Blogging Singers

The topic of blogging singers has been passed back and forth and I can't help but add my two cents (which are really just an expansion of comments I left on Vissi d'amore (whose I handle Ariadne Obnoxious, I must say seems to be inappropriate since I don't find her the least bit obnoxious). As a recovering tenor I just have a few thoughts:

• Blogging singers should never criticize other colleagues
  I don't see that happen much, but I have seen it on forums and newsgroups and I think it is a terrible mistake. I have occasionally criticized one or two sacred cows, but were I still pursuing a career as a singer, I wouldn't do even that. What happens on the internet, no matter how obscure you might perceive your blog to be, makes the rounds quickly. For example, checking my activity logs, I can't tell you how many sites have linked to my Alagna/Harpo composite photo (which was not meant in any way to be derogatory of Mr. Alagna, whose work I mostly like). Word gets around quickly


• It is beneficial to talk about process.
  Many people are fascinated by what a singer does and what they go through to get where they are. I think this is the principal interest in a blogging singer (that and dirt, which they should NEVER, NEVER give.) Non-singers like to hear about the travelling, the rehearsing, how it effects you personally, your family and friends. Details on how and why you get to wear you are, are very interesting.


• Blogging as a marketing tool.
  
  This requires a more extended discussion.
  Sarah suggests that blogging is a great marketing tool. I think it is, but only for a certain group. If you are an emerging singer, don't expect to get jobs or auditions from it. Those who have the power to do that for you, don't often have the time or inclination to read blogs. You still have to do the other stuff to get those (auditions, pro-active traditional marketing). A website, is a great tool. Have your bio, reviews and pictures on there. Sound clips are less useful, since those who hire for opera companies will rarely trust those. And by the way, only put the good stuff up. If you have just an OK sound clip, or a qualified review ("she sang with passion, but her top notes were strident"), for goodness sake, leave them off. They can only do you harm.
  
  Once you've worked a bit, and you want to reach potential audiences, then a blog might help with that. Promoting performances and CDs through a blog will definitely get your name out there. This kind of buzz can only help you.
• Anonymity
  
  If you are going to say anything remotely controversial, then anonymity is a good thing. But I wouldn't trust it. Don't say anything that you wouldn't want to say on TV or to your boss. It can only come back to haunt you in the long run

Anyway, those are my thoughts for what it is worth. I do just want to say that I enjoy reading a lot of blogs (more than my free time allows) and hope that fear doesn't discourage people from doing it.

Meme of Four

Taking up the gauntlet thrown by OGIC; Humbly submitted:

Four jobs you've had in your life: waiter, librarian, financial manager, classical singer.

Four movies you could watch over and over: My Favorite Year, All About Eve, When Harry Met Sally, The Godfather

Four places you've lived: Pearl River NY, Bloomington IN, Brooklyn NY, Maplewood NJ

Four TV shows you love to watch: West Wing, House, As Time Goes By, Seinfeld

Four places you've been on vacation: Woodstock Vt, Venice, Tuscany, San Francisco, Lake George NY.

Four websites you visit daily: NY Times, Arts Journal, My Yahoo, BBC News.

Four of your favorite foods: Cheeseburger, Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Vermont Cheddar Cheese Soup, spaghetti amatriciana

Four places you'd rather be: New York (well maybe not until the transit strike is settled), Venice, London, in bed.

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.

Ma Carmen adorée

I have a very special relationship with the opera Carmen. It was the first opera that I saw live (I was 12, it was at NY City Opera). It was the very opera I was ever paid to sing in (Chorus/San Antonio Festival 1984) and Don Jose was the last complete opera role that I ever sang it public.

I can't remember a performance that has failed to move me in some way (and maybe it is just nostalgia), but there are a few things that get up my gander a bit.

• Don Jose is not a wimp! He is a complex, troubled fellow with a temper that he cannot control. He is alarmingly devoted to his mother, and wants desparately to be in love with Micaela. But the truth is that he cannot control his baser instincts and that is why he ultimately falls under Carmen's spell


• Micaela is not a wimp! In the original libretto, the guide admires her strength in facing a herd of bull. He won't go where she feels destined to go. Her aria is a prayer for strength, but she is fiercely to committed to Jose and his mother and knows where her duty lies.


• Some cuts are inexcusable. The back and forth between Jose and Carmen in the 2nd act must not only be complete, it should be extended by the bit included by Oeser in his otherwise questionable "critical" edition. She taunts him, she guilts him and it is her questioning his devotion that causes the flare up of his dangerous temper.


• Carmen is not a stereotype. The hip-swinging gyspy just makes me mad. She is complex and seductive. She knows the power that she has over men and uses it carefully and dangerously. To reduce her to a slut (which she is not) diminishes her power.

That's enough for now.

It's that time of year

I've always been a sucker for Christmas music of all types. Typically they make my way to my Ipod by early-mid November and by the end of November, I am well into listening through all my collection.

This year has been different. The 80 degree temperatures (now in the 70s) have thrown off my equilibrium and I really couldn't consider listening to "Let it snow", while perspiring. Happily I spent Thankgiving with my in-laws in cold, snowy Massachusetts and now I'm back on track.

My listening generally begins with Handel's Messiah, a piece with which I have a long history and great affection. In my university years and just past, I sang many performances as choir-member or soloist and just about every time I approached it anew, I found something new and vital in it. For years I've been fascinated by its various versions and soloist combinations. The piece remains one of great mystery and wonder.

There being little chance of a live performance here, I've been exploring the recorded legacy. From the earliest Beecham recording (which is lacking the final Amen for some reason) to current HIP recordings, I cannot help be struck by the fact that it takes such a variety of interpretations and forces.

My first Messiah experience was listening to the 60s vintage Leonard Bernstein recording. I have to say I can barely listen to it now, but at the time I could be persuaded by no others. It was on singing Messiah in college in my freshman year that I really felt that I began to know the work. I was moved and excited by the first part choruses and then struck by the beauty of the passion and resurrection sections. But it was "Behold that my Redeemer liveth" that moved me to tears. We had as soloist Sylvia McNair, whose pure angelic sound moved my heart. I've never been the same since.

This year I've been listening to Nicholas McGegan's recording which includes every possible permutation and also the miraculous Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (billed as soprano). I don't find the performance as persuasive as some others, but it is great to hear the contrast of multiple versions in a similar context. I particularly love hearing the different between the versions of "How beautiful are the feet". I prefer the soloist version of the aria, but like the new character of the work when the chorus "Breaks Forth into Joy" (this may be the only variant I've never sung.

I'll be listening to the Hogwood, Westenburg, Shaw and Beecham versions later. I can barely take Beecham's reorchestration which I think blows the work way out of proportion, but I think it is important to hear it to put everything else in historical perspective.