Song reviews

[Guest]

Hey all

I would like to ask for a favour everyone that's interested. I am doing a small research style project for my university and I need a few song, track reviews, some favourites of yours. Needs to be around 250-300 words. I would be greatfull if someone helps me out.

Thanks in advance

[french frank]

Hello, BugnaT

What exactly is the aim of the research?

[BugnaT]

Studying Graphic design and I'm doing a mock up of a book for classical music, just a few pages to show how it will look inside, and i thought it would be a nice touch to have realistic, relevant text in it. I'm posting it here because the audience of Radio 3 would make it a bit more interesting.

[french frank]

Not sure if people will want to spend time on writing anything for you, but here's an idea where with a bit of googling you can make up a text for yourself.

If for your 'track' you choose an aria from an opera, for the text all you'd have to do is describe what's happening and who's singing it. You'll even find YouTube vids so that you can hear them - if you want to go that far ! Wikipedia will tell you most of what you want to know if you look for the plot of the opera:

Three very famous arias are, from different centuries:

Henry Purcell: 'When I am laid in earth' (Dido's Lament), from Dido and Aeneas, c 1688

Mozart: 'Fin ch'an dal vino' (The Champagne Aria), from Don Giovanni, c. 1787

Puccini: 'Mi chiamano Mimi' (They call me Mimi), from La Bohème, c. 1896

It might be easier to find something to say about these than just choosing a song.


(You others - correct me if I've said anything wrong )

[Stanley Stewart]

Fortuitously, I'm reading "Lotte Lehmann- More Than Singing-The Interpretation of Songs" (Dover Pubs NY, 1985). A striking front cover of Mm Lehmann as the Marschallin in 'Der Rosenkavalier', having progressed from Sophie and Octavian throughout her distinguished career.

As a non-musician, I've gradually acquired a whole set of books on the refined world of Lieder as the meaning and nuances of a whole range of Song Cycles is as important as the music. The printed text usually has the original language text alongside the translation.

The back cover of 'More Than Singing' goes further:

"As its title connotes, More Than Singing' is not only about music and proper vocal techniques but about life
and the transcendendent power of art. It is an invaluable guide for any aspiring singer of lieder, but will
interest all who seek a deeper understanding and fuller appreciation of the world's great music.

Lotte Lehmann was one of the most eminent lyric-dramatic sopranos of the early twentieth century, especially
noted for her passionate and sensitive renderings of lieder. In this volume, she distills a lifetime of work,
research and experience into concise, revealing lessons in the interpretation of songs by Schubert, Brahms,
Haydn, Schumann, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wolf, Richard Strauss, Mahler, Debussy, Faure, Tchaikovsky and other
masters.

"Only that is convincing which is truly felt," asserts the author, and in this insightful and inspiring manual,
she illuminates the subtleties of tempo,phrasing, enunciation that enable singers to plumb the true depth
of the song and give poem and music their deepest meanings. Lovers of Lieder will especially appreciate
Lotte Lehmann's inspired interpretations of complete song cycles; Schubert's Die Winterreise, Die schone Mullerin,
Schumann's Dichterliebe, and others.

In guiding vocalists through the beauties and complexities of lieder, with their recurring themes of love, loss,
pain and suffering, joy, melancholy and death, the author counsels strict avoidance of sentimentality to preserve
the grandeur of the lied. Similarly, singers are frequently advised to "lift out each syllable," to avoid
"gliding and scooping," and to devote themselves to inner preparation for the song: "You should never begin
a song without first imagining the story which underlines it and...you should never end a song without
considering the continuation of the story which goes beyond the end of the song."

Bruno Walter also contributes an affectionate Foreword.

If you require a few illustrations of book covers to study the graphics, I'd be happy to photostat a few random samples, with my compliments, of More Than Singing, The Songs of Robert Schumann (Eric Sams), Song on Record, I & 2 (Lieder, (Alan Blyth) and The Grand Tradition (John Steane), - go to Members column, above, and send a Personal Message.

[french frank]

Studying Graphic design and I'm doing a mock up of a book for classical music, just a few pages to show how it will look inside, and i thought it would be a nice touch to have realistic, relevant text in it. I'm posting it here because the audience of Radio 3 would make it a bit more interesting.

If it's just for graphic design/typography you could simply look up the words of the arias I suggested (they're all online) and use them as the text. Happy to suggest others if you need more.