What are you currently listening to (Classical)?

[rando]

Why such a horrible picture? She was gorgeous. And this is classical music, why are these people playing Photoshop

The (ROH seems apt for your purposes) history of trouser roles should go far towards illuminating all of the tools being plied. Peter Pan being played by a woman is an approachable middle of the road political example predating the current PC atmosphere.

In short this is supposed to deal with trans (LGBT) rights. In a commercial setting sure to produce album sales and much attention outside the operatic world. She has been a campaigner to this end in previous physical staging's that are culminating in resolution to make this album.

 

[paolo]

@marslo:

The fact is, that castrati were not "half men and half women" They were castrated boys who could not father children.

An image depicting Cecilia Bartoli wearing a beard is someone's less than brilliant "concept." Even if it was, perhaps, Ms. Bartoli's. Will it boost album sales? Will it prove to be a fashion trendsetter? Will men and women eventually prefer women with beards? chissà?

But of course, to each, his, her, or its own. And of course, it's all showbiz theatrics.

Now, back to my music....

 

[rando]

Not the most traditional and thematically centered Christmas album.

 

[NorthStar]

• https://www.northcountrypublicradio...spun-lines-cecilia-bartoli-conjures-farinelli

 

[paolo]

Bravo, and thank you NorthStar for posting this.

 

[rando]

 

[marslo]

@marslo:

The fact is, that castrati were not "half men and half women" They were castrated boys who could not father children.

An image depicting Cecilia Bartoli wearing a beard is someone's less than brilliant "concept." Even if it was, perhaps, Ms. Bartoli's. Will it boost album sales? Will it prove to be a fashion trendsetter? Will men and women eventually prefer women with beards? chissà?

But of course, to each, his, her, or its own. And of course, it's all showbiz theatrics.

Now, back to my music....

As cruel as it was the castration stopped the natural biological process to become a man, just to preserve the voice of young boys in the women range.

The artwork refers to the case of Conchita Wurst , the Austrian drag queen singer, the Eurovision award winner, to attract the public from non opera segment of the market and LGBT supporters.
It is a marketing approach, maybe of the bad taste indeed.
But if those who listen mainly to say JayZ will buy this album then Decca marketing people deserve a bonus, today mass culture is often of bad taste.

 

[Chops]

Via Tidal...

 

[accwai]

The (ROH seems apt for your purposes) history of trouser roles should go far towards illuminating all of the tools being plied. Peter Pan being played by a woman is an approachable middle of the road political example predating the current PC atmosphere. [...]

I thought it's a reference to castrato rather than en travesti. Actually, Bartoli's been toying with this kind of thing for a while. This is from 2017:



And this album was from 2009:



This one was also with Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini. So this stuff is really nothing new.

 

[rando]

So this stuff is really nothing new.

Bonzo asked. I gave a historical, followed by an exact, explanation concise enough to see this for her personal stamp on diva behavior. Certainly in the hopes this could be put to bed quickly among those who knew the answer.

Since that is not the case, I'll freshen up memory of "Saint Cecilia" the iconoclast.

All unjustly neglected composers of vocal music should pray that when the time comes for their discovery and resurrection, the person spearheading the effort will be Cecilia Bartoli. No other artist grabs her material by the throat and squeezes every drop of life out of it to quite the same exhilarating degree that Bartoli does. If she occasionally goes overboard in terms of breathless enthusiasm and muscled inflection...

The resurrectee in question here is Agostino Steffani (1654–1728), a nearly forgotten but influential early-Baroque opera composer. Steffani also had a significant career as a cleric and a diplomat, an angle of mystery that Decca is emphasizing in its aggressive marketing.

 

[paolo]

Rando: Thank you very much for the history lesson. I have learned much, and now have an even greater appreciation of Ms. Bartoli.

 

[rando]

Thank you, Paolo.

Picked up a couple of these two disc boxes on the off chance there was worth inside. Budget release sometimes means minimal packaging costs of high quality recording. Then again, someone could load the same program onto both correctly labeled discs. Only to be discovered 22 years later when someone finally buys it.

Thankfully that was not the case for this set of works played by Miklos Soanyi(Spanyi) on a Silbermann Organ. Worth every one of the 50¢.

 

[accwai]

Telemann: Reformations-Oratorium 1755
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, Reinhard Goebel, et al.

 

[paolo]

Rando, you certainly"scored" with that CD set!

I'm listening to this- perfect music to go with a large mug of strong coffee on this drizzly, gray PNW morning.
I played decent clarinet and some other reed instruments when I was a lad but never good enough to make a career out of it. I like the tonalities and interpretations in this collection.

 

[rando]

Rando, you certainly"scored" with that CD set!

I'd welcome awareness of a better copy of the Spányi breakthrough recording outside the master. Amazing musician.

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

 

[NorthStar]

She (violinist) looks like Juliette Binoche ...

 

[paolo]

And thank goodness, no beards!

 

[NorthStar]

Well, a violinist is not an actress is not an Opera singer ...

 

[rando]

Streamed. Would tentatively agree with those across the aisle on validity of that choice here.