Christmas Music
I just love Christmas music. Usually by mid November, I'm mid way throught my listening of Messiahs, Christmas Oratiorios, L'Enfance du Christ and various choral and solo albums.
The new album for me was The Three Tenors Christmas and it is an abomination. All three (even the usually dependable Placido Domingo) are in terrible voice, unconversant with language and style. I listened for a while, but couldn't finish it.
As an antidote, I pulled out an old favorite, Luciano Pavarotti, "O Holy Night". When all is said and done and a truly objective assessment is done, I think this will go down as one of the classic albums, along with Leontyne Price's Christmas Album. Pavarotti was then in his prime and before the time he seemed to stop caring about musical performance. His musicianship was so natural and it all works. Part of it is the idiomatic choice of pieces: O Holy Night, Pieta signore, Mille cherubini in coro, Tu scendi dalle stelle, Adeste Fideles. No comical renditions of White Christmas or Sleigh Ride. Just first rate vocalism. In those days his diction was so impeccable that every word was clear and seemed to have meaning behind it. Contrast his English "O Holy Night" on this album with the Three Tenors album. I'm sure he spent some time working on his prononuciation in the earlier album. On the more recent one, he seems to have forgotten everything he knew thirty years earlier.
I was thinking recent about the "Marilyn Monroe" syndrome. I recently downloaded (via iTunes) an album "Merry Christmas (Frohe Weihnachten)" which is a collection from German sources of traditional music. Some of it is forgettable but there are contributions that made it worth it. Some Weihnachtslieder sung by Fischer-Dieskau and some Christmas songs with Fritz Wunderlich. The tenor's voice, so sweet and beautiful, reminds one of the tragedy of his early death. Yet I wonder what would have happened had he not been preserved in youth and continued with his career. Would he have made some of the same mistakes that others have made? I was told he was considering moving towards Wagner. Might he have then lost the beautiful quality of his sweet voice?
I of course would not have wished an early demise for Mr. Pavarotti. But I sincerely hope that when history looks back on his career, that it focuses on those years when his career was at its peak: the 70s. Because during that time, he surely was remarkable. That's what I would like to remember.
The new album for me was The Three Tenors Christmas and it is an abomination. All three (even the usually dependable Placido Domingo) are in terrible voice, unconversant with language and style. I listened for a while, but couldn't finish it.
As an antidote, I pulled out an old favorite, Luciano Pavarotti, "O Holy Night". When all is said and done and a truly objective assessment is done, I think this will go down as one of the classic albums, along with Leontyne Price's Christmas Album. Pavarotti was then in his prime and before the time he seemed to stop caring about musical performance. His musicianship was so natural and it all works. Part of it is the idiomatic choice of pieces: O Holy Night, Pieta signore, Mille cherubini in coro, Tu scendi dalle stelle, Adeste Fideles. No comical renditions of White Christmas or Sleigh Ride. Just first rate vocalism. In those days his diction was so impeccable that every word was clear and seemed to have meaning behind it. Contrast his English "O Holy Night" on this album with the Three Tenors album. I'm sure he spent some time working on his prononuciation in the earlier album. On the more recent one, he seems to have forgotten everything he knew thirty years earlier.
I was thinking recent about the "Marilyn Monroe" syndrome. I recently downloaded (via iTunes) an album "Merry Christmas (Frohe Weihnachten)" which is a collection from German sources of traditional music. Some of it is forgettable but there are contributions that made it worth it. Some Weihnachtslieder sung by Fischer-Dieskau and some Christmas songs with Fritz Wunderlich. The tenor's voice, so sweet and beautiful, reminds one of the tragedy of his early death. Yet I wonder what would have happened had he not been preserved in youth and continued with his career. Would he have made some of the same mistakes that others have made? I was told he was considering moving towards Wagner. Might he have then lost the beautiful quality of his sweet voice?
I of course would not have wished an early demise for Mr. Pavarotti. But I sincerely hope that when history looks back on his career, that it focuses on those years when his career was at its peak: the 70s. Because during that time, he surely was remarkable. That's what I would like to remember.
posted by Rich Russell at
9:42 PM
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