Pachiarotti played Arabace in Artaserse, with a libretto by Metastasio. He interpreted admirably the role of a son who was going to his death, sacrificing himself on behalf of his father. The entire theatre was in tears and orchestra was so moved that it gradually stopped playing in the middle of an aria by the singer. Pacchiarotti came forward to the front of the stage to ask what was happening. The maestro could only manage to say: 'I am weeping, signor.'


-- Patrick Barbier, The World of the Castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Operatic Phenomenon (Souvenir Press, 1996) ; originally published as Histoire des Castrats (Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle, 1989)

Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 6:58 pm
by Apollonius
Addio, o miei sospiri! (from Tancredi) - Ferdinando Bertoni (1725-1813) ; Max Emanuel Cencic, countertenor ; Armonia Atenea directed by George Petrou
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A nice studio peformance:


Vo disperato a morte (from Tito Vespasiano) - Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) ; Max Emanuel Cencic, countertenor ; Armonia Atenea directed by George Petrou
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A more formal setting:



Notte amica, oblio de' mali (from Il cantico de' tre fanciulli) - Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) ; Max Emanuel Cencic, countertenor ; Armonia Atenea directed by George Petrou
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 5:12 am
by Heracleum Persicum
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Nice


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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 3:09 am
by Heracleum Persicum
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 3:57 am
by Heracleum Persicum
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 3:29 pm
by Typhoon
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:04 am
by Typhoon
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:25 am
by Apollonius
La Silvia - Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) ; Roberta Invernizzi, soprano ; Gloria Banditelli, mezzo-soprano ; John Elwes, tenor ; Philippe Candor, bass ; Ensemble Baroque de Nice directed by Gilbert Bezzina
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:24 am
by Typhoon
Apollonius wrote:La Silvia - Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) ; Roberta Invernizzi, soprano ; Gloria Banditelli, mezzo-soprano ; John Elwes, tenor ; Philippe Candor, bass ; Ensemble Baroque de Nice directed by Gilbert Bezzina
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Brilliant.

Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:25 am
by Typhoon
Tip of the hat to a friend:
Apparently B.B. King and Janis Joplin had a secret love child.
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 5:28 pm
by Apollonius
Farinelli, Carestini: Castrats et rivaux - Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor ; Ensemble Artaserse directed by Alessandro Tampieri
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00:01:38 • Giacomelli: Dono d'amica sorte - La Merope
00:07:13 • Giacomelli: Sposa non mi conosci - La Merope
00:17:00 • Vivaldi: Concerto for bassoon in C major, RV 477
00:29:04 • Händel: Mi lusinga il dolce affetto - Alcina
00:37:03 • Vivaldi: sento con qual diletto - Ercole sul Termodonte
00:41:56 • Leonardo Leo: Se mi dai morte - Farnace
00:45:58 • Händel: Scherza infida - Ariodante
00:58:35 • Vivaldi: Concerto for violin in D minor, RV 242
01:10:12 • Porpora: Alto Giove - Polifemo
01:15:54 • Porpora: Senti il fato - Polifemo
__

• Encore:

01:24:02 • Händel: Verdi prati - Alcina

Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:46 am
by Apollonius
A spectacular album which you might just have to buy to be able to hear:



Cecilia Bartoli: St. Petersburg - The recording session
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 9:34 pm
by Parodite
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 6:05 pm
by Apollonius
La lyra d'Orfeo - Luigi Rossi (c. 1597 - 1653) ; Véronique Gens: soprano ; L'Arpeggiata directed by Christina Pluhar
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 3:00 am
by Typhoon
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:20 am
by Typhoon
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 7:01 am
by Typhoon
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 4:00 am
by Typhoon
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 3:58 am
by kmich
Nothing makes a flight go faster than music. I had forgotten how good Ritchie Valens was. :D

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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 5:49 pm
by Apollonius
Grands motets du siècle des lumières à Versailles - Céline Scheen, Eugénie Warnier: sopranos ; Samuel Boden, tenor ; Emiliano Gonzalez-Toro, tenor ; Chœur et Orchestre Pygmalion directed by Raphaël Pichon
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00:02:23 • Mondonville: In exitu Israel
00:33:52 • Rameau: Quam dilecta tabernacula
00:57:48 • Telemann: Deus Judicium tuum
01:20:57 • Rameau: In convertendo dominus

Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 4:05 pm
by Heracleum Persicum
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 4:27 pm
by Heracleum Persicum
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Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 5:11 pm
by Apollonius
La voix soleil - live at Festival d'Ambronay 2015 - Franco Fagioli, countertenor ; l’Orchestre de chambre de Bâle,
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Airs et pièces instrumentales extraits d’opéras de Haendel et Lully

Re: What music are you listening to? | 2

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 5:14 am
by Typhoon
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