Greetings from Amazon.com Delivers Opera and Vocal Editor, Thomas May FEATURED IN THIS E-MAIL: * Word for Word: Philip Glass * New and Notable: Anonymous 4, Stravinsky, Messiaen, Denyce Graves, Puccini * Strauss Reconsidered * Get Started in Classical: Arvo Part * Books about Music: Operatic disease, essays on Schoenberg, and Richard Taruskin on early music WORD FOR WORD ************* "This has really become the main thing that I do: combining images and music. It's a technique that I've been developing since I began working in the theater when I was 20 years old. I have such a repertoire of tricks now that you can't believe--how to make things longer, how to make things shorter. I know when the music should be far from the image, when it should be behind the image, when it should be on top or underneath it. All the physical relationships of place can be translated into the relationship of music to image. Any spatial relationship that you can imagine, I can make, in music, an image." --Philip Glass on the relationship of music to theatrical gesture and image. Read the full interview with Glass at Opera & Vocal NEW AND NOTABLE *************** "Legends of St. Nicholas" Anonymous 4 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00001NTHV/entertainmentsit As one of the most popular saints throughout the Middle Ages, St. Nicholas--better known today as Santa Claus--inspired supremely beautiful musical settings of poems recounting his miracles. Anonymous 4 bring these "Legends of St. Nicholas" to life with their customary brand of ethereal vocals in their latest release. If you're tired of the same old holiday fare, this is for you. "Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress" Anne Sofie von Otter, Ian Bostridge, Bryn Terfel, et al.; London Symphony Orchestra, Monteverdi Choir; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000JSAL/entertainmentsit "The Rake's Progress," which was inspired by Hogarth's morality-tale paintings of 18th-century decadence, features a particularly brilliant libretto by poet W.H. Auden and some of its composer's most engaging music. John Eliot Gardiner proves himself the stylistic polymath yet again in a recording on which everything comes together, including a splendid cast featuring Anne Sofie von Otter, Deborah York, Ian Bostridge, and Bryn Terfel (as the chilling Nick Shadow). "Messiaen: Saint Francois d'Assise" Jose Van Dam, Dawn Upshaw, et al. Halle Orchestra, Arnold Schoenberg Choir; Kent Nagano,conductor http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000JSAO/entertainmentsit Visionary French composer Olivier Messiaen spent nearly a decade writing "Saint Francis of Assisi," his four-hour opera inspired by the saint's life--including the famous legend of preaching to the birds, in which the composer's own long-term fascination with the dazzling variety of bird music takes center stage. This spectacular live recording from Salzburg reveals the work as a profoundly moving summation of a lifetime of discovery. "Denyce Graves: Voce di Donna" Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000JMH2/entertainmentsit Mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves has captured attention for her sumptous, velvety sound and for emotionally charged portrayals of Carmen and Dalila. This young artist's latest solo disc features, in addition to arias from those two operas, a nice selection ranging from Purcell to Barber. "Puccini: La Boheme" Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiu, et al.; Riccardo Chailly, conductor http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00001IVPD/entertainmentsit Even though Puccini's most beloved opera has fared marvelously well on disc, it requires--like all masterpieces--a significant new interpretation for each generation. Going back to Puccini's own observations on performance and using a new critical edition of the score, Riccardo Chailly here performs a work of deeply moving restoration. And the chemistry conveyed by the young, vital cast makes this nothing less than a "Boheme" for our time. STRAUSS RECONSIDERED ******************** When Glenn Gould declared Richard Strauss to be the most significant musician of the 20th century, it may have seemed a clearly hyperbolic claim, but for many music lovers today it's not such an unreasonable proposition after all. In short, Strauss's stock has risen and fallen dramatically, only to rise again to a more critically secure level in the last two decades or so. As the music world commemorates the 50th anniversary of the composer's death, Amazon.com offers a list of suggested Strauss recordings as well as related books and videos. Opera & Vocal GET STARTED IN CLASSICAL: ARVO PART *********************************** The austere but beautiful simplicity of Arvo Part's music seems to touch a deeply resonant chord in listeners. With the breakthrough compositions on "Tabula Rasa," Part mapped out a unique brand of minimalism known for its spiritual depth. Check out our Get Started in Classical feature, which includes an essay and audio tour, and let Amazon's classical experts introduce you to Part's mystical minimalism. Opera & Vocal BOOKS ABOUT MUSIC ***************** "Opera: Desire, Disease, Death" by Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0803273185/entertainmentsit About suffering they were never wrong, the old masters, but it's the sociological implications of illness as metaphor that are the focus of this fascinating work of cultural study. Many of the famous operas link disease to emphatic sexuality, with moral overtones that still have resonance in contemporary culture. "Schoenberg and His World" ed. by Walter Frisch http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0691048614/entertainmentsit From a distance, the controversies that once swirled around Arnold Schoenberg's radical new music can now be seen as distractions from the true nature of that music, not to mention of the man. This collection of essays and documentary sources considers the many facets of Schoenberg's talents as a teacher, painter, and Jewish thinker. "Text and Act" by Richard Taruskin http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195094581/entertainmentsit This seminal series of essays on the significance of the historically informed performance movement has surely caused some readers to hurl the book against a wall. But for all his reputation as a flamethrower, Taruskin covers the issues for anyone interested in what the early-music revival is all about and the intense passions it arouses. ****** You'll find more great music, articles, and interviews in Amazon.com's Opera and Vocal Music section at Opera & Vocal
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