My "not so secret" passion :D

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Comment by meggy on December 12, 2013 at 4:14am

Hey Sylvie, This must be the picture, because there is a Christmas backround:)! And it is a Lovely picture, too:)! Have you told her about Michael yet? LOL! Thanks for sharing, and I am glad you got to chat with her as well!

Mary (meg's mom)!

Comment by sylvie boisvert on November 17, 2013 at 3:44am

Hi everyone, well it seems that  the Saturday Afternoon @ The Opera program always finds a way to inspire me with great choices for themes or just musical suggestions. Today, I heard this darling lullabye called “Berceuse de Jocelyn” by Benjamin Goddard, sung here by tenor Placido Domingo & played by violinist Itzhak Perlman :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3C7DnrEpls

...and here it is as an instrumental, “Berceuse de Jocelyn”, string orchestra of the Valenciennes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTDfmuVBYJ4

So this inspired me really to expand on a theme of wonderful melodies  I already know. I’ve known this next piece for a while, but only put a name on it recently, thanks to my favourite soprano who sang it at the Quebec Emmys called “Gémeaux”. Sadly, they don’t have that one  on YouTube, but here’s a beautiful orchestral version:

Gabriel Fauré “Pavane op 50”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpgyTl8yqbw

...and here’s what it sounds like with voice, “Pavane” by Fauré, with voice Barbra Streisand :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7I5hXMkJSQ

Another gorgeous melody, “Vocalise” Rachmaninoff, with the astounding soprano Kathleen Battle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAEFN6JjkQg

Funny enough, though it makes sense that with a title like “Vocalise” that it would be a vocal piece, there are many instrumental versions, including 2 of my favourites, first, « Vocalise » by Rachmaninof , violinist Itzhak Perlman :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7UZhorAki4

and with cellist  Yo-Yo Ma:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OPmGaaElPg

Well now, allow me a couple of transgressions on the classical theme, although continuing with the beautiful melodies theme. These 2 great artists are musical treasures on their own, but here is a bit of precious magic they’ve recorded together. From the movie  “Memoirs of a geisha”,  “Sayuri’s theme”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6CZb1prEJw

... and my favourite piece, again from “Memoirs of a geisha”, “Chairman’s waltz”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sVqGYXBVG0

The cherry on the sundae about those 2 gorgeous melodies is that they were composed by the legendary composer John Williams who needs no introduction. What’s fascinating about the MOAG soundtrack is that this was the first piece he actually asked to compose, simply to challenge himself. :D All right, another little bonus because you’ve been good... I found this one by accident, while researching the other links. This is  “Fragile”  Sting, Chris Botti, Yo-Yo Ma, Dominic Miller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxR3TGvzv3E

Whew, if that doesn’t give you goosebumps, check your pulse! :D Well that’s it for now music fans, happy listening and thanks very much for reading, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Comment by sylvie boisvert on October 29, 2013 at 3:05am

Hi everyone, I bring you one piece, a 27 minute piece today, but with a story attached. It’s the Mozart flute and harp concerto in C K299:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc6-KozGK3c

This is a concerto that’s a tribute to the wonderful artistry of Mozart. Mozart wrote this for a young lady he didn’t really like, nor did he enjoy writing for the flute, on top of the fact that he never got paid for the darn thing. However, he could not conceive of writing a lesser piece, simply because  though he hated doing this job, he couldn’t deliver anything  less than Mozart perfection, God bless him! Now here’s a shout out to all parents out there... :D I hope you enjoy it, thanks for reading, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Comment by sylvie boisvert on September 30, 2013 at 3:11am

Hi all, this is a discovery I  made just yesterday. During the "Saturday afternoon at the opera" show, host tenor Ben Heppner shared some arias from a playlist he wanted to suggest to his neighbor who apparently has only 1 opera tape. Among the suggestions was this lovely mezzo-soprano, Frederica Von Stade with her rendition of an excerpt from Massenet's opera "Wherther" called "Va, laisse couler mes larmes", (Go, let my tears flow":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJh80y-jnHM

Mr Heppner described it as the feeling of warm tearsbeing embodied in this song and frankly, you can feel it in the first line... So after his suggestions, Mr Heppner asked us for our own suggestions... XD So of course, I skimmed through this blog and sent him my top 12 or so and concluded with this choice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43gLTzzMpI

This song is "We'll gather lilacs" by Ivor Novello. The link above is from the 2012 BBC Proms, but my suggestion was Mr Heppner's own version, but it's not on YouTube. They do have this song called "Roses of Picardi" from the same CD though:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLGQE5kdXv0

One of the reasons why WGL is special to me is that when President Obama was first elected, the CBC wanted to present the president with a Canadian song playlist and were asking listeners for suggestions. In the operatic category, I suggested "We'll gather lilacs" because it's such a lovely song and I said I'd recommend the "My secret heart" CD to anyone. Well, not only my suggestion was taken, but they read my  letter on the air! The CBC has been very good to me and various hosts have read my letters in the past so I'm blessed.  :D I guess that's it for now, thanks for reading, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Comment by sylvie boisvert on September 22, 2013 at 5:09pm

Hi everyone, well here’s another suggestion from my opera buddy who  only mentioned the name of a singer, so it took me a while to find her. Her name is pronounced “Eva Podlesh”, but is spelled Ewa Podles. She’s a Polish coloratura contralto with a crazy 3 octave range. I don’t know much about her, but I know she excels in Rossini, Händel arias and most likely baroque and Bel Canto genres. I will share today a lovely aria from a Vivaldi opera that’s on top of her YouTube list, Ewa Podles with “ Sposa son disprezzata “:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E17JyZ3SvjA

What I love about this beautiful aria is that  although it doesn’t showcase her coloratura ornamentation as well as a Rossini aria would, it shows the wonderful control and texture of her voice. To demonstrate her Rossini abilities, here's an aria usually sung by lighter voices, though she does a great job on it, “Una voce poco fa” from Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1HrLHtCuRE

Now, contralto coloratura roles are more limited than sopranos of course, but you can find little gems in “trouser roles” like these in the repertoire, from Händel’s opera “Giulio Cesare”, “Va tacito e nascosto”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_6ZRl4wqOw

“Giulio Cesare” is a beautiful baroque opera, but I have to admit it took me a while to grasp it, because there are so many ambiguous gender roles in it. Ewa’s range is well shown in this one.  Well I guess that’s it for now. I’ve just discovered her so will tackle a study in the next little while and if I have anything more special to report, I will certainly share it here. Thank you for reading, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Comment by sylvie boisvert on September 19, 2013 at 3:51pm

Hi folks, I bring you a mix bag today. Yesterday was a very good day listening-wise so I want to share a few things. First, I borrowed a DVD of the opera “Aida”  with my buddy Luciano, at the San Francisco opera, though I don’t know what year it was filmed, though I’d estimate early 80’s. This gorgeous “Celeste Aida” is what the love of singing is all about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY8k9FsGQpA

Of course, you know I’m a sucker for his pianissimo, but  also his diction is so perfect, it’s like  opera in HD! :D  Now moving on to a wonderful surprise I had last night. Turner Classic Movies was having a Mario Lanza marathon and lucky me, they were showing all the movies I’d never “seen”! The first one they played was “Seven hills of Rome”, which I’m told is just a living travel brochure for Italy. From it, one of the most delectable songs Mario has ever sung, “Arrivederci Roma”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-prQ8AE_nvY

Ah, mama mia! I don’t know what it is about this song, I think it’s just that it’s so lovingly sung, but it makes me want to run off to Italia! Lol Well I’m sure I could concoct a hefty entry on Mario Lanza, because there are so many songs I love from him, but I’ll leave that for another time. I discovered Mario  only about 3 or 4 years ago, as my husband was switching channels and came across a PBS special, God bless PBS! Anyway, so I heard Mario’s version of “Vesti la giubba” from far away and asked who it was. I stopped dead in my tracks when I started listening intently. He was one heck of a performer with a stratospheric voice, but could also be very sweet and vulnerable in his delivery, as the above link shows. Let me share his “Vesti la giubba”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkN2C6kWOAo

My opera buddy says: that’s a real Italian, he cries! :D I regret that I wasn’t mature enough to share him with my mom as a kid, she loved Mario too. I’m sharing this entry with a very special friend in Germany and you know who you are... :D Thank you very much for reading, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Comment by sylvie boisvert on September 14, 2013 at 2:03am

Hi everyone, I realize that I don't post much on here lately, mostly because I'm too busy listening to  he same body of CD's I'm having trouble extricating myself from. :D Today, I was too busy to pay attention  and moving too much to listen to my favorites, so I left the radio on. My ears did catch on to this lovely piece I've heard for the first time. It's by composer Arron Copland called "Our town":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7_ObsZ4XyQ

I've heard many people say or post that Aaron Copland is the sound of America. well I'd say America sounds pretty darn good to me! There is something to be said about a beautifully crafted piece of music that tells a story... Anyway, hope you enjoy and thanks for reading, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Comment by sylvie boisvert on August 23, 2013 at 5:49pm

Hi all, I woke up to the wonderful voice of Barbra Streisand this morning on my classical station Radio-Classique. I’m not sure if it was this song, but I will share this one with you today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVdU8udwqlg

It’s called "In trutina". By Carl Orff and it’s part of a wonderous album called “Classical Barbra”. This is an album full of her interpretations of classical arias/songs/lieder I believe. I didn’t research her choices, but it’s a terrific body of work, without her trying to be classical. It’s just the best a non-classically trained voice can deliver  and I highly recommend it, just for the beauty of it. I’m frankly not much for what I call “popera”, but this album is comfortably positioned in a perfectly grey area. If one wouldn’t know it was classical songs, you’d just think this was the most beautiful foreign language song album you’d ever heard. Hope you check it out: I of course own it myself. Thank you for reading, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Comment by sylvie boisvert on August 11, 2013 at 5:46am

Hi everyone, I just spent a fun day listening to Napolitan songs and thought I’d take a bit of aside step again and share a few with you all. Napolitan songs are just the perfect thing to wake up to and put you in a great mood, I find, so I might revisit this entry in the morning… :D The first one I picked was sung by my favourite boy soprano as a child, but sadly, I can’t find it on YouTube,  so no one but the maestro will do! Here’s my buddy Luciano Pavarotti with « Mama son tanto felice »

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

Or then again, perfect music to be making pizza, lol here’s «O sole mio » Luciano with Bryan Adams:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a0juQ0aeGI

This one used to be my favourite and I still love it very much, “Torna a Surriento”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzg8DTzh4yk

Now here’s another one I first heard from my favourite boysoprano, (not on YouTube) but I found this little gem of my buddy Luciano   “santa Lucia” in the movie “Yes! Giorgio”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roxKE9d_k9o

…and this one I adore, “Santa Lucia luntana” with Georgia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ZryFL1VHU

Ooh, this one gives me goosebumps: that pianissimo again! :D  So now I’ll close with my new favourite since I heard it on a 3 tenors CD I bought, “Non ti scordar di me”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHC0jiuyrCQ

Awww, just so beautiful and how I love Napolitan songs so hope you’ll enjoy them too. Thanks for reading, Sylvie <3

Comment by sylvie boisvert on August 8, 2013 at 1:08am

Hi everyone, well for once I have news. Today’s news is that counter-tenor Étienne Cousineau who was a finalist onQuebec’s “La voix” (The voice) show is scheduled to release his first CD on October 1^st 2013. From what we’ve heard so far, he will be singing timeless songs like Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and the Righteous Brothers' “Unchained melody”. He’ll also sing his audition song "Ebben..." from “La Wally” and his "La voix"  duet “Miss Sarajevo” with Mark Elkes plus his rendition of Edith Piaf's “L’hymne à l’amour”. That’s all we know so far and as soon as I get a title or more details, I’ll post them here. That's it for now, thanks for reading, sincerely, Sylvie <3

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