Private Passions

[Bax-of-Delights]

I think the information that this PP was first broadcast in 2000 is incorrect. I met Ms.Leon in 2000 when she was still "on the up", as it were, and although she said she was going to make an appearance on Sean Rafferty's afternoon programme I am sure she wasn't well-known enough at that time to have a PP devoted to her. I stand to be corrected.
The remarks about the Maori song which featured Kiri Te Kanawa would surely refer to more recent years rather than 2000?

[Nick Armstrong]

As a response to this, I Googled Hayley Westenra to discover that although her discography included the Maori song selected by Ms Leon, no mention is made of Casta Diva. I have no knowledge of this person so would not wish to ascribe to her the awful rendition heard yesterday.

The R3 website features a total absence of detail on the chosen recordings...

Could this be what you were looking for? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7MpF...3ED624&index=4

EDIT: in fact it can't be what was played on the programme, as one notes on the R3 website that this edition of Private Passions was first broadcast in 2000... and the deathless album from which that youtube clip was extruded was not released till 2006. So I am at as great a loss as you. I think I'm happy to remain so.

I think it was Hayley WesternRaa (phon spelling). The protagonist corrected Lord Berk. - he/she/we hadn't heard Casta Diva but (her sentiment) a criminal subversion of the original. I think Ms Leon might fit in well posting on this forum.........

As a response to this, I Googled Hayley Westenra to discover that although her discography included the Maori song selected by Ms Leon, no mention is made of Casta Diva. I have no knowledge of this person so would not wish to ascribe to her the awful rendition heard yesterday.

[kernelbogey]

To my chagrin I missed both Jared Diamond's programme and any chance of hearing it on iPlayer, as the week has expired.

I think this programme one of the best things on R3. It is quite different from Desert Island Discs, as far as I recall - I hardly ever listen to the latter - as Michael Berkeley's focus is always the music, and he often finds something interesting to say about his guest's choice, even if sometimes through what I imagine might be clenched teeth.

Hearing what someone well-known in a non-musical sphere of life thinks and feels about music is often educative and invariably uplifting in my experience.

kb

I enjoyed the programme but found those comments a bit tiresome and rather surprising since she lives in Italy. Two great Italian passions are football and opera, which in my experience is a genuinely popular art form there, not just for cognoscenti and the culturally superior. They are prone to sing Verdi as a kind of folk music. It was a brilliant idea to bring them together in an open-air concert at the ancient Terme di Caracalla in Rome for the 1990 Football World Cup. Pavarotti was a passionate football fan and player (which I suspect she isn't). The concert under Zubin Mehta was watched live by 800 million people worldwide on TV and was so successful that it was revived under James Levine in Paris in 1998.
I loved the Cecilia Bartoli piece.

I found her a hoot as well. I agree with her comments on the 3 Tenors and loved the Bartoli Vivaldi selection. I found I didn't have her Vivaldi album.

[doversoul1]

Why is she going on about counter-tenors sounding manly? What does it mean?

If modern counter-tenors sounded 'right' in Handel, they'd sound like castrati.

I thought that was an interesting comment, too. When you think that this programme was originally broadcast back in 2000 when both David Daniels and Andreas Scholl were still in the first decade of their careers. I guess, then, although they performed the roles, countertenor’s voice wasn’t as closely linked with castrati as it is now. I think ‘the maleness of the voice’ was up to fairly recently, the best compliment for a countertenor.

[gurnemanz]

I thought she was brilliant on the Three Tenors. It should be said more often about more people.

I enjoyed the programme but found those comments a bit tiresome and rather surprising since she lives in Italy. Two great Italian passions are football and opera, which in my experience is a genuinely popular art form there, not just for cognoscenti and the culturally superior. They are prone to sing Verdi as a kind of folk music. It was a brilliant idea to bring them together in an open-air concert at the ancient Terme di Caracalla in Rome for the 1990 Football World Cup. Pavarotti was a passionate football fan and player (which I suspect she isn't). The concert under Zubin Mehta was watched live by 800 million people worldwide on TV and was so successful that it was revived under James Levine in Paris in 1998.
I loved the Cecilia Bartoli piece.

[Nick Armstrong]

She sounds a hoot. Going to listen with a cursor on the 'fast forward' button...

I think it was Hayley WesternRaa (phon spelling). The protagonist corrected Lord Berk. - he/she/we hadn't heard Casta Diva but (her sentiment) a criminal subversion of the original. I think Ms Leon might fit in well posting on this forum.........

[Mary Chambers]

i am very much enjoying Ms Leon's expressions of taste ....

I thought she was brilliant on the Three Tenors. It should be said more often about more people.

Not a "joy to hear" was the Casta Diva.

I missed the introduction so have no idea who the ghastly singer was. I was put in mind of Florence Foster Jenkins but I know it wasn't her. Can anyone enlighten me?

[Nick Armstrong]

......... not the music what she says! .... some of it was very noisy but she did choose some because she HATED it and said so with withering scorn that was a joy to hear ...

Yes I understood you CDJ! Wish there was a podcast version with all the chat but only 5 second clips of the music...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

......... not the music what she says! .... some of it was very noisy but she did choose some because she HATED it and said so with withering scorn that was a joy to hear ...

[jean]

Why is she going on about counter-tenors sounding manly? What does it mean?

If modern counter-tenors sounded 'right' in Handel, they'd sound like castrati.

[Nick Armstrong]

i am very much enjoying Ms Leon's expressions of taste ....

Who is the beggar yelling on the radio at the other side of Château Caliban though..?? Was just making a mental note to go and put him out of his misery...