Sunday, November 07, 2010

It's Saturday Night! Time for Fun!

In 2007, after I'd had my cochlear implant for a few months, I tried listening to the Klazz Brothers' album, "Mozart Meets Cuba," and was enchanted. One selection from this CD, Mozart's "Reich mir die Hand" from the opera "Don Giovanni," is a love song--a duet. Youtube has many versions of "Reich mir die Hand," some instrumental only, some sung.

Here's "Mozart Meets Cuba":



For fun (this IS Saturday night) I'm posting two more traditional versions. The first features Placido Domingo and Kathleen Battle--well matched, not only in their powerful voices but also their dramatic presence:



(Ms. Hodgepodge, sorry for the Korean subtitles....)

The second features Sting and Angela Gheorgiu. Sting, despite his wonderful musical talent and accomplishments, clearly is not an opera singer, but it is no surprise that Angela Gheorghiu with her gorgeous voice and dazzling presence is a beloved star of opera:



Both of the sung versions are in Italian rather than the original German. The first few words translated into English read
Don Giovanni. Give me your hand, my life,
Come to my castle with me.
Can you still resist?
It is not far from here.
Zerlina. Oh, I should probably dare.
My heart is far too much.
Soon I should be happy to beat it,
Soon anxious and difficult.
Don Giovanni. Let me not advertise for free.
Zerlina. Masetto would die.
Don Giovanni. Fortunately you will always surrounded.
Zerlina. I can hardly resist.
This goes on for another 500 words or so, and then, they go off together to the castle.
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7 comments:

  1. Ken Mac3:52 PM

    thanks for your recent comments re the passing of my mother, much appreciated.

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  2. Darlene2:38 PM

    Thank you for posting three versions as they will help me with my next mapping, The bass overwhelms the treble. I had always thought so and this confirms it. I was able to hear Angela better than Kathleen for example.

    I am going to take my laptop for my next mapping and hope these 3 are still available on You Tube.

    The music is glorious and I am finally 'getting there'. Thanks so much.

    I don't care about the sub titles; I am more interested in the sound, but thanks for thinking of me.

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  3. M.E.3:35 PM

    Ken Mac: Hope you're doing well....

    Darlene: re the subtitles--a little blogger humor. i'm sooo glad you find these interesting from a CI POV. i hear Gheorghiu's voice better than Battle's, too, but I just figured it is because Angela's voice is more powerful. I am crazy about the mezzo-soprano voice, anyway. I posted Denyce Graves singing "La Habanera" on election day, 2000. Will see if I still have it and email it to you. She's also a mezzo-soprano. You can note the difference between the three women, all great stars and all singing in the same "voice."

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  4. M.E.3:53 PM

    Darlene: p.s. my mistake...Graves is the only mezzo-soprano. The other two are sopranos.

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  5. DuchessOmnium5:59 PM

    Good God, Sting absolutely murders that. A lesson to us all to stick with what we are good at.

    Now I am going away to find a recording to erase that from my mind... Shouldn't be too hard.

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  6. Anonymous7:28 PM

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  7. Xtreme English10:56 AM

    Duchess: I wavered between including the one with Sting and Gheorghiu OR the one with Pavarotti and Sheryl Crow (oy). I should have stuck with instrumentals. I was just curious about the Mozart part of the "Mozart Meets Cuba." And I picked the Marriage of Figaro song. I haven't really been able to hear music for years until I got a cochlear implant, and I'm just playing around. :)

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