In the All Time Top Ten Best Songs…

The All Time Top Ten Best Songs of the last 300 years? Has to include the aria “Ombra mai fu” from Handel’s Serse (Xerxes). No kidding. Sure, the single best song of the 20th Century is “Nessun Dorma” (video link)–Puccini’s 1920s hit from Turandot, indisputably (no matter what some with tin ears and dulled mental capacities might think) THE “last great song written”… to date.

And ANY of Schubert’s lieder (preferably sung–at least most of them–by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau–simply and inarguably THE greatest baritone voice of the 20th Century. Just sayin’ :-))can hold down ALL the places for “best songs of the 19th Century.” Go ahead: pick any one of them. Apparently, Schubert just could NOT write a clinker of a song, never blew a clam onto manuscript paper, wrote only solid gold songs. Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart even? Yeh, some great solos. But they just didn’t seem to have Schubert’s ear for song. YMMV, but whatever you think, I’m right. *heh*

But while the 18th Century had tons of singable, memorable and even great songs, this one’s my own fav, and as hundreds of recordings of it from the 20th Century on can attest, it has an enduring appeal. I collect recordings of this song–have tons of them. I’m in awe of David Daniel’s counter-tenor performances of this song; I absolutely love Bryn Terfel’s deft treatment of the song; my fav living tenor, Placido Domingo, also sings it beautifully, as do a number of good sopranos. But Jussi Björling’s 1959 Atlanta performance before a live audience just blows me away:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex8Ja68Hc_U&feature=watch_response

The man’s talent was a one-of creative act by a God who loves music. And yeh, the video link above to “Nessun Dorma” is a Björling performance, too. Lesser performances aren’t on the same planet. Heck, the recitativo preceding the aria’s good, and usually a pleasant enough experience, but Björling singing the recitativo makes the hairs on my arms stand up and brings tears to my eyes. Really.

And “Ombra mai fu” is just a song about a (plane?) tree! Yeh, a flippin’ tree! (But hey, Nessun Dorma’s just a sort of “lullaby”–more or less. *heh*)

For All Time Top Ten Songs, nothing from pop music does it like the folks with real chops–writing and performing–can.

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Frondi tenere e belle
del mio platano amato
per voi risplenda il fato.
Tuoni, lampi, e procelle
non v’oltraggino mai la cara pace,
nè giunga a profanarvi austro rapace.

(Tender and beautiful fronds
of my beloved plane tree,
let Fate smile upon you.
May thunder, lightning, and storms
never bother your dear peace,
nor may you by blowing winds be profaned.)

Ombra mai fu
di vegetabile,
cara ed amabile,
soave più.

(A shade there never was,
of any plant,
dearer and more lovely,
or more sweet.)

The only thing that might have improved on this concert performance would have been to have the strings accompaniment Handel scored. Some really subtle stuff going on in that. Listen to (Oh, go ahead and buy it! It’s just a buck) Bryn Terfel’s rendition (a third lower in pitch) for an appreciation of the stringed accompaniment. Very nice.