(1) WE CAN TAKE NOTE OF SUMMERTIME IN SONG
[2:45] Leontyne Price, soprano; Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, from the "Gala" sequence recorded for the 1960 Fledermaus recording conducted by Karajan (still for my money the best Fledermaus you can buy), recorded in the Sofiensaal, June 1960
Think the song can't be sung more movingly? Ms. P. again --
(with a nice orchestral intro whittled down from the opening scene)
[4:42; "Summertime" at 1:11] Leontyne Price, soprano; RCA Victor Chorus and Orchestra, Skitch Henderson, cond. RCA, recorded in the St. George Hotel, Brooklyn, May 13-17, 1963
[This is from a really smartly conducted LP of Porgy excerpts with William Warfield and Leontyne Price reprising roles they first sang together in the early 1950s -- and Ms. P. gloriously poaching Clara's famous song (with the chorally punctuated reprise). My goodness, listen to what she makes of it!]
How the song fits into the actual scene (with a fine Clara)
[7:46; "Summertime" on track 2 (at 4:18)] Harolyn Blackwell (s), Clara; Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Rattle, cond. EMI, recorded in Abbey Road Studio No. 1, February 1988
(This complete Porgy, based on a Glyndebourne production, garnered gushing accolades -- for reasons I've never gotten. Were the accoladers just that unfamiliar with the piece? We do get a classy Clara, though.]
Here's the scene through the reprise of "Summertime" --
(featuring a 26yo soprano headed for quite a career of her own)
[13:50; "Summertime" at 5:15] Barbara Hendricks (s), Clara; Joela Jones, piano; Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, cond. Decca, taking us all the way through the reprise of "Summertime," recorded in Cleveland's Masonic Auditorium, August 1975
[This performance is more like it! And note the pianist in the "Jasbo Brown Blues." We all know Joela Jones, right? A tip: In 2021, upon her retirement from a 54-year association with the Cleveland Orchestra, clevelandclassical.com published a gorgeous interview she did with Mike Telin. She recalled, for example, playing the accordion (an old love of hers) in Wozzeck, Final Alice, and even Rusalka -- the latter her suggestion to "Franz" (i.e., music director Franz Welser-Möst), happily accepted, when it proved hard to find a proper version of the harmonium Dvořák called for.]
(2) 7 COMPOSERS SHARE "WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER"
"In an age driven by productivity, the term 'workation' has arisen today which describes working whilst on holiday. Of course, the phenomenon itself is much older: composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, and Claude Debussy sought inspiration during the summer months in the countryside, at health resorts, or by the sea. Our playlist demonstrates how masterpieces of very different character were created as a result."
by Ken
Yes, I know. We have so much lost ground, lost time, unfinished work, so many posts-in-progress in varying states of incompletion. Meanwhile, I've shilly-shallied so unconscionably that the free music that inspired the post is in its final week of, er, freedom. However, If you miss the offer of this free playlist from the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall, I'll have some good, or at least good-ish, news at post's end.
WHAT ARE THE 7 MASTERPIECES "OF VERY DIFFERENT
CHARACTER" FROM COMPOSERS ON "SUMMER RETREAT"?
Summertime and the livin' is easy.
Fish are jumpin', and the cotton is high.
Oh, your daddy's rich, and your ma is good-lookin'.
So hush, little baby, don' you cry.
One of these mornin's you goin' to rise up singin'.
Then you'll spread yo' wings, an' you'll take the sky.
But till that mornin' there's a-nothin' can harm you,
with Daddy and Mammy standin' by.
[2:45] Leontyne Price, soprano; Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, from the "Gala" sequence recorded for the 1960 Fledermaus recording conducted by Karajan (still for my money the best Fledermaus you can buy), recorded in the Sofiensaal, June 1960
Think the song can't be sung more movingly? Ms. P. again --
(with a nice orchestral intro whittled down from the opening scene)
[4:42; "Summertime" at 1:11] Leontyne Price, soprano; RCA Victor Chorus and Orchestra, Skitch Henderson, cond. RCA, recorded in the St. George Hotel, Brooklyn, May 13-17, 1963
[This is from a really smartly conducted LP of Porgy excerpts with William Warfield and Leontyne Price reprising roles they first sang together in the early 1950s -- and Ms. P. gloriously poaching Clara's famous song (with the chorally punctuated reprise). My goodness, listen to what she makes of it!]
How the song fits into the actual scene (with a fine Clara)
[7:46; "Summertime" on track 2 (at 4:18)] Harolyn Blackwell (s), Clara; Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Rattle, cond. EMI, recorded in Abbey Road Studio No. 1, February 1988
(This complete Porgy, based on a Glyndebourne production, garnered gushing accolades -- for reasons I've never gotten. Were the accoladers just that unfamiliar with the piece? We do get a classy Clara, though.]
Here's the scene through the reprise of "Summertime" --
(featuring a 26yo soprano headed for quite a career of her own)
[13:50; "Summertime" at 5:15] Barbara Hendricks (s), Clara; Joela Jones, piano; Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, cond. Decca, taking us all the way through the reprise of "Summertime," recorded in Cleveland's Masonic Auditorium, August 1975
[This performance is more like it! And note the pianist in the "Jasbo Brown Blues." We all know Joela Jones, right? A tip: In 2021, upon her retirement from a 54-year association with the Cleveland Orchestra, clevelandclassical.com published a gorgeous interview she did with Mike Telin. She recalled, for example, playing the accordion (an old love of hers) in Wozzeck, Final Alice, and even Rusalka -- the latter her suggestion to "Franz" (i.e., music director Franz Welser-Möst), happily accepted, when it proved hard to find a proper version of the harmonium Dvořák called for.]
(2) 7 COMPOSERS SHARE "WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER"
-- Introduction to the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall playlist "Musicians at leisure: Masterpieces from the summer retreat"
[STREAMING FREE from the DCH through August 9]
[STREAMING FREE from the DCH through August 9]
by Ken
Yes, I know. We have so much lost ground, lost time, unfinished work, so many posts-in-progress in varying states of incompletion. Meanwhile, I've shilly-shallied so unconscionably that the free music that inspired the post is in its final week of, er, freedom. However, If you miss the offer of this free playlist from the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall, I'll have some good, or at least good-ish, news at post's end.
WHAT ARE THE 7 MASTERPIECES "OF VERY DIFFERENT
CHARACTER" FROM COMPOSERS ON "SUMMER RETREAT"?
