Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Turnpike tunes

This performance of Semele has been measuring the distances of recent roadtrips. Don't mess with the Intense Blue Lady.

4 comments:

  1. Händel is ageless.
    I've heard "Semele" by Bartoli, but Genaux sounds also interesting. Her voice seems to be bigger and more dramatic than Bartoli's.

    For the first time I've got a chance to hear the englisch version of Händel. The atmosphere is quite different from the italian version.

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  2. Yes, Genaux gets to sing the role of Juno, who is kind of a cartoon character in this, so she has license to be over the top.

    Do you suppose the atmosphere is different because of the nature of the language, or because he was trying to disguise the work as an oratorio?

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  3. Because of the nature of the language. In English version it sounds a little bit heavier than in Italian. It's the same in German. Mozart in German sounds heavier than in Italian. But you know, it's just my own feeling.

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  4. I agree, though, which is why I've never been a fan of performing operas in translation.

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