You Tube classical offerings

[+ Charlie]

Yesterday I was listening to a Shirley Verrett CD, and afterwards I decided to open greatness's post in the Lounge, with the link to Callas singing "Mon coeur s'oeuvre a ta voix." To my amazement, on the side were links to lots of other divas singing the same piece (OK, I'll admit that I am electronically challenged--I have never been to Facebook, don't have a smart phone, don't know how to text or twitter, don't understand how a laptop works, don't know what Wii means, etc.). I spent the next hour in an orgy of watching different women sing the aria in concert. Elina Garanca and Olga Borodina sing it beautifully, but they are bloodless--Borodina sounds like she thinks she's Rusalka. Give me passionate old-timers Obratzsova and Horne any day, even Bumbry, although she is way past her prime in that video. But Callas was still the most stunning of the lot, even though it's a role I would never have associated with her.

 

I didn't have time to open every link, but I'm sure I will. I intend to start, with considerable trepidation, with Ludwig.

[Guest greatness]

I love youtube . I'm glad that the link helped you discover something you like. Kisses and hugs~~~

[+ honcho]

It isn't just singers ... I've gone back to school half time as a music major and was working on a relatively obscure piece of

chamber music last spring - a Prokofiev quinet for DoubleBass, viola, violin, clarinet and oboe.

 

(It's a cool piece. was rearranged for this combination from an intended ballet that never quite happened)

 

Would you believe there were two version of it - one of students from the Peabody conservatory?

[Karl-G]

Classical Music on YouTube

 

For various reasons, I have been searching YouTube for classical music recently. There are millions of clips on-line already and more are being added daily. Every movement of every symphony and piano concerto and bassoon concerto and every opera and song and everything else is on YouTube, usually by several different performers. It is a wonderful treasure trove.

 

There are other video sources besides YouTube, but I don't think any of the others compare in quality and speed and ease of use.

 

My experience has been that the indexing of the videos is problematical. So if you are looking for a Mozart piano concerto, you can't look just under "Mozart" or you won't get very much. But if you google for a specific piece, you will almost certainly find it, and then to the bottom right of the screen will be a series of other videos, both of composers and performers, who relate to the first piece. You can get going and get deeper and deeper into more and more videos that don't appear at your first search. The number seems limitless.

 

All of this is done without anyone's legal permission, and so it is not unusual that a video you have seen suddenly disappears with a note that someone objected for copyright reasons. So you can't assume that a YouTube video will remain indefinitely. But more keep appearing all the time. A few are HD and excellent quality; some are pretty poor quality. And there are a lot of student recitals once you begin digging - college, high school, grammar school, and private lessons. Any parent or school can post a video of a child or a group in a recital. So the indexing problem is obvious; if google or YouTube listed every "Clair de Lune" posted, there would be tens of thousands. The first video to appear in google is usually the most professional and best. But sometimes, the best performances are buried because the posters did not do a good job of naming them.

 

It is fun seeing what is out there and also enjoying the enormous riches. As mentioned above, you can enjoy dozens of different performances of a particular piece of music, from opera or instrumental; for example a dozen different performances of Mozart's "Exsultate Jubilate" are easily accessible. Or you can go for Juan Diego Florez, and get two dozen arias from different operas that he sings. You can easily put together collections for yourself and/or friends. ( Loads of clips of Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrebko.) Some Music Festivals, like Luzerne, post HD clips that are excellent. Competitions like the Van Clibourn post many clips.

 

YouTube is certainly a wonderful and incredible resource, and it will only get better.

[leigh.bess.toad]

Yesterday I was listening to a Shirley Verrett CD, and afterwards I decided to open greatness's post in the Lounge, with the link to Callas singing "Mon coeur s'oeuvre a ta voix." To my amazement, on the side were links to lots of other divas singing the same piece (OK, I'll admit that I am electronically challenged--I have never been to Facebook, don't have a smart phone, don't know how to text or twitter, don't understand how a laptop works, don't know what Wii means, etc.). I spent the next hour in an orgy of watching different women sing the aria in concert. Elina Garanca and Olga Borodina sing it beautifully, but they are bloodless--Borodina sounds like she thinks she's Rusalka. Give me passionate old-timers Obratzsova and Horne any day, even Bumbry, although she is way past her prime in that video. But Callas was still the most stunning of the lot, even though it's a role I would never have associated with her.

 

I didn't have time to open every link, but I'm sure I will. I intend to start, with considerable trepidation, with Ludwig.

 

Charlie -- I must say the thought of Mon coeur with Christa Ludwig certainly sent chills down my spine. Now there are precoius few who are bigger Ludwig fans than I. But I just can't hear her in it. Likewise I coulnd't imagine Dame Janet either. And there is no one I respect and admire more. I don't know if she ever did it because she was so closely (hell she was) tied to the itialian wing, but I just cannot imagine what Simionato could have done to that. I think it could have been amazing.

 

But Charlie -- explore -- there are some absolutely amazing things out there. One of my non-operatic favorites that I keep going back to over and over again is a performance by Bernstein of Mahler's 2nd. Mahler's 2nd is perhaps one of my 2 or 3 most influential pieces of music ever written (along with Britten's War Requiem) -- so much so that one of my favorite lines from it has become my email address -- bereite dich zu leben: prepare yourself to live. But explore. Let one poke point lead you to another. Some will lead you to some remarkably great performances. Some will lead you to remarkably awful performances. there are some wonderful performances by kids at their juniior and senior recitals in schools. If you hurry and get started now, and if no one adds anything else to youtube, you may able to sample everythihg out there by the time you are three or four hundred years old. It is a source of treasure I can never get tired of. I hope you go back again and again.

[whipped guy]

Research Tool

 

One great use for Youtube concerns the fact that video clips of operatic productions that have been released on DVD are quite ubiquitous. Therefore if you want to check out the visuals of a given production you often are able to do so before purchasing... Often some productions are released as audio CD's and you can obviously check out the audio portions as well. As an example, I recently was able to view a production that had been released on both DVD and CD. I liked the singing, but found the production itself to be amateurish and distracting... Hence I purchased the CD as opposed to the DVD. Consequently, Youtube has proved to be a valuable research tool that has saved me some hard earned cash.

 

Of course if you want to audition literally dozens upon dozens of different versions of something slightly off the beaten path such as "Bel raggio lusinghier" from Semiramide you can do that as well... simply mind boggling indeed... and the choices can run the entire range of possibilities from a high school recital to Callas and way beyond!!! Great for a rainy day!

[+ Charlie]

Karl, thanks for all the info on how YouTube works and what is available--who knew?! (well, you and leigh and whipped, obviously). I probably will use if for the sort of thing I did on Saturday, because I don't want to sit in front of my computer to watch, and listen on its cheap sound system. I know, I know: there is some way to watch it on my tv, but I am electronically challenged, as noted, as well as cheap, so I have minimal equipment; I don't even own a DVD player. My only extravagance is Bose for CDs.

 

Leigh, I purposely left off before listening to Ludwig, because I was afraid I would be disappointed, despite the fact that I have always loved her. I lived in London when Dame Janet was in her prime, and saw her often--I can't imagine her as a convincing Delila, or any villainess.

[whipped guy]

I just took my own advice and checked out clips of the new Decca I Puritani with Juan Diego Florez that was mentioned in another thread... However, the soprano gave me a headache... she is shrill and edgy and the high notes were like overly exclaimed exclamation points!!!!!! The chorus was flat and ragged in a few places. So definitely not worth the price of admission.

 

While on the subject of Bellini, and since Ludwig was mentioned above, I must comment on the fact that Ludwig's contribution to the second Callas Norma. While quite competent... she certainly sings everything properly... something seems wrong... nothing major, but it just does not sound right either.

[+ Charlie]

Well, Ludwig was still pretty young then, and it was certainly not her Fach.

[Karl-G]

Ravi Shankar

 

There are a whole bunch of good clips with Ravi Shankar playing classical Indian music, sometimes with his daughter and other times with other men. The sound is very good.

 

There is also lots of Gregorian chant and lots of medieval and Renaissance music, often by college students but interesting.

[leigh.bess.toad]

Gary Karr

 

A name that I bet none of you is familiar with. I first heard Gary when he played "The Swan" on Leonard Bernstein's recording The Carnival of the Animals at a NY Phil Young People's Concert in the late 1950s (the flutist was Paula Robson). He was 18 at the time. The difference: he plays the double bass. He is (or was) the best double bassist the world I think has ever known. In my sophomore year, I couldn't believe it: he joined the faculty at my conservatory and I got to spend a little time with him. Because he joined the school in the music education department. He was a devoted and committed teacher. His favorite saying: "Those that can, do. Those than can do better, teach." However, the most vivid memory was Gary and his "Immortal Beloved". The Koussevitzky Amati Double Bass, given to him by Madame Koussevitzky herself. He had a little trailer he towed it on behind his bicycle while he rode around campus. Mind you in the early 70's this thing was worth many millions of dollars. One pot hole, one bad driver (like the chairman of the composition department Arnold Franchetti, who in his youth used to drive for Ferrari) and the world would lose one of the rarest of all instruments. But Gary just kept on riding and towing. Fortunately nothing ever happened. The instrument is now known as the Karr-Koussevitzky double bass.

 

I couldn't find his recording of The Swan on youtube. But here is a remarkable recording of Gary playing the Bach Solo Suite V on the Immortal Beloved. You tell me if you think that sounds like a double bass to you. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed in person.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpaW2Xli8uQ

 

I hope you enjoy discovering this truly remarkable artist.

 

And this is the sort of thing you can discover on youtube.

[Guest GQ Pro]

It's amazing what you can find on you tube!

http://gqpro.tumblr.com/

[uwsman2]

Gary Karr. That's a blast from the past. I was a bass player in high school and college, and joined his "International Society for the Double Bass" and wore that tight t-shirt he sent me until it wore out. He was definitely my hero.

 

These days, I'm more into singers and my special favorite of the moment is male sopranist (sometimes labeled countertenor) Philippe Jaroussky. There's tons of his stuff on youtube, because he's French and evidently in France they do lots of classical stuff on TV, which then finds its way to youtube. My favorite is a Monteverdi song that he does with a sort of swing underlay and he really camps it up. At his recent Zankel Hall (NYC) recital, he did this as an encore. (During the regular program, he sang it "straight.") Jaroussky is a very sexy looking fellow, and I've never heard a hint about wife or girlfriend in all the publicity I've read -- and there is a profusion of openly gay countertenors about, so who knows? But he's fun to watch on youtube.

[AdamSmith]

For organ (sorry! ) fanatics, YouTube has a number of clips of Michel Chapuis -- for my money, arguably the greatest organist of this or the last century (Jeanne Demessieux possibly excepted) -- performing his specialty, the 17th- and 18th-century French and German repertoire. One example from this series, which he collectively titled 'Notes Personelle' (many others of course appear in the YouTube right-hand "Suggestions" column):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkl_5qKsCx8

 

I love the way these clips show how, although the performance is so expressive, nonetheless his physical demeanor is entirely devoid of the manic throwing-the-body-about that so many organists affect. He looks the complete technician, carefully looking down from time to time for example to be sure his feet are properly positioned on the hard-to-play flat rather than curved pedal boards characteristic of the Schnitger, etc. old tracker organs he plays.

 

P.S. Not YouTube, but a nice free live-streaming organ music site: http://www.organlive.com

[Diverdan]

Hi Adam,

I am glad to know there is another organ fanatic here on the Forum. I must have at least 100 CDs of classical organ. My latest two are the recordings of Classical Christmas with the Philadelphia Orchestra with the world's largest organ (28,000 plus pipes) in Macy's in Philadelphia. The other one is with the same organ and orchestra, but is of the Jongen Organ Symphony. Jongen composed that symphony for the Wannamaker Organ, but it was never recorded until now. The other great recording of that Organ Symphony is with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra when their new Hall was dedicated in San Francisco several years ago.

 

Thanks for the link to the youtube clip. We'll get to argue about who is the best!

 

DD

[+ Charlie]

When the Macy's in Philly was John Wanamaker, there were free organ concerts every day at noon. When I worked downtown, I often stopped in just to listen for a few minutes, as did many others who were obviously just standing around listening rather than shopping.