Incredible voice. If you like opera this gentleman will put a few goose bumps on ya.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21904047-2,00.html

Les

Nice find!Real talent !Thanks, Les

81 Newbee

A nice way to start the day. Thanks.

If you liked that, then you'll love this ...

http://vipglamour.net/2007/06/15/paul-potts-semi-final-winning-opera-performance-on-britains-got-talent/

He was great Les and Mucks.

Pretty amazing story. A man able to thrill thousands of people with a song working quietly in a cell phone warehouse unknown and undiscovered until now.

Les

That performance brought tears to my eyes. Magnificent!!

And to mine! Bravo

Shelly

I was going to be Mr Macho but I guess I might as well admit it, I had to wipe away a tear also

Les

And me also, more than one thank you Les , that was a great performance .

Jane

I must be to young to appreciate the big deal.

Visit the Basement

Youth has nothing to do with it, Adam, you either appreciate a magnificant voice or you don't. He really isn't intended for Grand Ole Opry.

Edit: My comment isn't meant to demean country music,... I can enjoy that as well.

Try this one Adam. This is arguably the greatest tenor in history. If it does not move you, stick with R&B.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VATmgtmR5o4

Shelly

Jussi Bjorling, the greatest tenor ever in my opinion, he was Pavarotti's idol. The digital re-mastering is slightly harsh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUbA5y1hnFg&mode=related&search=

Also try this wonderful duet with Robert Merrill http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdb94HbyRko The British public have consistently voted this record as their favourite classical vocal recording.

This fella's pretty good, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2My5WHfENI&mode=related&search=

And what about a girl singer? Renee Fleming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_lbJ1MaDeo&mode=related&search=

Renee Fleming singing "Song to the Moon" is one of my favourites.

One of my favorites

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaVIwwNhocg&mode=related&search=

Jane

This is for you Noreen . Lucia Popp , one of the best !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjy9ePniv4o

Jane

Thanks Jane. Have you heard of Kathleen Ferrier, one of the greatest contraltos who died at a tragically early age from cancer? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9LiyM3ZwxA

edit: Some of the comments on that site re this recording.
"Unmatchable !! an element of nature"
"And I fell in love."
"The Gods and the Angels would agree with anything Kathleen Ferrier would sing!"
"A perfect demonstration of the ineffable quality that raises a *great artist* into the spiritual stratosphere! In another dimension! Her name will live forever more!"
"bello"
"Quelle belle voix. Merci 100 fois."
"In fifty years I've not heard her equal. Now listen to her singing Che Faro? if you have not already done so."
"God is an selfish basterd, thats why he took her away!"

I don't listen to a lot of opera but Nessun Dorma is my favorite Aria performed by Luciano Pavarotti. I believe we will hear a lot about that gentlemen in the future wonderful voice. He must have had extensive training or just maybe this is a case of reincarnation which i believe in.

Having said that nobody can perform Nessun Dorma like Pavarotti. Here he is performing the complete Nessun Dorma if you want to take a listen. No video. If anyone has a video of Pavarotti performing this Aria i sure would like to have it.

http://www.rogepost.com/n/5934037557

Thank you , very beautiful voice .
Here is another of my favorites , Montserrat Caballé . Enjoy

The Prayer

Jane

So many beautiful voices. Just as a favour please listen to this and know what we especially in England have lost............ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLw1MRRdsNA

Jussi Boggling was great, but in my opinion Pavarotti had a more powerful voice.

In all honesty this thread brought back some childhood memories of Enrico Caruso. He died in 1921 so I never heard him sing in the flesh, but my grandfather had an old Victrola and some 12 inch 78 RPM recordings of Caruso.

This Victrola was a spring driven wind up console. If you remember them, it used a steel needle to vibrate a diaphragm in the arm, and the sound issued from a huge folded horn built into the cabinet that stood about five feet high. There were no electric amplifiers involved, they had not been invented yet, neither had microphones when Caruso recorded in his prime.

I was just a kid then who loved to crank the Victrola to wind the spring motor. One day my grandfather played a Caruso recording for me. I was taken aback for a minute, because I could not understand the language he sang, then I started listening to the music and was mesmerized!

Even with the limitations in tonal and dynamic range of those early recordings his voice was magnificent. Probably no one is left alive today who heard him sing in concert, but I was told that without the aid of microphones or amplification, his voice could rattle the crystal chandeliers in the Metropolitan Opera House, and give life long memories to a small boy.

Shelly

Here is recording I found with Caruso. The recording sounds a bit strange since they overlayed an orchestra in high fidelity behind his vocal recorded in 1906.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN7s-GttHAg&mode=related&search=

Shelly

I cannot get any of the links to play the music, what do i need

win xp home

john macklin

If your sound card and speakers are working and turned up it, should usually start playing automatically. If it doesn't, on You Tube there will be a small window with an arrow head in the center pointing to the right, click on the arrow head to start the clip.

Shelly

I too remember the old wind up Victrola.I grew up in the 1920s with my parents "Victrola"It was a huge console machine with the RCA dog logo in gold on it I was amazed by the sound which it gave off from the steel needles.My father was a Caruso fan and had heard him in person.We had a huge collection of 78 rpm records.some of Caruso and one of my favorites of Al Jolson singing "Sonny Boy"Hardly in the class of many of the operatic singers but I liked it.
I never played any instrument except the harmonica but have enjoyed almost all music.Of course many of my favorite songs are those that I "lived to" in the late thirties and the forties.I do not consider "Hip Hop" as music but find some of the rythms of "Techno" good.I like country and RandB etc etc.I enjoy Sinatra ,Tony Bennet, Cloony,Dion,Streisand, etc etc.If it has a dance beat and/or good lyrics, so much the better.I have always enjoyed opera in part but have difficulty with some unless the voices(and the BUXOM ladies) are good enough to hold me through some of the longer and to me, boring passages.
Last February ,I lost the hearing in my left ear and no longer hear stereo at its best(.My grandkids inherited some fine earphones early.)
I am especially fond of good band music and Souza marches.I can not imagine life without music.It provides a way to change your mood to whatever you want .Music is one of the major joys of my life.I credit my Dad for giving me that "gift"It has served me well.Nothing can improve your mood more than a good piece of music when needed !

81 Newbee

I too loved listening to Al Jolson, one of the greatest performers of all time. At least with all those early recordings you don't need to hear in stereo.

Shelly

The Jussi Björling Pearl Fishers Duet with Robert Merrill is my all time favorite operatic duet.

I heard it the first time about 30 years ago on a University of Michigan classical music station. The announcer said "If you are hearing this for the first time,.. I envy you."

Robert Merrill was no slouch either! I met him when he and Roberta Peters came to my high school to give a concert one night. I was tapped to run the lighting board for the show. I was surprised to discover that they were friendly down to earth people, not prima donnas.

Shelly

Robert Merrill quoted in Bjorling's biography said that "Jussi's singing gave him goosebumps it was the most glorious sound that you ever heard" and he spoke of one occasion on which "Bjorling sang as I have heard no other mortal sing".

Partly no doubt I'm prejudiced because my love of Bjorling's singing coincided with my introduction to classical music in my teens. Family friends were emigrating to Australia and gave us their collection of 78s including a Bjorling record, it was a revelation. On his best recordings he has a voice like cream and seems to have to not breathe at all.

Sorry. Didn't do anything for me. Don't get me wrong you have to have an amazing voice to do opera. Absolutely amazing. And Luciano has it.

But it's just not my cup of tea and it's not the cup of tea for majority of music listeners not only in the USA, but around the world, so I'm not alone in that.

R & B wouldn't be my first pick also, but I do say that I have a very diverse and knowledgeable taste in music also, I always tell people that my favorites are Yanni, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Manson. How's that for a dichotomy?

Visit the Basement

I think that "classical" music as opposed to just "opera" would be the cup of tea of at least a very large minority of the world's population covering all ethnic groups. No doubt a prejudiced view but I'm saddened by the thought of the loss suffered by people unable to appreciate the glories and emotions of classical music perhaps it's because they've never had it properly revealed to them.

You might say the same about great literature, Noreen. As far as opera is concerned, I suppose a little bit of my mother's love for it simply rubbed off on me. I'm sure she never missed a single early-50's Sunday afternoon radio broadcast of it from the Met. I remember her doing a lot of shushing of us noisy kids those afternoons. As far as other genres of music are concerned, I've always been eclectic in my taste. I agree with Duke Ellington's observation -- there are only two kinds, good and bad.

You're right James and also great art. Neither of my parent's were interested in great classical music just the lighter sort. My father played popular music on a flute and they were both great ballroom dancers however he was a superb artist with a pencil and wood carving, at one time he was a book illustrator. I picked up my own interests from various influential people in my life. Literature from my uncle as a result of arguing politics, music from the friends who emigrated to Australia, serious theatre and cinema from first boy-friend, art I somehow found by myself. I've always been grateful to these influential people and I hope (in fact I know) that I've passed some of it on to others who have in turn influenced even more people. It's a good feeling.

edit: shown below is an example of my father's art, it's a pencil self-portrait made in the early 1930s.

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

James, isn't this beautiful? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzMrAfJ6qvA

Sublimely.

As is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yKgAEkCKxY

Sure is, I'm a long time fan of both, also Sinatra (especially early years, another legacy from first boy-friend!) and Pearl Baily.

Another of my all-time favourites, this excerpt is too short of course. http://www.amazon.com/Incomparable-Tino-Rossi-Histories-dAmour/dp/B00004VIHR click to listen to "J'attendrai".

I listened to Caruso sing "Nessun Dorma", and got tears in my eyes...then Pavarotti, and got tears in my eyes again...

DavyWavy -

and you didn't listen to Bjorling?

This is a different recording from the one I linked above but this one is the recording that I first heard all those years ago and to which I refer in another post. One of the great revelations in my life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63EYSH47AJo

Dorothy Caruso, widow of Enrico Caruso, said (to Bjorling), "You are the only one worthy to wear his mantle, bear Rico’s crown!"

Very impressive...

DavyWavy -

Shelly

And here is Bocelli with Sarah Brightman singing "Time to say goodbye" (Con te partirò) partly in English and partly in Italian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLHq7rgHOLk

Shelly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERDA_OUzkIo&mode=related&search=

Jane

Mental linkages... It immediately brought to mind a recording I have not heard in perhaps 50 years. The memorable rendition of "September Song" sung by Walter Huston from the Broadway show "Knickerbocker Holiday", recorded in 1938. Sadly, I can't find it on line.

Shelly

The best I could do for you Enjoy !

September Song

Jane

I found it! click on where it says Walter Huston Fan Station - Walter Huston, Bob Crosby And His Orchestra, Andy Kirk , not the 30 second sample on the top of the page.

http://music.yahoo.com/ar-3812618---Walter-Huston

Shelly

Thank you Shelly , that was great

Jane

Raphael Kubelik (6.29.1914-8.11.1996 )was 20 years old when he conducted Czech Philharmonic . In 1946 he launched first "Prague Spring" festival . In 1948 he emigrated and returned in 1990 , for the first time , to conduct "Ma Vlast/ Vltava " My Country/ Moldau . And again leading the Czech Philharmonic in the Prague Spring Festival 1990.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlLPLO90fSk&mode=related&search=

Jane

And the main theme of Moldau became the Israel national anthem

http://stateofisrael.com/anthem/

Shelly

That is interesting . I didn't know . Thanks Shelly

Jane

I have known people who could not, for some reason through no fault of their own, enjoy great art, either visual or audible. It is probably the way their brains are wired. It is the left brain that processes art. I have always felt these persons to have been cheated by nature and sadly impoverished.

Others for environmental reasons come to great art with a predisposition against liking it. They feel it is elitist or not what their circle of friends is into. But they are enthusiastic about the current musical fad. For these people there is hope. often later in life they find the great beauty they previously missed.

To say that opera is only appreciated by a few is a bit myopic. Just try to get a seat in almost any great opera house in the world. I admit I had a hard time understanding it before I learned some languages, but that did not stop me from following translated libretto's even in my youth.

The major epiphanies of my life were in those moments I finally understood a great work of art. I remember lying on a sofa once in the middle of the night listening to Brahms second symphony. I had heard it perhaps a hundred times, but suddenly in a flash I completely understood it. Once while visiting the Tate Gallery in London, I came across a Picasso painting I had never seen before. I had not been a big Picasso fan, but this painting stopped me in my tracks, and I don't even know how much time I stood there looking at it, and I finally understood what he was trying to say to me. I had the same experience with the Venus de Millo at the Louvre in Paris. Those moments I would not trade for the greatest wealth. They made me one with humanity.

Shelly

Thanks for sharing that, Shelly.

And what abour poetry. I defy anyone to read this unmoved. You'll have to struggle as it's in Yorkshire dialect, maybe best read aloud to get the meaning. It's a man at his wife's graveside..............

Visit the Basement

He's a bit older than 65 Bill,... he's a day older than I am which would make him 71.

Great!!!

Sorry Les that your great thread has been hijacked by me and others, at least you can have the pleasure of knowing that your thread has given so much pleasure and where everyone is being polite.

Ever except James, he laughed at your poetry. No he appreciation your poetry !

Pako, you're misreading James,... the smilie indicates appreciation for the poetry. Please don't stir up dissention in this wonderfully enjoyable thread.

This wasn't a hijack, Noreen, it was a segue into one of the best threads ever posted on this forum.

Thanks bobbo, I was feeling a bit guilty.

Let's have more of this type of thread.

Truly one of the best threads in OT ! thank you all

Jane

I don't think you hijacked this thread at all. I think all is on topic!

Visit the Basement

In fear of going from the sublime to something else, here's another example of my eclectic taste in music,... Foggy Mountain Breakdown featuring Earl Scruggs, Steve Martin and others. I challenge you to listen without tapping your toes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icMTVV5Lwaw&mode=related&search=

Great stuff. Similar vein but a bit quieter -- the angelic voice of Alison Krauss with her backup band, Union Station.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn8tixOYiZ0&mode=related&search=

That one won't play for me, James. I must be missing a codec or something like that.

That's a shame. I think it's something you would have enjoyed.

Great stuff Bobbo! I've enjoyed the whole thread.

Changing music styles a little here is one of my favs. It's what made me a fan of Yanni and this type of music.

Skip to about a minute into it if you want to skip the talk.


As with most of the videos here, YouTube does no justice to the sound.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t2oDv571gY

Visit the Basement

So true about the sound on Youtube as you can hear when you listen to these on CDs vs Youtube, even with my good computer speakers!
One of my all time favorite songs sung by one of my favorite vocalists who died of an overdose.I am afraid Whitney Houston is heading that way.Has anyone else rocked to her "I'm Your Baby Tonight" as I have1
Here's Dinah:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVr0mWf-bV8

Not as popular as her "I Will Always Love You" but great on her CD with a great beat.for dancing.This performance recording does not do the song justice.!

Here's Whitney:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zn88CiaExI

Music soothes the savage beasts even on PCQandA !This thread is a jewel.May we all learn from it !

81 Newbee

This pair of giants could keep this going all night long and not do the same riff twice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3drqJ1bUmEA&mode=related&search=

Paul Potts just won the talent conrest in Britian It was on CNN.

Shelly

Well deserved!

He beat out a six year old girl in a split decision.

Shelly

named Connie probably has a future ahead of her in show business.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En0A8KGMgq8&mode=related&search

Breathtaking!!

http://talent.itv.com/page.asp?partid=354

Very happy for him well deserved !

Jane

Isn't it great that this enjoyable thread also had a happy ending?

Thank you one and all for a truly refreshing thread. I heard some really great music and learned a few things. That little girl, Connie, is adorable and is amazingly accurate singing on key. Young children like her can produce remarkably pure tones and just sing simply and beautifully without embellishment. I'd like to hear her sing the rest of the song. Is there a link to any other songs by her?

Les

Aha, a link Connie singing the whole song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cnRXmMn2Ag

Les

Wow..That little girl has got to be jerking everybody's hankerchief out! She's just amazing!