This post is entirely out of order, a “response” to a post one of the voices in my head has scheduled for posting tomorrow. (And “they” say I’m crazy. They’re the ones who’re in my head! :-))
First, what I think (and hope!) is a one-minute fair use excerpt of Bryn Terfel singing a piece of beautiful nonsense powerfully and beautifully:
(Or CLICK HERE and play with your own media player)
Sure, it’s nonsense. A paean to a shade tree. Trivial lyrics. So? Unlike the nonsense songs that are common top 40 fare, it’s at least
a. beautiful music
b. beautifully performed and
c. the lyrics are not actively harmful
Those are all hallmarks of a really good song. And those are all things missing, by and large, from popular music today. I wonder why?
Go buy and listen to some Terfel of your own. It’ll be good for you.
(Completely inconsequential, niggling complaints after the jump.)
I do not like Terfel’s attacks on some slurred notes; I would argue with him about his vowell production in a couple–but only a couple!–of instances. But really now, are those substantive complaints? No. Complaints of that sort are like griping about a microscopic flaw in an otherwise stunningly perfect jewel. With this one performance alone–setting aside all his other stunning work–Bryn Terfel very nearly upsets Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as my fav baritone. Heck, give it a few more years and he’ll probably accomplish that Olympian feat.
(Yes, he’s generally classed as a “bass-baritone”–the range I usually sing in… or is that “used to”?–but this and other performances show his voice to be more lyrical than bass-baritones usually are. I particularly appreciate his head voice! Wow!)
Frankly, along with ANY Beethoven symphony and almost all Fischer-Dieskau performances, anything “Terfel” is fast becoming another of those anodynes to contemporary culture that I repair to for soul nourishment.
Just absolutely “wondermous”.