Saturday 4 December 2010

Basso Profundo

I tried importing a recording from iTunes, but couldn't do it. Jim - I meant 'take up bassoon' in my old age, and here's why. Not a good recording, but you know the music. It ends with a series of sighs..

8 comments:

  1. Bassoon is not a solo instrument. More continuo. But at least it is easier to lug around than say a harp!

    Are you familiar with Cecilia Bartoli doing the Vivaldi castrati arias? Stellar!!!!!!!

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  2. I know so little about classical music, but Tom that was beautiful!

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  3. No, I am not, Jim, but I will look her up. I know many people who crave the true castrato sound, and many of them are gay. However, I don't know any who would go the whole hog for their art, or - if I do - they are not singers anyway.

    I love the way Bach used boy's voices in choral works. There is nothing to match them, and - obviously - their careers are very short. The thin, reedy sound of a pre-pubescent boy cannot be matched for the stuff written by him, even by girls. It goes a lot further than 'Once in Royal David's...' and the King's College Christmas extravaganza.

    There is a breathy, ethereal and toppy quality to a lad's voice, and the short life of it makes it even more touching. I have to say that I find Castrati a trifle ridiculous (or at least the last, Italian recorded one).

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  4. Yes, Moll, absolutely lovely. Mozart has to be the best composer ever.

    There is a quote: "Composing is remembering a melody that nobody else has ever thought of".

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  5. Since the height of castrati was the 1600's; my point was she is performing music which has not been done in centuries. Countertenors sing in head voice and do not have the power that the full voice has.

    Wasn't there Mozart manuscripts discovered in England a few years back?

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  6. Terrible recording. Terrible filming. I shall go to Spotify and listen again in real sound. Knowing my educational background, you will understand that male choral music is amongst my favourites. There is little need for castrati as so many young boys (with beautiful voices) are always in the wings.

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  7. I don't know about the manuscripts, Jim, but it wouldn't surprise me, given how he churned it out - bright lights burning faster, and all that. Every now and then, I get onto a music splurge on this blog (usually at night, after a few glasses of wine). Last time it was dub reggae, and the time before that it was Baroque. I'm so glad that i enjoy so many different types. Of all the modern composers, I think Benjamin Britten is my favourite - I don't think there has ever been a piece of music which evokes the sea so totally as the opening of 'Peter Grimes'.

    Sorry about that clip, Cro - I was desperately trying to download a C.D. I've got on iTunes of the same thing, played by the Mozart Festival orchestra, with Kamil Sreter playing the bassoon. I'd never heard of him 'till I found that CD. I was working in Salzburg during the Mozart festival once - I've never seen so many chocolate balls. Not a castrato in sight though. Let the kids grow up intact, I say.

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  8. If you are confused by the Salzburg comment, Google up 'Mozart Kugeln' and all will become clear (ish).

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