What Are You Listening to this Weekend?

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Friday again, so it is time to ask: what are you listening to this weekend?

My order for Harmonium by John Adams has not shipped yet (I've been curious to listen to more of his work after reading his article in last week's New Yorker) so I'm going to give Beirut's The Flying Club Cup a careful listen. No, it is not opera related in the least, and I'm not sure what I think of it yet. I love the music which has a Balkan folk feel combined with Parisian chansons, but I'm not yet sold on the lyrics. And for me it is that marriage of word and music that makes or breaks albums for me -- and what makes opera so grand.

So, let us know what you are listening to this weekend. And have a good one!

- Edward

Comments

Anonymous said…
Do music dvds count? I'll be watching Making Opera: The Creation of Verdi's La Forza del Destino. I'm curious to see what goes on backstage.

Btw, that is a seriously cute picture. It's so cute it's almost painful. :) Where do you find these photos??
September 5, 2008 at 9:58 PM
The Opera Tattler said…
I've never quite gotten what the lyrics were for Beirut's songs, but they are fun to dance to.

This weekend I'm listening to lots of arias. ;)
September 7, 2008 at 8:55 AM
San Diego Opera said…
Felicia, of course DVDs count. How was it? As for the photos -- I find some of them online and others are pets of staff members here. Yeah, that cat is very cute.

Opera Tattler, after giving Beruit a careful listen I'm sad to say the lyrics do not match the words at all -- a shame too -- because with some good lyrics Beruit could be up there as one of my favorite bands. Still, given he's 22 years old, a few years from now his lyrics can only get better.

But yes, very fun to dance to.

Thanks to both of you for sharing!

- Edward
September 8, 2008 at 9:39 AM
Anonymous said…
The Making Opera video was really interesting. They did lots of shots of the rehersals/backstage mixed with the actual performance so you could see how these two worlds fit together.

I couldn't believe how labor-intensive it all was! I was totally exhausted just watching everyone running around--and the poor chorus seemed to get yelled at all the time. ;) The final product was great of course. I only wish they had included the full opera performance at the end.
September 8, 2008 at 6:56 PM
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