Category Archive: MUSIC
Dami wuz robbed
Eurovision Song Contest, May 14/15 2016 Dateline Stockholm: in the biggest heist since Brinks or Lufthansa, Dami Im, representing Australia for only the second time in the history of the venerable competition, was pipped for first place by a last minute ‘flurry’ of ‘televotes’ that recall the Illinois fraud of the 1960 US election, or the hanging Floridian chads of 2000. We confess an indulgent attitude to winner Ukraine’s “F.U.” to Putinland with their song, 1944, apparently a lament for Crimean Tartars deported by that great guy, Josef Stalin, but we must honour Dami, who had the best song and act…
Continue Reading →Annabel Lee
Songs in Our Heart # 7 Annabel Lee (Stevie Nicks) (Written by Edgar Allan Poe, plus Stevie Nicks and Waddy Wachtel; released May 2011) [Edgar A. Poe fable, made more interesting as sung by Miss S.]
Continue Reading →Angel of the Morning
Songs in Our Heart # 6 Angel of the Morning (Juice Newton version) (Written by Chip Taylor; released February 1981) [“Just Call Me the Queen of Schmaltz!” Love it.]
Continue Reading →Amoureuse
Songs in Our Heart # 5 Amoureuse (Kiki Dee) (Written by Veronique Sanson and Gary Osborne; released August 1973) [“Strands of light upon a bedroom floor…”]*
Continue Reading →Manon Lescaut
(Puccini, NY Met, 5 March, 2016) TVC had not seen this early Puccini but was pleasantly surprised. It’s a Puccini, of course, so a rural, low-born tart will get uppity and be handed a disproportionate retribution as her fate, but whilst the story is the messy result of being written by a committee, it is uncomplicated (albeit piecemeal), heartfelt and in the end, very moving. There are flat bits – the café twittering at the beginning reminds one of the rubbish music theatre Valli is forced to do in The Third Man – but the music shows the composer’s great talent and there are numerous Wagnerian…
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