Links, plus opera
May. 14th, 2006 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirLowell House on the Feast of St. Matthias
I ♥ Google, and I firmly believe it is going to take over the world. The reason for my enthusiasm: Google Calendar. I've tried to use a lot of calendar applications before, but for some reason, Google's is the only one that makes me want to keep using it. Probably because there's no overload of useless features. Also because it's accessible from the Internet, which on campus means almost anywhere.
Also, Brother Consolmagno is my hero (link thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
officialgaiman).
I've decided to attempt updating my recs journal,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dragondormant, again. I've been keeping track of fics through del.icio.us now, and although I still forget to bookmark things, having that little button on my Firefox toolbar makes the process a lot easier.
Rest of the alphabet drabbles are postponed until after my last final next Monday. Sorry for the wait! I really should stay off the computer, but my take-home final requires me to use Matlab. -_- Also, as soon as that last final is over, I'm going to head to the Coop to see what all the excitement over His Majesty's Dragon is all about. ^_^ Never say that I wasn't one for jumping on bandwagons.
EMI is releasing an incredibly cheap new series of famous recordings called EMI Classics Historical. I just bought the 1953 La Scala performance of Tosca, with de Sabata as conductor, Callas as Tosca and di Stefano as Cavaradossi for $14 on Amazon. Two-disc with the full opera for $14! Also bought 1953 performance of Lucia di Lammermoor, also with Callas and di Stefano, from the same series at the same price. Isn't that insane? No thick booklet with libretto though, which may be the reason for the low cost. di Stefano is my mother's first love, so these two CDs are going to be my birthday presents to her. (I usually combine her birthday and Mother's Day gifts since they occur so close together.) Basically, I got two full operas for the price of one.
I've been looking through the catalogue, and they have Orfeo ed Euridice, Pagliacci (with Jussi Björling, be still my heart, and Victoria de los Angeles), all the major Mozart opera, Schubert Lieder (with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf)...more of course, but those are the ones I want to buy. ^_^ Speaking of recordings I want to buy, I swoon over this Nilsson/Björling/Tebaldi performance of Turandot. My favorite tenor and soprano--who could ask for more? Maybe I can ask for it on my birthday. I have four major recordings of Turandot on my wish list, but that's the one I want the most. I spent one afternoon last semester listening to all the sample tracks on all four recordings to compare the voices, and I'm afraid neither Corelli or del Monaco really appeal to me in the same way as Björling. del Monaco is too brassy and Corelli has really odd articulation (at least for the Turandot recording I was listening to). Björling has the ideal voice for a young, starry-eyed romantic (a perfect Rodolfo, you know). I can't think of another tenor I've heard that has the same quality; Domingo comes close but he's so sensual that he doesn't sound quite as innocent. Although who knows about di Stefano? I haven't heard him at all, despite him being my mother's favorite. She actually saved up her money to go see a live performance of his in Korea when she was in school way back when.
I don't know if I'd prefer Nilsson or Callas for Turandot's role...No one compares to Callas, I suppose, but with a part that requires such Wagnerian range and magnitude--on the other hand, Callas certainly had the temperament to match Turandot. ^_^ But definitely Tebaldi for Liù.
You know, I think all my interest in opera is channeled through this one work alone; it's a bit odd the way I obsess over Turandot so intensely. I do like opera in general, but it's only Turandot that inspires this level of passion, for some unknown reason. For any other opera, I wouldn't mind listening to just any recording, as long as it was of reasonable quality, but for Turandot, I want to listen to all the recordings that exist, over and over again, and discover all the different forms this music could take.
Yours &c.
I ♥ Google, and I firmly believe it is going to take over the world. The reason for my enthusiasm: Google Calendar. I've tried to use a lot of calendar applications before, but for some reason, Google's is the only one that makes me want to keep using it. Probably because there's no overload of useless features. Also because it's accessible from the Internet, which on campus means almost anywhere.
Also, Brother Consolmagno is my hero (link thanks to
officialgaiman).I've decided to attempt updating my recs journal,
dragondormant, again. I've been keeping track of fics through del.icio.us now, and although I still forget to bookmark things, having that little button on my Firefox toolbar makes the process a lot easier.Rest of the alphabet drabbles are postponed until after my last final next Monday. Sorry for the wait! I really should stay off the computer, but my take-home final requires me to use Matlab. -_- Also, as soon as that last final is over, I'm going to head to the Coop to see what all the excitement over His Majesty's Dragon is all about. ^_^ Never say that I wasn't one for jumping on bandwagons.
EMI is releasing an incredibly cheap new series of famous recordings called EMI Classics Historical. I just bought the 1953 La Scala performance of Tosca, with de Sabata as conductor, Callas as Tosca and di Stefano as Cavaradossi for $14 on Amazon. Two-disc with the full opera for $14! Also bought 1953 performance of Lucia di Lammermoor, also with Callas and di Stefano, from the same series at the same price. Isn't that insane? No thick booklet with libretto though, which may be the reason for the low cost. di Stefano is my mother's first love, so these two CDs are going to be my birthday presents to her. (I usually combine her birthday and Mother's Day gifts since they occur so close together.) Basically, I got two full operas for the price of one.
I've been looking through the catalogue, and they have Orfeo ed Euridice, Pagliacci (with Jussi Björling, be still my heart, and Victoria de los Angeles), all the major Mozart opera, Schubert Lieder (with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf)...more of course, but those are the ones I want to buy. ^_^ Speaking of recordings I want to buy, I swoon over this Nilsson/Björling/Tebaldi performance of Turandot. My favorite tenor and soprano--who could ask for more? Maybe I can ask for it on my birthday. I have four major recordings of Turandot on my wish list, but that's the one I want the most. I spent one afternoon last semester listening to all the sample tracks on all four recordings to compare the voices, and I'm afraid neither Corelli or del Monaco really appeal to me in the same way as Björling. del Monaco is too brassy and Corelli has really odd articulation (at least for the Turandot recording I was listening to). Björling has the ideal voice for a young, starry-eyed romantic (a perfect Rodolfo, you know). I can't think of another tenor I've heard that has the same quality; Domingo comes close but he's so sensual that he doesn't sound quite as innocent. Although who knows about di Stefano? I haven't heard him at all, despite him being my mother's favorite. She actually saved up her money to go see a live performance of his in Korea when she was in school way back when.
I don't know if I'd prefer Nilsson or Callas for Turandot's role...No one compares to Callas, I suppose, but with a part that requires such Wagnerian range and magnitude--on the other hand, Callas certainly had the temperament to match Turandot. ^_^ But definitely Tebaldi for Liù.
You know, I think all my interest in opera is channeled through this one work alone; it's a bit odd the way I obsess over Turandot so intensely. I do like opera in general, but it's only Turandot that inspires this level of passion, for some unknown reason. For any other opera, I wouldn't mind listening to just any recording, as long as it was of reasonable quality, but for Turandot, I want to listen to all the recordings that exist, over and over again, and discover all the different forms this music could take.
Yours &c.
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Date: 2006-05-15 01:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 01:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 01:41 am (UTC)