Something Beautiful

Cleaning to the Classics

Some years ago I gave a CD called Cleaning to the Classics to my younger sister. She loved it, and I've been intending ever since to get one for myself. Yesterday I finally ordered one at Amazon.com and I'm so looking forward to its arrival.

Take a look at the playlist and you'll see that this music really does have the potential to light a fire under the reluctant house-cleaner:

1. Khatchaturian - Sabre Dance (02:29)
2. Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries (05:33)
3. Mussogorsky - Night On Bald Mountain (11:11)
4. Verdi - Triumphal March (11:45)
5. Ipolitov-Ivanov - Caucasion Sketches (03:47)
6. Verdi - Anvil Chorus (02:58)
7. Berlioz - Damnation of Faust (04:13)
8. Strauss - Thunder and Lightening Fast Polkas (03:16)
9. Beethoven - The Storm from Symphony 6 (03:18)
10. Rimsky-Korsakov - Cortege (04:46)
11. Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (03:36)

The punchline comes with the very first track.  You put on the CD, grab your duster -- and Khatchaturian just makes you want to go into action!  

 

 

 

Fritz Wunderlich: "Granada"

The opening is just beyond belief -- Granada, sung by the late Fritz Wunderlich. If you've never heard it, you'll be amazed.

How can I keep from singing?

I'm not a person who finds joy everywhere, but I'd like to learn this hymn - How Can I Keep from Singing?.

I've been thinking in general that I need to do more singing, and this seems like a logical place to begin.

Online music hall

Just discovered the Medici.tv offerings at YouTube.   My introduction was actually this brief interview, with music, of Yehudi Menuhin. He made me laugh at the very end -- try it and you'll probably laugh too.

According to its own self-description, Medici.tv broadcasts "concerts from the most prestigious concerts halls in the world, portraits of musicians, interviews of them in backstage." It also "broadcasts LIVE performances of the current greatest musicians worldwide, in partnership with major festivals and institutions: Aspen Festival, Aix Festival, Verbier Festival, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Opéra National de Paris." Altogether quite amazing.

Pavarotti masterclass

What a lovely video this is -- Pavarotti masterclass. Short, sweet. Don't miss it.

Lady piper

You don't see this very often -- a lady piper in a fifteenth-century manuscript.

Great singing

An article in today's New York Times points out that one can hear and see some very fine singers on YouTube.   You might try, for example --

Celeste Aida, from Verdi's opera Aida, sung by Luciano Pavarotti. 

You could also try this superb performance of the

Benedictus, from Mozart's Requiem, by Cecilia Bartoli and Arleen Auger, with Georg Solti conducting.   

Best of all, perhaps, you can check out this amazing rendition of Mozart's

Dies Bildnis ist Bezaubernd Schon, by the late and still greatly lamented Fritz Wunderlich.   

Or you can do a general search for the performer of your choice.   Here are the results for three stars of the past and present --

Bartoli

Callas

Pavarotti

Louis Moreau Gottschalk

Sometime last year I heard a piece by American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk on the radio.  Immediately captivated by its liveliness and quality, I searched the Internet for more information about him.   I ordered a copy of this 2-disc set and have been enjoying it ever since.   If you like fine, lively piano music, be sure to send for one for yourself. 

(This post was prompted in part by a recent article about Gottschalk, lamenting his nearly-forgotten status in the American repertoire.)

Bach's Church

The church where Johann Sebastian Bach spent his most productive years -- St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, Germany. 

The church is known in German as the Thomaskirche.

Horn Concerti (Mozart)

For a delectable aural experience, listen to a few clips from Mozart's four Horn Concerti, played by Barry Tuckwell, soloist, with the Orchestra of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner.  Scroll down the page a bit and you will come to thirteen samples. 

(And if you care at all about classical music, keep the ArkivMusic.com site in mind.  It's where I go for all my research on classical CDs.)  )