Now incorporating The Sudbury Hill Harrow and Wherever End Times

Monday, January 29, 2007

Classical music on MySpace

Chopin: The Raindrop Prelude, plus Fantasie Impromtu (you may recognise the tune of "I'm always chasing rainbows" part way through), The Revolutionary Etude (a very familiar piece) and Nocturne in E minor. Unfortunately we're not told the artist, though no doubt the cognoscienti will recognise. Excellent, whoever.

Jascha Heifetz: Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D, plus Bach Chaconne, Paganini Caprice 24 (the basis for Julian Lloyd Webber's theme for the South Bank Show) and Le Ronde Des Lutins.

Mahler: Adagietto (from the 5th Symphony?). A crackly recording. You may remember this from Visconti's magnificent film of Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice".

Schubert: Impromptu No. 3, Orchestral version of Serenade, Death and the Maiden. Search for "Franz Schubert" to find many more links.

Enrico Caruso: L'Elisir d'Amore (mis-labelled as the next one and vice-versa), Una Furtiva Lagrima, O Figli, O Figli Miei. Vesti la Giubba ("Cloco's Theme", according to Grandad, who is looking over my shoulder—I don't know if he's winding me up) and 3 others. Libiamo, Libiamo plus Torna a Sorrento and two more.

Beniamino Gigli: Toselli Serenade and others. (Grandad looking over my shoulder says to say "the gohlden voice of Beniamino Gigli", in just that way; apparently it makes scratchy old recordings sound better when you say that, and some voices are silver and others gold and others brass. Who knew?)

If you search for Schumann, there is some lieder there. (No, no, don't say "Take me to your lieder".) Of course all of this is deplorable. No credits, no royalties. But it's there for a short while anyway and, as sins go, listening to it is perhaps one of the lesser venial ones. Check back for updates.

Jacintha Pucka

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