Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!

Subject: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST,call me VIGGO
Date: 07 Dec 02 - 09:53 PM

I have just watched a duet performed by Luciano Pavarotti (a former Opera singer) and TRACY CHAPMAN on the Bravo channel.

I am speechless. There are no words to describe this. I have lived TOO long.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Jeri
Date: 07 Dec 02 - 10:00 PM

Damn. Missed it. I guess Pavarotti is the Chieftans of Opera?

What did they sing?

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 02:18 AM

Serves you right for tuning in to BRAVO--get some rest, and plenty of quiet--you'll shake this, but next time, be careful what you watch!

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Don Firth
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 02:38 AM

Former opera singer?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST,daylia
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 02:12 PM

I downloaded a version of "Panis Angelicus" sung by Pavarotti and STING, of all people, the other day. It's really beautiful, accompanied by harp and guitars. The contrast between their vocal styles makes for an amazing duet. Great stuff for Christmas! You can find it on KaZaa ...

Think Pavarotti's been 'stung' by folk, rock and blues?

daylia

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST,Ard Mhacha
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 03:00 PM

Former Opera Singer?, why is he dead?, could be true, you would have to be dead to sing with pop punks. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Jeri
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 03:05 PM

Ooh - I remember him singing with Sting, and I really liked it. I guess some of the stuff works and some doesn't.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Don Firth
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 04:22 PM

Luciano Pavarotti is still very much alive and kickin'. Although getting a bit long in the tooth compared to most operatic tenors, it doesn't seem to have bothered him in terms of voice—or for that matter, hormone levels.

During the last decade or so, he's been broadening his horizons as far as the music he sings and who he sings with (some really interesting combinations, like the duet with Sting), but he still centers in on the opera and recital stage. He missed a performance at the Metropolitan last spring because of laryngitis (the Met didn't get the message apparently, and a lot of people thought he was just a no-show—not the sort of thing he ever does), and this started all kinds of rumors about his quitting opera. But not quite yet. His voice is still one of the best. Full scoop HERE.

I always liked the story that soprano Beverly Sills tells about when she retired. Her voice was still great, but she felt it wasn't quite as good as it once was. She said, "I would rather have people say 'Why did she retire?' than have them ask, 'Why doesn't she retire?'" Smart lady!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Don Firth
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 04:34 PM

Incidentally, in the CNN article I linked to above, it mentions the nine high Cs that Pavarotti sang in the aria in the La Fille du Regiment production at the Met. Pavarotti wasn't just showing off (well, not exactly). The nine high Cs are written into the aria, but most tenors couldn't do that many in rapid succession, so they fudged on them one way or another, often taking them in falsetto. Pavarotti was the first tenor on historical record to take all nine of them full voice! I have a recording of it. It's spectacular!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST,Viggo..deflated.
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 06:19 PM

Sigh....well I really mis-read this one. Despite the fact there was a live audience of what looked to be a hundred thousand people cheering and screaming for Pavarotti and his 'friends', I thought it was too weird for words. I guess I was alone in that assessment. The idea of him being buddies with Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart, the punk duo and the lounge singer was strange enough, but watching him sing along with Tracy Chapman was just too much. It rivaled his performance of the "Theme From Cats". But my guess is that some folks actually LIKED that.

So anyway, I didn't REALLY mean he was dead, or that he was no longer an opera singer. I was trying to be ironic and even a bit funny. Likewise in using "Viggo" the name of the actor from "Lord of the Rings". Some days the jokes just don't work!

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 06:40 PM

All three of the "great" tenors, Pavrotti, Carreras and Domingo are past their prime. Pavrotti most of all. A new generation has taken over, Roberto Alagna and Jose Cura among them.
Glad to see Sting giving Pavrotti a helping hand. (He, he, he!)

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Peter T.
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 07:54 PM

Easily the greatest singer I have ever heard live (Birgit Nilsson was a close second), and he should have stopped about 7 years ago. It is a terrible shame. A dark voice says that he probably has to pay alimony; but realistically, he is simply one of the greatest hambones as well, and I guess he just loves being adored. I am sure he will be playing a Holiday Inn somewhere into his 90's, just for the last whiff of it.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Jeri
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 08:07 PM

I thought it was really weird the first time I saw the show too. I made that crack up there about the Chieftans, but it really has become commonplace for people who are great at what they do, do something completely different with people who are simply more popular. I guess if you see enough weird shit, you get over being surprised and just focus on whether it's good weird shit or bad weird shit.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 08:25 PM

If it's any consolation, Viggo, I knew you were being ironic and "a bit funny". Don't despair, irony is not everybody's long suit ...

Murray

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 10:57 PM

Ahhh let me jump in as well Viggo, (it almost seems like deja vu being in this thread) and tell you to get prepared for something far stranger than what you saw last night.

Pavarotti will have a new album out in a couple of weeks (I think last night's show was kind of a preview) and if you were a bit freaked at his noodling with Tracy Chapman, then I warn you...read no farther.

The CD will be called "The Great Duets" and will feature his nibs along with 'musical friends':

Charlotte Church

Elton John

Celine Dion

Qua (a European 'white' Rap group. They'll do their hit "Simodo" with Pav. singing backup (!!)

Frjbit Glupaht. He's supposed to be the hot new young Tenor, but I haven't heard of him.

Madonna

Eminem (can't picture this, but it's supposed to be a hi-light)

Careras and Domingo (naturally)

Tracy Chapman, not the cut you heard last night, but her song "Fast Car". Like on the TV show, he won't be singing WITH her, but will do alternate lines in Italian.

Beverly Sills (a medley of Show tunes)

Willie Nelson. They'll do "Seven Spanish angels", but the weird thing is that Willie will sing in ITALIAN and Pav. will do it in ENGLISH!

Hey, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt!

Rick

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST,daylia
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 11:19 PM

My son recommends he get on up there with Pantera. His friend says Marilyn Manson.

Personally I can hardly wait for the Willie Nelson thing!

daylia

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Jeri
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 11:24 PM

I wonder if he's gonna do 'American Pie' with Madonna, although 'Like a Virgin' would be pretty darned interesting.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 Dec 02 - 11:27 PM

The pairing of Pavarotti with pop stars was a business decision, not an artistic one, and the juxtapositions of that sort tend toward low comedy rather than high art--

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 12:35 AM

But look what it did for Monserrat Caballiero or what ever her name was when she performed with Freddy Mercury/Queen.

Personally, I've never liked Pavarotti... he strikes me as the June Tabor of the opera world.

LTS

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST,Ard Mhacha
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 08:00 AM

Viggo, If you ever get the chance to listen to possibly the most perfect rendition of an Aria, listen to Carlo Bergonzi singing the Flower Song from Carmen.
And Carlo now in his 78 year is thankfully still with us.
Pavarotti is [was] a great Tenor and being smart-assed by singing with the noise makers does not make him a bad singer, just a wee bit silly. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST,Geordie
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 08:17 AM

What does "the June Tabor of the opera world" mean exactly ? It is a curious remark.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Don Firth
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 12:55 PM

Do not despair, opera fans. Although the present crop seem to be aging a bit and on the verge of retirement, there are plenty of good ones coming up. Among tenors, for example, are Juan Diego Flores (Peruvian, I believe) who is a spectacular lyric tenor, and Jerry Hadley, an American tenor who is just about as good as they come. Both young.

Viggo, I guess I did miss the humor. I didn't see the show you're referring to, but on some PBS special, I did see Pavarotti's duet with Sting. Panis Angelicus a la Cesar Franck. I knew Pavarotti could bring it off because I've heard him do it many times, but what surprised me was that Sting brought it off too. Oddly enough, the contrast between the two voices--Pavarotti's full operatic tenor and Sting's relatively thin, flat voice (i.e., on pitch, but no vibrato)--really sounded good together. Some of the other combinations do strike me as a bit weird.

M.Ted is right. It's marketing rather than art. A number of classical singers have done this sort of thing within recent years. Probabably one of the first was the Perhaps Love duet between Placido Domingo and John Denver. Sometimes not a bad thing. Because of that recording, lots of people who had never heard of Domingo got a chance to hear him and some even liked him and bought some of his records. Reciprocally, a lot of classical music only types maybe decided that John Denver wasn't all that bad. Marketing.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 04:06 PM

My first live opera was Pavarotti performing Trouvatore at the Met. Pure Heaven. He has an excellent voice. It used to be a great voice. He is a clear example of 'wanting to as long as he lives.' I hope he lives long and prospers.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 04:59 PM

Over the last 50 years or so, I've formed the opinion that when an opera star starts performing in the pops arena it's almost an admission that he's about over the hill for the big opera leagues. Lauritz Melchior, Feruccio Tagliavini, and Ezzio Pinza come immediately to mind. For the pop market they still have what can be great voices, but they step down to that less demanding market.
May well be true here with Pavarotti, too.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: John Routledge
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 05:09 PM

Five years ago here in Manchester UK the Pavrotti PR machine persuaded me that it was worth buying a couple of tickets to hear him live.

He did not even get out of second gear. He didn't have the energy!!

My musical diappointment of all time.

Hope others have better luck although I have to say that it is unlikely that the end product is worth the financial risk.

Happy singing at whatever your level

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Peter T.
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 06:26 PM

Montserrat was a queen long before Queen.


Time for some new duet suggestions:


Luciano Pavarotti and Senor Wences


Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Hoffa


Celine Dion and the 3rd from the right in the second last battle in Gladiator


Liza Minnelli and Mister Ed


Ringo, Sting, Bing, and Ving


Pierce Brosnan, Jan Peerce, and Piers Plowman


and so on.....yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: Amos
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 10:58 PM

Ringo, Sting, Bing, and Ving!!!???

Peter, if I was a drinking man, you'd owe me a new monitor!! LOL!!!

You really are a whacky genius, ya know that???



A

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST,Ard Mhacha
Date: 10 Dec 02 - 02:27 PM

Dave, Words of wisdom, it has happened so often, but do listen to all of their early recordings for a proper assessment. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Dec 02 - 05:03 PM

Remember that for the biggest of the big, there is much more money in making concert appearances than there ever was in operatic performance--and it has been said that the CD of the original "Three Tenors" concert has sold more than the   total of all the other recordings of the three tenors combined--once you've got the big name, you probably lose money when you perform an opera--

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: ard mhacha
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 12:37 PM

Have to agree Guest, it`s the lure of the greenback, but it is still plumbing the depths. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: Pavarotti and his 'FRIENDS'!!
From: M.Ted
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 01:20 PM

I think it is often true that, to appreciate performers real talents, you have to listen to their early work--