A Trip Down Memory Lane...

As usual, I was thinking all sorts of different things during my drive to work yesterday.

There was the normal observation of the weather – cloudy and cool, with thick low hanging clouds. It was kind of like being the microbe between the sheet and blanket.

Then the station I listen to, KDFC.com, a public radio station that plays all classical played a very relaxing piece and I chilled to it as I drove up the freeway.

I don’t even know where the thought came from, but I started thinking about some of the pieces they play, and before you go ‘ewww, classical sucks!’ I would like to point out that the Star Wars theme is considered classical. Same with the themes from ET and Jurassic Park and most of the movies we’ve watched.

Did you ever watch Bugs Bunny cartoons or the movie ‘Fantasia’ either as a kid or with your kids?

‘Dance of the Hours’ - the scene is the garden where ostriches, alligators and hippos dance around a fountain.

We all know and recognize ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’

Aside from movies, most of the Bugs Bunny cartoons from the 1950’s and 1960’s used classical music. Did you ever see this one?

That's the Rabbit of Seville. All of the music in this is from Rossini’s ‘Barber of Seville’. Even now, almost fifty years on, I cannot hear the piece without thinking of Bugs and Elmer.

Anyway. Then I started thinking about how so many of the great pieces of opera music are sliced and diced to make them more ‘palatable’ to people who don’t necessarily like opera.

I don't particularly like opera. When I was in elementary school, sixth grade or so, our grade, three classrooms worth, was taken into San Francisco, plopped into seats at the War Memorial Opera House and subjected to Madama Butterfly.

With all due respect to Puccini, it SUCKED. I hated it.

Most of the problem was that there was no set-up beforehand. How does an elementary school teacher back in the late 1960's explain to a bunch of wide-eyed no-nothing kidlets about adultery, sex, and betrayal? After all, those themes are the fundamental story of the opera.

So we're dumped in our seats and told to watch. Okay.

It's being sung in Italian. I don't understand Italian now, and I didn't then, so it's all going straight over my head and I, along with the other sixty or so kids, am fidgeting, wishing I were anywhere but there.

Almost all the way through it, there is one aria that sounds - no matter who sings it - like a cat being scalded. It's shrieky and shrill and the very best part about it is when the Japanese heroine commits suicide. Thank God that's over!

Another opera composer I absolutely abhor is Wagner. His music SUCKS in my most humble opinion.

Das Reingold? When it comes on, I turn it off. Same with the 'Flight of the Valkyries' and the 'Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla'. Ick!

With all the brass and the blaring noise and crescendos, it's too in your face for me or, as I think of it, too Teutonic. I like subtlety and the intertwining melodies and harmonies that make a piece 'whole'.

So, as you can see, I am not crazy about much in opera, but there are some things that just should not be messed with.

The Anvil Chorus from La Traviata is one that’s been sliced and diced. There are versions without the chorus. To me, that’s like making a hot pastrami sandwich and leaving out the filling – the meat, the cheese, the lettuce and all the rest of it. It’s bread only and it’s boring as can be. With all the levels of the voices and orchestra, it's full and rich and absolutely marvelous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjMHCzoneuM

Now, imagine the richness of that without the vocals - the score all by itself. It would be half-baked, missing a crucial part that fills it out and gives it the full flavor. It would be the bread only version.

Delibes Flower Duet is another one. Without the voices, it’s like a latte without the milk. It’s half-done. With the voices, it is one that makes me stop – wherever I am, whatever I am doing, to just listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlcWq3D75Uw

To me, that one is heavenly. Just the intertwining of the voices, like vines climbing up a trellis, supporting and complementing, offsetting the other as they reach out and combine to make the piece complete.

One of the most incredible arias I’ve ever heard is Mozart’s aria ‘The Queen of the Night’ from The Magic Flute.

The triplets at the top of the scale are amazing. The first time I heard it I was genuinely stunned that a human voice, any human voice, could do that. The range, the pitch, the control, all of it has got to be absolutely spot on perfect or the entire thing will collapse.

If you start this, don’t watch it – just close your eyes and listen. Listen to the absolute perfection and control this woman has over her voice and the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqBwe9BCj4A

The trumpeter Alison Balsam has a recording of this aria that’s good, but it does not come close to comparison with the real deal. It just does not have the same texture or feel of the voice hitting those high notes in quick succession.

One last piece - and if this doesn't get your toes tapping and your hips jiggling you're probably dead (you might want to check your pulse, just in case).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVca1TV5oHc

I hope that you read this far, and that you listened to a couple of these. At the very worst, some of it might be a trip down memory lane. At best, maybe you'll dabble a bit more. KDFC.com is available over the internet, too.

Hope you have a lovely, tune-filled day!

Best~
Philippa

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