what a weekend! my sister graduated from college; I met up with an aunt and my cousin who I haven't seen in 10 years; and all of the insane travel related to thereof. I'm also settling into a really nice summer rhythm. I hope it can carry on into the school year so I'm not completely drowning in my schedule.
Today was pretty perfect. When I was walking home from visiting a friend - the weather was so clear and a beautiful temperature. I could see the moon in the distance as I crossed the bridge -- and as it was just dusking close to home, I saw fireflies! I haven't seen those in years! Enough to paste a spontaneous grin on my face.
Also, I've been totally addicted to Brigitte Fassbaender's singing. There's a set in the "Very Best of" Series (I already own the Mady Mesple (very underrated, in my opinion) and Edda Moser (ditto) compilations. Listening through on Amazon's little player, the Fassbaender one is probably just as stunning! It includes not only Suicidio, but O don fatale (in German), pieces from the Messiah, B Minor Mass, St. John Passion, and the entire Winterreise!! The last is absolutely stunning, the 1 minute snippets of each song that I heard.
Am now listening to her Schwanengesang. The thought of a Fassbaender Eboli rocks my socks. (And according to internet google groups man of letters (and recordings) Simon Roberts, her Azucena and Amneris are pretty great too).
But what I wanted to paste here in sharing (before getting back to school year recap in the next post) is Mirella Freni and Alfredo Kraus in a blockbuster duet from Puritani. YES PURITANI!
I knew that Freni did a very gorgeous recording (although with approximate coloratura) of the mad scene, here she is, singing this thing live! with lovely Alfredo Kraus. And holding her own every bit!
It's been awhile since I've had both the time and inclination to write -- what a semester! But the next series of posts should hopefully bring everything back into relief.
I had started writing this blog to chronicle the sorts of things I encountered in switching into vocal performance. At the outset, I had consciously thought of the possibility of what to do once I did get into school and started attending. Looking back, I don't remember what I felt about my chances of actually getting into places that I applied. Of course I had my dreams, but that's not exactly something that's very rational.
In the same vein of preparing notes and keeping track of progress while applying (and getting ready for auditions), I had imagined my blogging activity would be a benchmark for my progress, development, and breakthroughs while attending school. I've been kind of remiss in keeping track of that, so hopefully this post will also be the beginning of a return to this approach (rather than simply the sharing of awesome found things on the internets..though that won't disappear. You're welcome or sorry depending on your stance).
Breakthroughs: This first one is a two-parter. I've always had trouble with the [i] vowel -- all sorts of tightness and tension. The first breakthrough came when one of John's former students was in town on a production and came by to say hi. It just so happened that I was performing in the voice department recital and had a lesson afterwards. Ryan asked if I minded if he sat in on my lesson and helped with tongue-placement for the [i] vowel. Namely, making sure the tip of the tongue stays forward (almost even moving it forward to counteract the tendency to pull back on it) in order to encourage the base of the tongue to not clog the throat. Breakthrough 1. The next one came when I was doing exercises with my summer teacher, Ruth, just recently. The other component of stress came from the soft palate collapsing down as the back of the tongue comes up to form the vowel in some sort of sympathetic motion. Once I noticed this was happening, I could think about separating the two parts of my body to do different things at the same time. It's not perfect yet (obviously) but it's a much better, looser sound. The third breakthrough will happen when I can finally embrace the fact that the sound will just have to carry. It'll never be a "beefy" sound on [i].
Truth be told, the big sort of breakthrough of this semester has been developing a finer control of the soft palate so it doesn't just collapse all the time or jerk up or whatnot. This combined with a better connective, deeper support of last semester has smoothed my singing out immensely. Breakthroughs still in the wings include figuring out how "really" to sing up through the passaggio and into the high notes that I'm pretty sure I'll have one day. But they're just tantalizingly (annoyingly) out of reach at the moment. Bah!
Books Read: Sort of filling out my other obsession, I picked up Julie & Julia in anticipation of waiting around in doctors' offices. It's a fairly decent read, though the hyperbolic comparison of living in NYC to being in a Khmer Rouge camp (and similar comparisons of her middle-class life to truly desperate conditions) I find in pretty bad taste.
I also picked up volume of Joseph Kerman's criticism written for the New York Review of Books, which I am adoring, despite his polemics in Opera as Drama. I find his reviews to be much more balanced. Though maybe it's just that I've grown up a bit, read a bit more. I'll have to revisit Opera as Drama and see what I think.
And as a lagniappe, I've (re?)discovered Brigitte Fassbaender! I don't know why I always had it in my head that it was a brusque, uneven voice.
Check out these youtubes for some awesome:
Suicidio
Una voce poco fa
Friday, March 21, 2008
So I was sitting in the little food area at Costco and idly watching some of the cashiers, etc.
I noticed this one slender guy with a spring in his step that still seemed to be leaning on everything. Perhaps you've seen similar: closely cropped hair, polo shirt with collar popped, cartilage and lobe piercings. That sort of thing.
But still leaning on surfaces yet not looking totally goofy in the process.
Which reminded me what my mother was telling me about leaning the sound on something. When people stand unsupported, they start wobbling about, even if it's very minor. If they have something to lean on, it'll all be in one direction.
It's a useful visual image, actually -- really interesting in terms of vocalise practices in an attempt to smooth things out and present a more uniform sound. Speaking of, I've been taking a melisma from 'Der teurer' of Bach's SJP. Feels really good and I like that it doesn't start at the bottom and go up but rather starts in the middle, goes down, and then up, then down (so I can ease into the idea of preparing the space for the higher stuff at the beginning). Also, the high stuff comes later so it's a really nice breath control reminder -- and is honing efficiency on higher passages.
But, what this post really is about: parts of the William Klein film of the Messiah conducted by Minkowski.
I might have mentioned in passing once or twice that I'd like to bear Minkowski's children. And I'd also love to be involved in some crazy film project like this.
the dearth of posts here at CB recently are possibly attributable to class nuttiness leading up to spring break (on which we are currently! hiding out in the desert). More likely, it's a combination of that, the drain on energy that a more-than-full course load + 25 hour work week crammed into a weekend, uncertainty of what happens next, and possibly general seasonal affective poopery.
However, there are some bright discoveries -- chief among them the delicious produce at H-Mart in nearby Catonsville.
Oh, and my clear desire to one day raise pet/laying chickens/turkeys/ducks. Mmmm! There's something about little clucking birds that are extremely cheering. Obviously, that's probably not going to happen in the middle of downtown Baltimore. But someday...in the distance.
As far as school goes, things are going well. Really, well as can be expected. As a friend is fond of reminding me: "If you're going to overload yourself like that, at least be kind enough to your psyche to forgive it when it can't deliver the top quality that you're used to." As far as vocal instruction goes, I'm working diligently, but I could be working a bit harder. Which I imagine is a pretty good place to be. At least I'm not burning out on it.
Kind of the opposite, it's developing really quite well -- it's just a totally odd feeling sitting here with my still-forming technique and not really able to articulate, even to myself, mentally, why X isn't working. It's easy to see that X isn't working...but the functional reason? Well, I suppose that's why I have a teacher, eh?
And speaking of teacher, not for the last time, I am reminded that the strides I've made this year would not have been possible without this particular student/teacher setup. He's so generous with his energy and his time, it's almost embarrassing to be the beneficiary. And it's a nice incentive to make the most of it. Because, you know, who knows when he will retire.
But anyway, as the first year at Peabody draws to a close, I do have some questions weighing on my mind, and I'm not entirely sure what would/could answer them. But they are nagging all the same, and there's kind of no room for that right now. I've got my first "unveiling" at a voice department recital that I need to pull together and polish. This in this last week.
But what sort of post would this be without some youtube?
Thursday, February 28, 2008
whoah, this has been floating around on the intrarwebs for awhile now, but this is actually pretty decent sound and video (i.e., you won't have to turn the volume way way up to hear it).
Julia Varady (a house favorite here) sings Abigaille
This, on the other hand, you will, but it's probably worth it.
Young young Isabel Rey singing for a Caballe masterclass
briefly, because a dinner of empanadas awaits me and I shan't keep them lonely:
1) I had a great conversation with someone (sparked by a good night at the opera) about art not as objects, but rather the relationship between that object its context. This was doubly interesting since I seem to be having a series of such revelations about things, particularly voices and performances. Voices that I hadn't particular feelings about have become instead, very appreciated. And it has to do with context, both within the setting of the voice and my own positionality. It's interesting to think of voice not as some object that is put together, like flowers on a table in a setting or in a vase -- but rather, as a painting thereof because you can't extract it from its setting that way, despite its recognizability (well, sometimes).
2) Earlier in the week I also went to a Handel lecture given by Ellen Harris, whom you may remember from a previous post. She talked about the intersection of the profane and sacred music of Handel's italian output, though it seemed more centered on certain observations about treatments of floridity in these works. Central to her examples is the oratorio "Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno" in which Beauty (Bellezza) must choose between Piacere (Pleasure) and Time and Good Counsel (Tempo e Disinganno). In this work, Harris argues, floridity and virtuosity is used to depict something alluring yet dangerous, and because of the librettists insertion of Handel into the scenario in Piacere's palace, a specific kind of virtuosity is employed.
In any case, the work ends with this scene sung by Bellezza. Isabel Rey (who sounds better than last I encountered her, though even in that setting, she sounded better with repeated hearings) and accompanied by Marc Minkowski, whose babies I want to bear.
chasing a dream by joining the footrace to become a singer, only I'm still trying to crash the registration while everyone is already queuing up at the starting line
