The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Which political campaigns have used classical music?
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By Jacob Stockinger
In the past, the music that political campaigns used was often jingles that reminded one of Madison Avenue advertising, even when they were composed by Broadway song master Irving Berlin.
These days, it seems to The Ear that most political campaigns use rock, pop or country music.
Sometimes folk music.
Never jazz.
And, one supposes, you will never hear the blues since that would be a pretty downbeat message for politicians.
But leave it to our friends at WQXR-FM, the famed classical music radio station in New York City, to offer some samples of political campaign music, including some that used classical music.
Donald Trump (below), the current Republican nominee for president, has tried to use the famous opera aria “Nessum dorma” (None Shall Sleep) from “Turandot” by Giacomo Puccini.
Fittingly, in the opera the moving and beautiful aria is sung by a prince to woo a Chinese tyrant or despot.
The Ear especially loved the way it was used so appropriately during the carpet bombing of Cambodia by the U.S. in the movie “The Killing Fields.”
Trump used one of the best versions available – sung by Luciano Pavarotti, one of which has 38 million hits and which you can hear in a YouTube video at the bottom.
But the Pavarotti estate refused to grant him permission to use it and asked him to cease and desist. Good for them.
Now Trump uses something in the public domain: the Overture to the opera “The Thieving Magpie” by Giachino Rossini.
Anyway, here is a link to the story:
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/6-us-political-campaigns-set-to-classical-music/
Tags: advertising, American, Arts, blues, bombing, Broadway, Cambodia, campaign, China, choral music, Classical music, country, Donald Trump, folk, Folk music, Irving Berlin, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Luciano Pavarotti, Madison Avenue, Music, Nessun Dorma, New York City, nominee, opera, Orchestra, Overture, Pavarotti, political, Politics, pop, President, Puccini, Radio, Republican, Rock, Rossini, singer, song, The Killing Fields, Thieving Magpie, Turandot, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, vocal music, WQXR-FM, YouTube
Classical music: Here is Holiday Gift Guide No. 5 — the Best Classical CDs of 2015 as chosen by critics for The New York Times.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The holidays have started and the shopping days left are winding down.
And just in time, this past week, the critics for The New York Times have published their selections for the Best Classical music Recordings of 2015.
Here is a link to that listing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/arts/music/best-classical-recordings-2015.html?_r=0
Of course, this is not the first such list or holiday gift guide that The Ear has posted.
On Black Friday, The New York Times published a classical music gift guide that The Ear linked to:
Then The Ear published similar lists by the BBC Music Magazine and the Telegraph newspaper:
And yesterday The Ear published the 2015 Grammy nominations, which also offered some outstanding suggestions:
You will notice that there are some duplications, such as the CD of Daniil Trifonov and Yannick Nézet-Séguin performing various themes and variations by Sergei Rachmaninoff – plus some by Trifonov himself — on a Deutsche Grammophon CD (below).
Such agreement is a good indication that the recording in question is truly outstanding and will appeal to many tastes. The Ear sure likes that particular recording.
Same goes for tenor Jonas Kaufmann’s CD of arias by Puccini, which you can sample through the famous “Nessun dorma” from “Turandot” in a YouTube video at the bottom. What a big, beautiful voice! And he seems as home in Puccini as in Wagner!
You will also notice that each year seems to see an increasing role for new music. Whether that means the new music is getting better or the critics have just altered their priority remains to be seen.
Whatever is the case: Happy Buying! Happy Receiving! Happy Listening!
And be sure to leave your own suggestions from your own listening experience in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: arias, Arts, Baroque, BBC, BBC Music Magazine, Beethoven, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, concerto, critics, Daniil Trifonov, Deutsche Grammophon, Early music, Frédéric Chopin, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Jonas Kaufmann, Ludwig van Beethoven, Music, Nessun Dorma, New York, New York Times, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Russia, Sergei Rachmaninoff, The New York Times, theme and variations, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, YouTube
Classical music: Music critic Alex Ross praises Tom Cruise’s use of Puccini’s opera “Turandot” in the new “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” movie.
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By Jacob Stockinger.
Looks like it’s going to be a hot and humid weekend.
Just the kind of weather to go see a movie in an air-conditioned cinema.
If you are an opera fan, you might want to consider seeing Tom Cruise and the latest offering in the “Mission Impossible” franchise -– “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” (below) — which features a central opera scene (below).
That is the opinion of the prize-winning music critic Alex Ross (below), who writes for The New Yorker magazine. And many consider Ross the best music critic in the U.S.
In his essay or review in the Aug. 11 issue, Ross traces the use of opera in various movies — including in the romantic comedy “Moonstruck” and in the thrillers by Alfred Hitchcock. Ross argues that Tom Cruise really stands out in the way he does justice to Puccini’s “Turandot,” including the great and popular tenor aria “Nessun dorma.” (Heard at bottom in a YouTube video, with 33 million hits, as sung by Luciano Pavarotti, who made the aria his signature.)
Here is a link to the review by Alex Ross that is well worth reading:
Enjoy!
And leave a comment telling The Ear if you agree with Alex Ross.
Tags: Alex Ross, aria, Arts, choral music, cinema, Classical music, critic, essay, Giacomo Puccini, Hitchcock, Jacob Stockinger, Luciano Pavarotti, Mission Impossible, Mission Impossible: Rogue Naiton, Moonstruck, Music, mystery, Nessun Dorma, opera, Orchestra, Puccini, review, Romantic, tenor, The New Yorker, thriller, Tom Cruise, Turandot, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, YouTube
Classical music: Is American tenor Bryan Hymel the new King of the High C’s after the late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti and the very active Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez?
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By Jacob Stockinger
For tenors, High C’s are the brass ring on the carousel of opera.
The late great Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti and the very busy Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez both earned fame and fortune with their singing of the astonishing nine high C’s in Gaetano Donizetti’s bel canto opera “La Fille du Regiment.”
In fact, Florez repeated the same nine high C’s as an encore and it brought down the house.
But it seems there may be another King of the High C’s in the making.
He is a native of New Orleans (isn’t that fitting?) and he is America tenor Bryan Hymel (below, in a photo by Dario Acosta for Warner Classics), who was recently featured on the terrific blog “Deceptive Cadence” for NPR (National Public Radio).
You will surely be hearing more about him. The 35-year-old Hymel has already made his debut at the famed Metropolitan Opera, where he has sung in “Les Troyens” by Hector Berlioz — a role he also sang at the Royal Opera House in London. And he will open the Met’s 2018 season in “Samson and Delilah” by Camille Saint-Saens.
Here is a link to that story by Tom Huizenga. It is complete with sound samples from Hymel’s debut album “Héroïque” — in particular the difficult aria “Asile héréditaire” from the opera “William Tell” by Giachino Rossini — and the CD features a total of 19 high C’s. That led Huizenga to proclaim: “This is why we listen to opera!”
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2015/02/25/388783314/bryan-hymels-hefty-high-cs
The Amazon.com reader reviews of the new all-French album (below, with an audiovisual clip of the behind-the-scenes recording process) not only praise Hymel for his high C’s – and C-sharps and even D’s — but single out the quality of his singing.
You can hear that strong, pitch-accurate and seemingly effortless quality in one of The Ear’s favorite tenor arias: “Nessun dorma” from “Turandot” by Giacomo Puccini, which Hymel signs with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in a YouTube video at the bottom.
Tags: Arts, bel canto, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, Donizetti, France, French opera, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Rossini, Gioachino Rossini, High C's, Jacob Stockinger, Jerusalem, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Juan Diego Florez, La fille du régiment, London, Luciano Pavarotti, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, Music, Nessun Dorma, New Orleans, New York City, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Pavarotti, Royal Opera House, Samson and Delilah, tenor, Turandot, United States, Warner Classics, William Tell, YouTube
Classical music: Opera diva Renee Fleming will sing the National Anthem to open the NFL Super Bowl XVIII (48) next Sunday. But WHY and HOW did that happen and WHAT does it mean for professional music and professional sports?
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By Jacob Stockinger
What is THIS all about?
Next Sunday -– a week from today – is Superbowl XVLIII (that’s 48 in plain English numerals — does the NFL think Latin adds class to football?)) between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. It will be held in bad cold weather in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands. That’s the football game where the best seats are going for more than $25,000. (Where are you now, Tony Soprano?) Not that a wealth gap exists between professional sports like football (below) and the rest of America. Oh, no — never that.
And guess who will sing the national anthem, the tricky “The Star-Spangled Banner,” to open the show – and it is a show. None other than superstar soprano Renee Fleming (below).
Yep, the lovely and gifted opera diva herself.
Now, I am not about to complain about a classical music star getting a chance for such exposure. But it does makes you wonder how it happened.
Did her agent approach the NFL?
Or did the billionaire-packed NFL decide on its own — somewhere in its posh 280 Fifth Avenue headquarters (below top is the exterior, below bottom is the interview its tacky half-Football Desk) that are tax-exempt – that it would buy some highbrow class and at the same time help the cause of classical music and maybe build a new audience?
The Ear can’t imagine it was done by popular choice, under pressure from the fans.
And WHY was it done?
Did a lot of classical music presenters, who already realize that it is commercial suicide to hold a concert on Super Bowl Day, think to put some class into the Super Bowl and not risk bad attendance?
Was it just out of a taste for variety?
Fleming, who has a deep background in jazz and popular music, will probably nail it of course.
But will Renee Fleming create the same kind of rowdy, over-the-top atmosphere that is appropriate to the occasion as some bluesy-gospel, pop-rock or hip-hop star rendition would? Sure, Fleming sells a lot of records and tickets — but nowhere near as much as the superstars in those others genres of music do.
I guess we will see.
If she goes over well, maybe they can book her for the half-time act in a couple of years. But someone like superstar pianist Lang Lang (below), who will perform with metal rockers Metallica at this year’s Grammy Awards to be broadcast live tonight, seems a more likely candidate. Why book Rubinstein when you can get Liberace?
Well, at least folks at the Super Bowl can feel as classy as the Metropolitan Opera folks for a couple of minutes –- until the concussions start.
I don’t know if we will ever get the back story about the why and the how. But here is a link to the story that NPR’s excellent Deceptive Cadence blog had about Renee Fleming and the Super Bowl.
It is good, short and to the point, even if it doesn’t move beyond the headlines.
See what you think.
And for True Fans, here is a link to the official NFL Super Bowl 48 site, loaded with information and complete with a clock counting down to the coin toss and kickoff:
http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/48
What would be a good, an appropriate opera aria to mark the Super Bowl? How about Puccini’s “Nessum dorma” (“No one sleeps”) from “Turandot,” below in a popular YouTube video with almost 9 million hits. It features tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who made it his signature aria, and it shows the last time he sang it in 2006 at the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. Look at the sets. Listen to the crowd going wild. It seems in keeping with the Super Bowl, no?
But if you can suggest another choice, The Ear wants to hear it.
Tags: Classical music, Denver Broncos, football, Grammy Award, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Lang Lang, Luciano Pava, Meadowlands, MetLife Stadium, Metropolitan Opera, Music, National Football League, Nessun Dorma, New Jersey, NFL, NPR, Olympics, Park Avenue, Pavarotti, Piano, professional sports, Puccini, Renée Fleming, Seattle Seahawks, Sports, Star-Spangled Banner, Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLVIII, Torino, Winter Olympics
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: Why does Pavarotti – the man and now the movie – fascinate us?
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IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend a lot of people nationwide will go see the movie “Pavarotti,” the documentary by Ron Howard about the legendary Italian tenor who died 12 years ago.
Luciano Pavarotti (below) was and remains a superstar, a major cultural phenomenon, which is why Decca Records is cashing in by releasing not only the soundtrack to the documentary film but also a new 3-CD compilation of Pavarotti’s best singing.
It’s all so curious, especially if you compare Pavarotti’s artistic accomplishments against those of, say, Placido Domingo.
Pavarotti couldn’t read music.
He couldn’t act very convincingly.
The roles he learned were relatively limited in number.
He made major personal and professional missteps.
Yet we remain deeply drawn to Pavarotti.
Why?
It certainly has to do with his extraordinary voice, the tone and power of which could make your neck hairs stand on end, give you goosebumps, bring tears to your eyes and make you sob out loud.
Just listen to his singing of Puccini’s “Nessun dorma,” the crowd-pleasing signature aria from “Turandot” that Pavarotti performed over and over again in concerts, operas and at the famous “Three Tenors” stadium concerts. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
But there is more to Pavarotti as a cultural phenomenon, much more, that tells us about ourselves and about the appeal of opera in general.
Without question, the best cultural analysis of Luciano Pavarotti that The Ear has ever seen or heard came recently from the critic Zachary Woolfe in The New York Times.
As Woolfe deconstructs “this hulking, sweaty man with stringy hair, a patchy beard and an unforgettable sound,” you learn much about the popular appeal – both high and low — of opera as well as the commercial and artistic appeal of Pavarotti.
Here is a link to Woolfe’s “Critic’s Notebook” analysis, which is well worth reading on its own or either before or after you see the new film.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/arts/music/pavarotti-ron-howard.html
And here is the official trailer for the film, with comments from many of his colleagues, which gets mixed reviews:
What do you think of Zachary Woolfe’s analysis of Pavarotti?
Why do you think the singer was so popular?
What is your favorite performance of his?
And if you saw the film, what did you think of it? Do you recommend seeing it?
Leave a comment.
The Ear wants to hear.
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