Oh dear, oh dear!

Just been watching the 'Classical' Brits - while doing something more interesting (i.e. sorting out the mountains of waste paper lying around the house for recycling). While I'm all for trying to sell classical music to a wider audience and so on....it really helps if they paly some! After about half an hour things did improve a bit , with Renee Fleming (one of the best sopranos around at the moment) singing Puccini's "O mio babbino caro", and "Our Nige" playing the Vivaldi 4 seasons (yet again) - obviously he wasn't going to play it straight, but it did work fairly well (at least the faster stuff did - he wasn't so good in the slow movement). But the first half hour was truly dire.

Vanessa Mae ( ) did her usual thing, cavorting around while pretending to play an electric violin - extraordinarily badly I might say. Even the lightening fast cutting between shots couldn't hide the fact that her bow arm movements bore very little resemblance to what was playing - but that may have been excused if she actually made a decent, coherent musical noise. And what she was playing - ugh - the "Sabre Dance" completely emasculated by giving it a pop beat and some Phil Spectorish arrangement. Khatchaturian must have been be spinning in his grave at such an abortion - his original has FAR more balls.

Then we had Boyo Bryn - who IS a great singer - but singing some Welsh folk-song. This was then followed by Hayley Westenra (who has a super, if rather small, voice at present - let's hope early stardom doesn't cause her to blow it like Charlotte Church) singing that Maori song of homecoming (or something like that IIRC). I have nothing against folk songs, and that Maori song (which has been sung at every Maori concert I've ever been at BTW) is really lovely - BUT THEY AIN'T CLASSICAL MUSIC! Then after Nige we had "Amici Forever" - who look better than they sing (the girls in particular) - singing "Prayer in the Night". So OK that's based on a Sarabande by Handel, but given the "Lion King" treatment - if that's classical music then Sting's "Russians" is too! At this point I couldn't take it any more.

It's interesting that some of the awards went to some fairly challenging stuff (e.g. best young musicican to Daniel Hope - for his CD of Berg and Britten), not yer average Classic FM fare, but if a 'Classical' music awards show is too scared to play 'classical' music, things are in a pretty bad way. For example, the Amici could have done (seemingly also on their CD) either Bizet's "Au Fond du Temple Saint" or Dvorak's "Song to the Moon" (although that is one of Renee's party pieces - so maybe they didn't fancy the comparison), again both Classic FM favourites, but genuine - and genuinely good - classical music (although I've not heard what they do to it). Frankly this show had far more in common with the old Radio 2 MOR stuff than anything I would recognise as "classical".

Some may think this belongs in the Classical forum - but I can only say that this has as much to do with classical music as Rolf Harris does with Led Zeppelin.

 

But I always thought that Rolf sounded so much better than Led Zeppelin, Graham (but then, didn't everyone?). So, how do we take that comparison!

(I actually don't own any Led Zeppelin, but what I've heard would be great for scaring the cats away).

 

I thought Rolf was Robert Plant's son.

-- Ian

 

In that case, I just hope nobody told either.

 

er,i think you will find that Vanessa Mae can scare cats away a lot more effectively than Zep

 

Haven't heard very much of Miss Mae (indeed hardly anything), but if she makes the same excruciating noises as Mr. Plant & Co., I believe it.

 

to my uncultured ears,Plant and co and geniuses,their music was and still is,just amber nectar to for the ears.Jimmy Page is the Mozart of the twentieth century imho and Physical Graffiti the Bach Cantatas

 

tones get yerself a copy of led zep 3,you may be in for a suprise, once youve got past imagrants song

 

Zep 3 was when the band really started to experiment though,they received mixed reviews,some really bad in fact,although i love that lp.Zep 2 or the forth album great to start with,imho

 

And how long have these attacks been occuring, Saab? And have you considered doing something about them?

 

Tiresome isn't it? That said I'm not really sure what the record industry / whatever other interested parties should be doing to promote classical music - offensively drab and twee easy listening "crossover" isn't it though. Any suggestions from you rockers (etc) out there? Why aren't you all over in the Classical forum? Or could you just not give any part of a small mammal's anatomy either way?

 

Tones,

I am unsure whether to admit to this but who cares.

Never know why people always give that smile everytime I told them that I have been to her concert.

Actually I been to 2 of Ms Mae concert in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and bought 3 of her CDs for my collection.

The best is China Girl EMI Classics
http://www.vanessamae.com/chinagirl.shtml

The 3rd tune in the CD is my favourite high energy feel good tune so far. If you are thinking of buying it for a listen there is only one downside. You have to look for a place to hide it. It seems to be a guilty sin to enjoy her music.

 

Tones

since Knebworth '79,

anf I took professional help post Rolfs Stairway To Heaven but it didn't work

 

Wolfgang, my knowledge of Vanessa Mae is largely restricted to the fact that she exists - I have heard very little of her, and nothing at all of her more popular stuff. Anyway, I can't think why you should be ashamed of liking her. Saab clearly isn't ashamed of liking Led Zeppelin and that I have heard (not a vast amount I admit, but enough to scare me off for life). I cannot conceive that Miss Mae could be any worse.

 

Hmm, I haven't heard Rolf's either, but I've heard of it. I guess our musical languages are just different, but I was put terminally off Led Z by something called "Black Dog", one of the most appalling noises I've ever heard. Not to mention the lyrics, full of deep inner meaning:

Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move
Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.
Ah, ah, child, way you shake that thing
Gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting.
Hey, hey, baby, when you walk that way
Watch your honey drip, can't keep away.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh, oh, oh
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh, oh, oh

OOOOOOOOOHHH! is my reaction. You're welcome to it, ol' bean. I'll stick to Bach, thank you! At least you can be grateful for one thing - no cable on earth will make it sound any better (IMHO, of course )

 

lol Black Dog is a wonderful track on a wonderful lp,if you like that sort of stuff that is LZ were just unique,they were primarily a stage band,there lps are great,but its the magic of their shows that made them,4 hr sets were not uncommon (4 hrs when they were all on song and page and Bonham did 25 min solos each)

and I am discovering the wonders of Bach thanks to the stickys hey,maybe i should do an introduction to seventies rock and the mods would make it sticky? I am sure you would beneift from some New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in the collection tones,start with British Steel,Judas Priest

incidently,i can listen to any music except "modern Jazz",i think its when they play jazz in the wrong order,just plain horrid

and on the subject of lyrics,Mozart couldn't have come up with something as genius as this;

as lovely as Venus with arms ACDC,its my fave rock lyric,inspired

 

The sticky is a good idea, Saab, and I'm sure many will welcome it, but I'll pass, thanks. Having found the Truly Greats, LeZ would be a retrograde step for me - if I could tolerate it for more than a few seconds!

That's your idea of "genius"? Even though they are Oz (sort of, like me), I'm not so sure. I guess we must have different ideas of genius.

P.S. Compared to the lyrics of "Black Dog", I have to admit that it does border on genius

P.P.S. When Winston Churchill got into a really depressed mood (as he sometimes did), he referred to this as his "black dog". How the poor guy must have suffered if this is what was raging through his head!

 

Well they could make more of the "Young Musician of the Year". I watched the "Eurovision" final this evening - hidden away on BBC4. The passion an excitement generated by these supremely talented youngsters was quite captivating. Other things that can bring music alive is filmed rehersal sessions, where the orchestra and conductor work through a piece together - and not just as an illustrated lecture. It shows that classical musicians do actually get involved in the music they're playing - something that often is not obvious in performance when they're concentrating on making the best possible sounds rather than putting on a show.

As for this evening's competition, there was a Spanish flamenco (with a fair bit of Hungarian dance for good measure) saxophone concerto wonderfully played by an 18(?) year-old German, who only came 2nd, as the winner was a 15 year old Austrian playing Paganini No 1. The 3rd place went to a 14-year-old Russian lass playing Saint-Saints No 2, a really jolly fun piece. Shows how high the standard is when whereas 30 years ago even seasoned professionals would think twice about the Sibelius Violin Concerto, the 17 year-old Norwegian went for it with great gusto (although little refinement - so she didn't make the podium). Shame our lass (the luscious Nicola Benedetti) didn't make the final 7.

(And while I wouldn't put Plant/Page on the same plane as Beethoven, Wagner, R.Strauss, or even Mozart , I do enjoy their music quite a lot)

 

Aren't Page and/or Plant classically trained? ISTR that at least one of them is.

Now what's the name of that really famous Led Zep track that has that long and brilliant chromatic, slightly middle-eastern sounding crescendo?

Michael.

 

Kashmir from Physical Graffitti.