we could sing ‘happy birthday’ tomorrow
August 30 is the anniversary of the birth of a famous Quickly: Regina Resnik!
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And here we have Mme. Resnik in a campy mood, sending up the faux-exoticism of Kismet.
I didn’t mean a different matter soundwise – your judgment is accurate. But I’m confused: what I thought on second thoughts you were trying to say is that it was ‘the real Wakefield’ who was your disappointing teacher. If not, I wonder who on earth you ARE talking about? To divulge my own thoughts about a truly nasty piece of work whose reputation rested on a world-class natural pupil would be libellous, of course.
As for the other comment, I’ll choose not to see it as ironic and hail it as a first.
Ah, I see, Scaramuccio. As you imply, this a public arena, but I’m sure our thoughts on the said performer concur.
And as this is a public forum, I’m not likely to give away my personal e-mail address:-)
I’m sure, Scara, that we could swap stories, re “a truly nasty piece of work whose reputation” privately but, helas, that’s not possible, for the libel reasons you state, via the opportunity that La Cieca provides (and, my dear Cieca, I remember your public “outing” on certain activities some time ago via Charlie’s indiscretions!)
Indeed – there we shall leave it. And now I must go and spend some time with a dapper young Claudio.
Is it just me, or did this thread just take something of a violent lurch into the UTTERLY INCOMPREHENSIBLE?
I’m beginning to hope so. But I think our one-trick vic is doing exactly what he might have hoped – spreading confusion as to his aims. Does it really need spelling out that the British/Commonwealth singers he affects to rate he is in fact gunning mercilessly and (in many cases) pointlessly?
Some seem to take issue with his ‘praise’. But, whether you take his looking-glass-world attacks and ‘racism’ seriously or not, it’s still not much fun – whereas the likewise confusing Famous Quickly’s ‘I could do *** tomorrow’ still is, like all the best catchphrases.
What might be more fun is to do what R3 once did, and take the Vic’s game into the broader arena – you choose a composer or an artist, and write more or less the exact opposite of the truth. Anyone who hits upon anything remotely correct is ‘out’. But I’ll leave it to La Cieca to see if she wants to set that one up.
That’s a great idea, scara. I for one am praying that Maria Guleghina’s Fiordiligi can’t be too far off.
Just to give you an example, each entry for this party game took the form of a mini biography. I don’t think mine were good enough, so I quote as an example one from ‘Herrmannesque’ which might please the Vicar:
‘I’m disappointed that none of you have mentioned Reginald Goodall that noted conductor of Meyerbeer and the lighter French operas. Despite being a card-carrying communist Goodie, as he was known to his friends, was able to forge for himself a distinguished international career. His career in the leading opera houses of Europe was often controversial – singers often complained that in contrast to the expansive (and sometimes just simply dull) George Salty he rushed his singers in often insanely fast tempos.
‘He was one of the few noted conductors who avoided the central European repertoire and had a particular aversion to Wagner (“that old fascist†as he called him) and Bruckner (“that old bore!â€) His one-time assistant Otto Klemperer (another speed merchant who was often tasked with “warming up†the orchestra for him during Goodie’s Philharmonia days) said he found him difficult to work with because of his zealous over-insistence on razor-tight ensemble. He was not noted for being a gentle and thoughtful collaborator and frequently bullied his record producer Leggless Walter, often beating him up during studio sessions.’