I was tagged by soavezefiretto

[fpb]

List seven songs you are into right now, no matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

Umm, it'll have to be "seven pieces of music." All right then -
- Wagner, the entry of the Gods into Valhalla. Oddly enough, I associate this in my mind with a story of childbirth and parenthood.
- House of the Rising Sun. I just got hold of a CD someone made, which has a list of all the versions of this song - Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, the Animals, Joan Baez, etc. Most of them are good - I guess good material just carries.
- I put a spell on you. The same goes for this one: I have it by Alan Price, Nina Simone and someone else, and all three versions are excellent.
- Marie Laveau. Old jazzy folksong about the nineteenth-century voodoo queen, which unfortunately I cannot seem to find in the version I heard long ago.
- Tum Balalaika. Part of a recent obsession of mine with Jewish music.
- Schubert, Singing over the Waters. One of the three or four greatest songs ever written.
- Nessun Dorma, just because Paul Potts blew me and everyone else away on that recent TV program.

As for tagging, I feel lazy tonight. I tag anyone who wants to do this.

Comments

[jennilee.livejournal.com]

Was House of the Rising Sun by Muse included on there?

Nessun Dorma is beautiful. I get shivers listening to it. I have the version by Bocelli & Pavarotti.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Nope. Apart from the ones I mentioned, there are Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Marie Laforet, Pete Seeger, Tracy Chapman and Joy Fleming.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. I had not noticed the link at first.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

- Wagner, the entry of the Gods into Valhalla.

Oh, that's lovely. Wasn't that one of C.S. Lewis's favorite pieces of music?

I also like the Magic Fire music from Die Walkure and Siegfried and Brunnhilde's duet at the end of Siegfried.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

- Wagner, the entry of the Gods into Valhalla.

Oh, that's lovely. Wasn't that one of C.S. Lewis's favorite pieces of music?

I also like the Magic Fire music from Die Walkure and Siegfried and Brunnhilde's duet at the end of Siegfried.

[un-crayon-rouge.livejournal.com]

Thanks for doing this. I was curious as to what kind of music you listen to. That is a really lovely list - I suppose I must be the only opera-fan out there who does NOT enjoy Wagner all that much...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I am not so hot on Wagner myself - at least, I do not place him next to Verdi and Mozart, and for choice I would rather listen to Rossini. And then there is my friend Richard Gombrich, emeritus professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, a devoted Verdian who would not sit through a Wagner opera to save his life. There are more of you than you think. Verdi is my top man.

(being pedantic)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Thanks, but it's NESSUN Dorma.

[goreism.livejournal.com]

Wow, I just went and listened to Paul Potts (I know you linked him earlier, but I was at work), and that man certainly has talent. He seems like a wonderful person as well; I think the fact that he won is lovely.

It also inspired me to go find my favorite recordings of Turandot: the 1956 Corelli recording and the 1944 Jussi Björling conducted by Nils Grevillius. My God. Someone has uploaded Nessun Dorma from the latter recording onto Youtube. Just listen to that high B in vincerò—simply takes your breath away. It also throws into relief one small criticism I have of Paul Potts' performance, namely his rather poor breath control. But I'm sure that with further training he'll have a wonderful career ahead of him. It's a pity he didn't live in the US, where the Met holds auditions all across the country.