Thursday, August 20, 2009

[late evening listening] barbara bonney im deutsch

This evening, dedicated to Martin Kelly, who's down a bit. Very difficult to know which to choose - Callas, Caruso himself, the Vienna Boy's Choir [too thin], Bocelli or Pavarotti himself. I went for Barbara Bonney in the end, purely on the voice although nobody will believe it wasn't for political reasons:



Dearieme's contribution this evening has an "embedding disabled" on it but it can be viewed here. Ubermouth has contributed this restful little ditty to this evening's entertainment.

Thank you to both.

Turandot

Last summer I was in Sicily and one evening, quite late, the heat dropping from some 40 degrees down to a balmy 28, there was an outdoor concert on the top of a hill, looking down into the town below in a valley and it had to have been one of the most atmospheric I've ever experienced. This was the real Sicily, the real Italy and I was the only foreigner present - it was a little local affair.

I know no one ever reads anyone else's fiction but this concert was what inspired my short story Turandot and I'll never forget that night.

What are your most memorable concerts?

9 comments:

  1. I remember you writing about that concert- at ferragosto, wasn't it? Well, I used to like the outdoor opera concerts in Cardiff Bay every summer. Here I enjoy any event at the Teatro Garibaldi because it's such a charming little theatre - and you can watch the audience and what they are wearing too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think seeing the Little Angels of Korea when I was about 10 or 11. I had never seen anything like it so it has always stuck in my memory :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely!

    fav concert: Peruvian band in the courtyard of the castle at Avignon.

    2nd fav: New Orleans jazz and blues, in the setting of a Californian winery, picnic and wine tasting event.

    runner up: Hollywood Bowl, classical music

    ReplyDelete
  4. They sound fabulous. Come to think of it, I was once spirited away to a concert - remember the 1812 - and it was outside LA, further inland, in a giant outdoor theatre but I can't remember the name.

    Summer night and a Californian orchestra. Terrible I can't remember the exact details. That was great too.

    I miss that time though in Sicily. Teatro Garibaldi - yes. And I fremember going past the church and something was going on in the courtyard.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I nearly died , after years of loving Paul Stanley, to see him strutting in concert.

    My most memorable was either Simon and Garfunkel or when David Lee Roth stood right infront of me and did a killer pose[ seeing my camera] so I could get an amazing photo. I was too awed to take the picture-and he kept looking down at me and nodding his head and smiling. I was only 15

    I bet you don't know who David Lee Roth is ,do you James?

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is a really interesting phenomenon, Uber, the concept of the girl so gone that she can only scream.

    It's at all the early concert footage - Beatles, Stones, Byrds and I'd like to know what goes on in a girl's head - is it loss of control or love or infatuation or something in the star melts into your psyche or what?

    I've asked girls but they just shrug and swoon at the mention of their hero. Do girls do that at a Britney Spears concert?

    I was looking at that audience of men at the Elli Madeiros concert and they were doing Mexican waves and so on.

    Perhaps a man doesn't get so carried away by a hero. I remember meeting Jackson Brown face to face and asked him a stupid question, so that must have meant I was overawed.

    Interesting phenomenon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Easy. In 1964 I heard the great French violinist Francesscatti play the Beethoven concerto. I had heard all the great ones, but found myself sitting forward, with my mouth slightly ajar, trying to rationalize how he did this and where it came from. I felt genuine sorrow for Beethoven that he did not hear this.
    Then I had the presence of mind to look around at the crowd, and saw they had all assumed my posture. It was universal.
    That was my only personal look into connected genius. It is beyond our imagination, but never beyond our recognition.

    ReplyDelete

Comments need a moniker of your choosing before or after ... no moniker, not posted, sorry.