Le belting
Régine Crespin does her “New York has neon, Berlin has bars” routine on a French variety TV show “Palmarès des chansons” circa 1967. She sings her version of one of the greatest hits of the evergreen entertainer Mistinguett, the chanson “C’est vrai!”.
A video excerpt of this performance (featuring Mme. Crespin “entourée de danseurs avec plumes”) may be found on the Place aux Chansons website.
Wow. Tell us how you REALLY feel anonymous.
I, for one, generally don’t like musical theatre. And I also, generally, don’t like it when opera singers sing music that isn’t opera. (note – I haven’t watched this particular clip, and so can’t comment on it in specifics.)
I ESPECIALLY, generally, don’t like it when opera singers sing jazz or the blues or similar with their very operatic voices, and really wreck the music and sound ridiculous.
But I am AT LEAST OPEN to the possibility that great music is great music and can be sung in many styles and still sound like a great singer singing great music.
I mean, there is even SOME (being the operative word) country music that I like – even occasionally music with a high twang factor – it’s RARE, but it does happen. And there IS musical theatre that I have enjoyed.
Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. It might NOT have any value, but it isn’t YOUR opinion on that which determines whether it does or not.
Get over it.
Anonymous, you’re something else.
And, how many anonymouses out there? Geez!!!
Cheryl Studer, soprano:
More details will be posted as they become available
Bayreuth, Villa Wahnfried, Wagner’s music room and library, 3 August 2007
Recital: Richard Strauss Lieder
“Die Zeit ist ein sonderbar Ding”
Friedrich-Wilhelm Junge, Rezitation
Semion Skigin, Klavier
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Seoul (South Korea), 27 November to 7 December 2007
Member of the jury of the Third Seoul International Music Competition
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Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), 15 February 2008
Recital: German Romantic Lieder
Jonathan Alder, piano
Last update: 4 July 2007
I wonder how Anonymous would have felt watching Traubel cut the mustard with James Durante! Ah for the good old days! Anonymous go take a very hot shower, cold is too good for you in this weather.
Melchior in the 30s made a movie with Jimmie Durante, and sang the Prize Song for the world to see and hear, and in the 50s appeared on the Spike Jones show singing fairly well. In the early 50s Kirstin was a regular on the radio on the Railroad Hour,wiht Gordon McCrae,singing Friml-type operetta music, and Matila recently recorded a knockout rentition of Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.
Sorry for the misspellings on my last entry. And the Crespin stuff has got me interested in Mistinguette.
If we’re not going to split hairs and call it an Operetta, the musical KISMET has two knock-out recordings with Opera singers taking the lead: One with Ramey, Julia Migenes, Hadley at the top of his Game, and Ruth Ann, and the other with Donald Maxwell and Valerie Masterson, not to mention the sublime Richard van Allen (am I the only one who loves that guy in whatever he does?)
Dorothy Kirstin, not La Flagstad, if anyone is wondering.
There’s a lot to love in early R and H(ammerstein). The If I loved you scene I believe is something Puccini and Korngold (at least) and Poulenc would have recognized as great music theater. And King and I is fantastic theater.
Rodgers and Hart wrote some of the greatest songs ever, even if mostly to books that don’t work.
And Regine is sublime, pretty much in all she touches!
baritenor: And don’t forget the studio recording of KISMET starring Robert Merrill and Regina Resnik!