FlamingCheeto
Hall of Fame
this is the GOAT hands down:
What is your favorite heartbreak song of all time?
- Thread starter Seth
- Start date
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
Small update. Apparently we both regret it. And we decided to talk a bit again, which turned into talking quite a bit, and last week she asked me to come and spend her birthday with her. I was expecting some awkwardness after so much drama and time, but there was none. And we seem to be moving towards giving things another shot.
The funny bit is that sometime over the summer after writing that post, I completely let it go and got over it for good. And then a chance occurrence around Halloween started the communication back up again.
Larry Duff
Legend
Genious at Work
G.O.A.T.
Dolgopolov85
G.O.A.T.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Sudacafan
Bionic Poster
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Dolgopolov85
G.O.A.T.
Linda Eder did a great cover of this song last year. Cover starts at the 10 minute mark:
Dolgopolov85
G.O.A.T.
Don't know if it's a heartbreak song. Just looking for an excuse to post this somewhere:
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Heartbreak adjacent songs
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Genious at Work
G.O.A.T.
Yes, it was!It was played in the Carlos Saura film Cría cuervos.
Sudacafan
Bionic Poster
A movie I would like to watch again. I watched it in my teens, and it was somewhat shocking to me.
Sudacafan
Bionic Poster
That song was composed by Prince.
After Sinéad’s version, Prince performed some.
Like this one with Rosie Gaines
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Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Recall standing next to the stage when Prince performed on his birthday in Detroit, In a yellow suit, we were the same age
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skaj
Legend
Recall standing next to the stage when Prince performed on his birthday in Detroit, In a yellow suit, we were the same age
Great talent, very cool guy.
-NN-
G.O.A.T.
Probably Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac.
Not quite heartbreak but close enough — also Crystalised by The xx.
Neither of them are exactly on topic but ho hum, dems my choices.
...
And maybe Don't Speak by No Doubt.
Edits as I remember more...
Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack.
Tear Drop by Massive Attack.
Not quite heartbreak but close enough — also Crystalised by The xx.
Neither of them are exactly on topic but ho hum, dems my choices.
...
And maybe Don't Speak by No Doubt.
Edits as I remember more...
Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack.
Tear Drop by Massive Attack.
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MICHELUZZO
Professional
NonP
Legend
Not exactly one of my absolute faves, heartbreak or not, but I've probably hummed this immortal tune more than any other:
But that's not even my favorite hit by this greatest of all songwriters. If I had to make one desert-island pick out of Franz's vast body of Lieder - the tunesmith nonpareil wrote more than 600 individual works in this genre alone before his untimely death at 31 - it'd be "Auf dem Wasser zu singen," with its quintessential Romantic title (To sing on the water):
Once you ID the singer you know you're in for special music making, but extra credit must go to the redoubtable Gerald Moore who creates the song's shimmering, evanescent textures like few others (including in the popular Liszt transcription for solo piano). Virtuosity takes many forms, as he amply demonstrates here.
Moving on to less highfalutin fare... many of the obvious choices have already made their appearance in that other thread (which I hope to revive when I have more time), but instead of duplicating them let's try something oft-kilter. After Neko Case introduced me to Eric Bachmann's ravishing "Sleep All Summer" I compared that duet to the Crooked Fingers original with Emma Pollock, the Matt Berninger (of the National)/St. Vincent cover and several other versions and was ready to accept that the latest Case-Bachmann collaboration was the best take available... when I came across this intimate live performance by Bachmann and Pollock (several online sources say Lara Meyerratken but she only sings background vocals per the credits):
What elevates this version above the rest is Pollock's bare-bones, no-frills singing, which the original recording had all but drowned out with studio gimmickry and, more importantly, which fits the narrator's naked pining for lost love (see below) to a T. And Bachmann's own voice has mellowed enough not to sound like Dracula's attempt at group karaoke.
Here are the lovely lyrics:
Not so crazy about that "ain't" or the "I could change but babe" line which sticks out like an awkwardly folksy thumb amid the tsunami of poetry, but the rest of it is Whoa-Nelly! stuff. And unsurprisingly Neko herself is a great admirer, which led to its highest-profile tribute yet.
And I can thank another artist for another all-time fave, in this case the Irish folk band Altan who introduced many a lucky listener to Walt Aldridge's criminally obscure "Ain't No Ash Will Burn" (shortened here without the "Ain't") on their 2015 album The Widening Gyre:
Alas the one time I saw them live (vaccines FTW!) they didn't perform this exquisite waltz, but no matter, Altan's is in all probability the best reading it's received to date, or at least on YT. Thank you again, cairde!
For my 5th and last YT allotment, I can't believe it has yet to make its appearance here but if there's one song that will outlive all others it's "Greensleeves." Surely some of you jokers heart this timeless tune despite the (apocryphal) legend that it was penned by none other than Henry VIII?!
My all-time #1 "Greensleeves" is David Monrow's wordless and peerless version with his soaring recorder and the Early Music Consort of London (click here for a somewhat schlocky imitation) - among the handful of music that ever got me smitten like a lovelorn teenage boy (and I was barely a legal adult by then) - but since Testament or whatever label own the rights refuses to make it available on YT we'll have to make do with this one:
Whether this does sound like what one would hear at a late-16th-century tavern is anyone's guess - those viols are really something in live performance - but it probably comes close. One of the few things I'd love to try firsthand if I had access to the time-defying DeLorean.
Will be back with more oldies but goodies.
But that's not even my favorite hit by this greatest of all songwriters. If I had to make one desert-island pick out of Franz's vast body of Lieder - the tunesmith nonpareil wrote more than 600 individual works in this genre alone before his untimely death at 31 - it'd be "Auf dem Wasser zu singen," with its quintessential Romantic title (To sing on the water):
Once you ID the singer you know you're in for special music making, but extra credit must go to the redoubtable Gerald Moore who creates the song's shimmering, evanescent textures like few others (including in the popular Liszt transcription for solo piano). Virtuosity takes many forms, as he amply demonstrates here.
Moving on to less highfalutin fare... many of the obvious choices have already made their appearance in that other thread (which I hope to revive when I have more time), but instead of duplicating them let's try something oft-kilter. After Neko Case introduced me to Eric Bachmann's ravishing "Sleep All Summer" I compared that duet to the Crooked Fingers original with Emma Pollock, the Matt Berninger (of the National)/St. Vincent cover and several other versions and was ready to accept that the latest Case-Bachmann collaboration was the best take available... when I came across this intimate live performance by Bachmann and Pollock (several online sources say Lara Meyerratken but she only sings background vocals per the credits):
What elevates this version above the rest is Pollock's bare-bones, no-frills singing, which the original recording had all but drowned out with studio gimmickry and, more importantly, which fits the narrator's naked pining for lost love (see below) to a T. And Bachmann's own voice has mellowed enough not to sound like Dracula's attempt at group karaoke.
Here are the lovely lyrics:
Not so crazy about that "ain't" or the "I could change but babe" line which sticks out like an awkwardly folksy thumb amid the tsunami of poetry, but the rest of it is Whoa-Nelly! stuff. And unsurprisingly Neko herself is a great admirer, which led to its highest-profile tribute yet.
And I can thank another artist for another all-time fave, in this case the Irish folk band Altan who introduced many a lucky listener to Walt Aldridge's criminally obscure "Ain't No Ash Will Burn" (shortened here without the "Ain't") on their 2015 album The Widening Gyre:
Alas the one time I saw them live (vaccines FTW!) they didn't perform this exquisite waltz, but no matter, Altan's is in all probability the best reading it's received to date, or at least on YT. Thank you again, cairde!
For my 5th and last YT allotment, I can't believe it has yet to make its appearance here but if there's one song that will outlive all others it's "Greensleeves." Surely some of you jokers heart this timeless tune despite the (apocryphal) legend that it was penned by none other than Henry VIII?!
My all-time #1 "Greensleeves" is David Monrow's wordless and peerless version with his soaring recorder and the Early Music Consort of London (click here for a somewhat schlocky imitation) - among the handful of music that ever got me smitten like a lovelorn teenage boy (and I was barely a legal adult by then) - but since Testament or whatever label own the rights refuses to make it available on YT we'll have to make do with this one:
Whether this does sound like what one would hear at a late-16th-century tavern is anyone's guess - those viols are really something in live performance - but it probably comes close. One of the few things I'd love to try firsthand if I had access to the time-defying DeLorean.
Will be back with more oldies but goodies.
Genious at Work
G.O.A.T.
Schubert FTW. Still not quite as good as Irving Berlin, but pretty good nonetheless.
NonP
Legend
Before I get to my next picks I see that I did David Munrow a disservice by misspelling his surname (also that "oft-kilter" should've been "off-kilter"). It was an honest typo, but a costly one since most of you probably haven't even heard of the early music pioneer. So let me offer this as an amends of sorts, a generous collection of Renaissance dance music from Munrow and his band:
And since we're taking a detour to the faraway times we can't neglect to acknowledge the other great hit of the era known as La folia, which has tickled the imagination of the who's who of Western music for centuries:
www.folias.nl
There are countless versions of this perennial tune - Corelli's last violin sonata (Op. 5, No. 12) and Rachmaninoff's re-reinterpretation (the mistitled Variations on a Theme of Corelli - composers aren't exactly scholars then and now) perhaps being the most famous - and I won't pretend to have compared all of them. But I can say my fave by far is Marin Marais' grand set of 32 "couplets" or variations titled Les folies d'Espagne, performed here with equal magnificence by Sophie Watillon on the original viola da gamba:
Watillon's take may not be the very best one available - the above website lists a whopping 109 different recordings of the Marais variations alone... and that's not even counting live performances! - but it can't be far behind. Simply sublime.
Back to the present... sort of. @Ronaldo posted this not long ago in one of the music threads:
But my own "introduction" to "Greenfields" came courtesy of the late Cesária Évora (sensing a theme here?) aka the Queen of Morna aka the Barefoot Diva, who along with lyricist Teofilo Chantre turned upside down this American lament on bygone youth - penned by the Easy Riders (Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr and Frank Miller) but made famous by the Brothers Four - and transformed it into a hopeful valentine to her beloved Cape Verde (the linked translation doesn't quite match the one in the liner notes, but close enough):
And while I'm at it let me also recommend "Saia travada" (Wraparound skirt) from the same Voz d'amour album, whose mournful melody belies its playful nature:
Suffice it to say Cise's only Grammy winner (one of the few times they got it right) has given me more pleasure than most albums of greater renown. And that voice could melt the Rock of Gibraltar itself. Without question one of the greatest singers of modern times.
More to come.
And since we're taking a detour to the faraway times we can't neglect to acknowledge the other great hit of the era known as La folia, which has tickled the imagination of the who's who of Western music for centuries:
What is La Folia?
There are countless versions of this perennial tune - Corelli's last violin sonata (Op. 5, No. 12) and Rachmaninoff's re-reinterpretation (the mistitled Variations on a Theme of Corelli - composers aren't exactly scholars then and now) perhaps being the most famous - and I won't pretend to have compared all of them. But I can say my fave by far is Marin Marais' grand set of 32 "couplets" or variations titled Les folies d'Espagne, performed here with equal magnificence by Sophie Watillon on the original viola da gamba:
Watillon's take may not be the very best one available - the above website lists a whopping 109 different recordings of the Marais variations alone... and that's not even counting live performances! - but it can't be far behind. Simply sublime.
Back to the present... sort of. @Ronaldo posted this not long ago in one of the music threads:
But my own "introduction" to "Greenfields" came courtesy of the late Cesária Évora (sensing a theme here?) aka the Queen of Morna aka the Barefoot Diva, who along with lyricist Teofilo Chantre turned upside down this American lament on bygone youth - penned by the Easy Riders (Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr and Frank Miller) but made famous by the Brothers Four - and transformed it into a hopeful valentine to her beloved Cape Verde (the linked translation doesn't quite match the one in the liner notes, but close enough):
And while I'm at it let me also recommend "Saia travada" (Wraparound skirt) from the same Voz d'amour album, whose mournful melody belies its playful nature:
Suffice it to say Cise's only Grammy winner (one of the few times they got it right) has given me more pleasure than most albums of greater renown. And that voice could melt the Rock of Gibraltar itself. Without question one of the greatest singers of modern times.
More to come.
NonP
Legend
Before I start (again) I gotta say the Suits & Ukes take on "Sleep All Summer" has grown on me since I buried it among the links yesterday. I'd dismissed it on the unmistakble basis that neither Ben Prisbylla nor Allison Edwards is much of a singer or an instrumentalist, but those lush "strings" (courtesy of ThumbJam) really add a much-welcome flourish to an already simmering tune barely able to contain its unquenchable ardor:
So maybe they're better musicians than I initially gave them credit for. Will be checking out more of their stuff, and report back if I find another gem.
Now let's hop from Cape Verde to Belize, whose two renowned sons, Andy Palacio and Paul Nabor, joined forces to create this stirring elegy on the death of a loved one:
Sadly Palacio himself met a sudden death in January 2008 at the age of 47, less than a year after the release of his magnum opus Wátina (I Called Out) which had been earning him worldwide acclaim and recognition. But while his untimely demise came as a shock to everyone I was even more floored by his last album which was a quantum leap in his growth as an artist, whose punta work was mostly undistinguished (at least to my foreign ears) and whose return to his Garifuna roots turned out to be just what he needed to break through. It would be futile to try to select highlights from an album filled with them - though they would have to include the rousing title track, "Weyu lárigi weyu" ("Day by Day"), "Miami," "Sin precio" ("Worthless"), "Águyuha nidúheñu" ("My People Have Moved On"), the above "Ayó da" ("Goodbye My Dear") and "Ámuñegü" ("In Times to Come") - but for my money the best number is "Baba" ("Father"), whose euphoric impromptu performance here gives you an inkling as to why it's become a virtual hymn that's "played every Sunday at church in the Garifuna communities in Belize" (per the liner notes):
But the whole thing is one of the great albums of the century, in any genre. Well worth your time and, if you can get your hands on it (Cumbancha has since discontinued the album), your small investment. Take this from me, as I still return to it every now and then more than 13 years after my first encounter.
I'll be sure to think of more (obscure) faves, but let me close this round with my absolute favorite music ever written for the human voice, by anyone and in any format:
Instead of repeating myself I'll just quote this post of mine from 2014(!):
Now the time for replies:
I saw that one a long time ago, back when Criterion used to host its titles on Hulu. Given the distinction of this critical and commercial hit it is rather dismaying that I've yet to see anything else by Saura that approaches it. In fact I haven't seen much from him at all, hence my dumping him in the Not-So-TBDs category when I did that thread. Part of it is my fault, of course, but I like to think the rest has to do with his failure to live up to the promise of his (probably) best-known feature.
I was gonna skip over Prince's "When You Were Mine" here 'cause I've given it not one but three shout-outs in the "Greatest Songs" thread, but since they were all buried in hyperlinks and U2 have rightly celebrated the Purple One's chops on the live stage I'll post this without further ado:
The studio original is too tame by comparison, really (which is why I also prefer the Cyndi Lauper cover, as you may recall). In fact apart from the blockbuster OST (you know which one) I'm not sure if any of his studio albums captures the manic intensity of his live performances. Some artists need to feed on the crowd's energy if they're to bring out their best and Prince was one of 'em.
A more important Q is, what really draws you to kitsch?
So maybe they're better musicians than I initially gave them credit for. Will be checking out more of their stuff, and report back if I find another gem.
Now let's hop from Cape Verde to Belize, whose two renowned sons, Andy Palacio and Paul Nabor, joined forces to create this stirring elegy on the death of a loved one:
Sadly Palacio himself met a sudden death in January 2008 at the age of 47, less than a year after the release of his magnum opus Wátina (I Called Out) which had been earning him worldwide acclaim and recognition. But while his untimely demise came as a shock to everyone I was even more floored by his last album which was a quantum leap in his growth as an artist, whose punta work was mostly undistinguished (at least to my foreign ears) and whose return to his Garifuna roots turned out to be just what he needed to break through. It would be futile to try to select highlights from an album filled with them - though they would have to include the rousing title track, "Weyu lárigi weyu" ("Day by Day"), "Miami," "Sin precio" ("Worthless"), "Águyuha nidúheñu" ("My People Have Moved On"), the above "Ayó da" ("Goodbye My Dear") and "Ámuñegü" ("In Times to Come") - but for my money the best number is "Baba" ("Father"), whose euphoric impromptu performance here gives you an inkling as to why it's become a virtual hymn that's "played every Sunday at church in the Garifuna communities in Belize" (per the liner notes):
But the whole thing is one of the great albums of the century, in any genre. Well worth your time and, if you can get your hands on it (Cumbancha has since discontinued the album), your small investment. Take this from me, as I still return to it every now and then more than 13 years after my first encounter.
I'll be sure to think of more (obscure) faves, but let me close this round with my absolute favorite music ever written for the human voice, by anyone and in any format:
Instead of repeating myself I'll just quote this post of mine from 2014(!):
Now the time for replies:
It was played in the Carlos Saura film Cría cuervos.
I saw that one a long time ago, back when Criterion used to host its titles on Hulu. Given the distinction of this critical and commercial hit it is rather dismaying that I've yet to see anything else by Saura that approaches it. In fact I haven't seen much from him at all, hence my dumping him in the Not-So-TBDs category when I did that thread. Part of it is my fault, of course, but I like to think the rest has to do with his failure to live up to the promise of his (probably) best-known feature.
Recall standing next to the stage when Prince performed on his birthday in Detroit, In a yellow suit, we were the same age
I was gonna skip over Prince's "When You Were Mine" here 'cause I've given it not one but three shout-outs in the "Greatest Songs" thread, but since they were all buried in hyperlinks and U2 have rightly celebrated the Purple One's chops on the live stage I'll post this without further ado:
The studio original is too tame by comparison, really (which is why I also prefer the Cyndi Lauper cover, as you may recall). In fact apart from the blockbuster OST (you know which one) I'm not sure if any of his studio albums captures the manic intensity of his live performances. Some artists need to feed on the crowd's energy if they're to bring out their best and Prince was one of 'em.
A more important Q is, what really draws you to kitsch?
Genious at Work
G.O.A.T.
I had to look that word in the dictionary the first time you brought it up because I am not a native English speaker and I only had a vague idea of its meaning, but now I get it. The answer is that I am not drawn to kitsch, Berlin has a lot of songs which are not kitsch. He was a popular composer in the 1910s and 1920s. If you look into art in any form of the 1910s and 1920s there is a "kitsch" element to a lot of it, even in something as universally appreciated as The Great Gatsby. In that other conversation I dangerously walked the line of trollery, but that was only due to your blanket dismissal of Berlin's talent (implying that he didn't deserve to be in a list of that nature).A more important Q is, what really draws you to kitsch?
I like music in many genres, I just like good music when I hear it. I am not the artsy type, though, in the sense that I don't have the vast theoretical knowledge and experience (not to mention the will to do so) to flaunt it in endless posts to my inferior colleagues.
NonP
Legend
Back for more. At the risk of fanboying let me highlight another Handel aria, "Ch'io mai vi possa" from Siroe which like most of his operatic output deserves to be far better known:
Its libretto may border on the absurd - if there's one thing modern musical theater has over the great pre-Gluck operas, it's plot - but Emira's torn allegiances between love (for the eponymous prince) and revenge (against his father!) are deeply felt, and George further elevates the drama with one of his most glittering tunes.
And while we're traveling back to the glorious Baroque era I shouldn't neglect to acknowledge perhaps my all-time favorite setting of the Stabat Mater, arguably the most enduring of all "heartbreak songs":
Given its spartan instrumentation and incomplete text (only the first half of the 20 stanzas are set) Vivaldi's version seems to have been something of a rush job, but that actually worked in its favor as it largely eschews the theatrical grandeur of his more popular Gloria (actually his second one - he wrote three settings of the hymn with the third now presumed lost) and its carefully deployed melismas don't feel in the least gratuitous. In other words, perfect for a liturgical hymn of the Virgin Mary's lament over the crucifixion of her son. And Andreas Scholl has yet to be equaled among its growing company of champions and admirers, countertenor or not.
A couple more Baroque gems, with increasing obscurity. Marc-Antoine Charpentier isn't exactly a trivia item even for casual classical buffs, but his fame lies in his church and theatrical music - the latter most notably for none other than Molière - not in his airs (a quaint term for songs) and other music for solo voice. Perhaps the most charming of 'em all is "Sans frayeur dans ce bois," aptly described by another ensemble as a torch song despite its heavenly melody (click the below links to see why):
Admittedly I'm biased as Hank Heijink of AsproDolce was gracious enough to reply to my email about the liner notes they had up on their (now defunct) website*, but after comparing about three dozen versions on YT (both studio and live) I think their recording remains the best take on this chaconne to date.
*Turns out they couldn't afford to make a booklet for the CD, but Hank did send me the texts and translations on PDF and second my appreciation for Jolle Greenleaf's "drop-dead gorgeous" tone and "immaculate" phrasing (actual quotes from my 10-year-old email)... by divulging that his hearing her sing ultimately led to their tying the knot! Good to see these two still together as late as 2019!
Alas our next Baroque monsieur, Michel Lambert, is indeed a trivia item, but that's not to say his music is trivial! AllMusic's scant bio (all of three sentences) touts him as "the most important composer of French airs in the second half of the 17th century," and one of 'em happens to belong in my desert-island collection, the equally heavenly "Vos mépris chaque jour":
And since the translations on YT tend to be too loose or anachronistic for my liking I'll just quote from the booklet for the otherwise, well, enchanting Versailles: L'île enchantée album (mezzo Guillemette Laurens is fine in other numbers but alternates between by-the-book trudging and oversinging in this one):
These French airs require the utmost lightness and sprezzatura, as if they seem to be emanating from the blissful gardens of Versailles themselves, and while I'd have preferred a fuller-bodied accompaniment in the Lambert the vocalist in both cases (Jolle Greenleaf and Suzie LeBlanc) could hardly be bettered.
Now the final selection, this time from a more recent past:
IIRC Solas performed this traditional hymn-cum-folk standard one of the two times I saw them live before their indefinite hiatus beginning in 2017, and while those attuned to Doc Watson's more familiar recordings might balk at the unusually dense arrangement I can say that spooky pump organ does not feel at all like a gimmick even in person. Among the most humbling and strangely uplifting music ever written, regardless of one's religious persuasion.
One more thing:
LOL, I'm not an artsy-fartsy type myself, not IRL anyway. Never belonged to any club, society or organization, and my day job is about as mundane as they come. The only hint you might glean from my everyday activities is that I've been a freelancer almost all my career, which more often than not gives me the time and flexibility to pursue my real interests.
Also you continue to misconstrue my comment about Berlin. I fully grant that he's one of the 20th-century's best, and in addition to "White Christmas" I'll throw in "Puttin' On the Ritz" and "Blue Skies" as my own faves. I just think "God Bless America" presents Berlin at his worst - maudlin, naive, unctuously patriotic, even sanctimonious. In other words, yes kitschy, ripe for nationalistic propaganda which has been its raison d'etre for decades now.
I know you refused to listen to the late Jessye Norman explain why "America the Beautiful" should replace "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the US national anthem, but you should give it a try, or at least heed these wise words from the great soprano:
Of course you could say "God Bless America" itself falls under the latter description... except that it places the one Deity front and center while he's more of an afterthought in "America." It's no coincidence that Berlin's ditty replaced its predecessor as the patriotic show of force amid the jingoistic post-9/11 fervor, and for shame.
There's a cogent case to be made that national anthems should be done away with entirely, but we know that ain't happening in our lifetime and if we must have one I say "America the Beautiful" should take precedence over its two main rivals.
Its libretto may border on the absurd - if there's one thing modern musical theater has over the great pre-Gluck operas, it's plot - but Emira's torn allegiances between love (for the eponymous prince) and revenge (against his father!) are deeply felt, and George further elevates the drama with one of his most glittering tunes.
And while we're traveling back to the glorious Baroque era I shouldn't neglect to acknowledge perhaps my all-time favorite setting of the Stabat Mater, arguably the most enduring of all "heartbreak songs":
Given its spartan instrumentation and incomplete text (only the first half of the 20 stanzas are set) Vivaldi's version seems to have been something of a rush job, but that actually worked in its favor as it largely eschews the theatrical grandeur of his more popular Gloria (actually his second one - he wrote three settings of the hymn with the third now presumed lost) and its carefully deployed melismas don't feel in the least gratuitous. In other words, perfect for a liturgical hymn of the Virgin Mary's lament over the crucifixion of her son. And Andreas Scholl has yet to be equaled among its growing company of champions and admirers, countertenor or not.
A couple more Baroque gems, with increasing obscurity. Marc-Antoine Charpentier isn't exactly a trivia item even for casual classical buffs, but his fame lies in his church and theatrical music - the latter most notably for none other than Molière - not in his airs (a quaint term for songs) and other music for solo voice. Perhaps the most charming of 'em all is "Sans frayeur dans ce bois," aptly described by another ensemble as a torch song despite its heavenly melody (click the below links to see why):
Admittedly I'm biased as Hank Heijink of AsproDolce was gracious enough to reply to my email about the liner notes they had up on their (now defunct) website*, but after comparing about three dozen versions on YT (both studio and live) I think their recording remains the best take on this chaconne to date.
*Turns out they couldn't afford to make a booklet for the CD, but Hank did send me the texts and translations on PDF and second my appreciation for Jolle Greenleaf's "drop-dead gorgeous" tone and "immaculate" phrasing (actual quotes from my 10-year-old email)... by divulging that his hearing her sing ultimately led to their tying the knot! Good to see these two still together as late as 2019!
Alas our next Baroque monsieur, Michel Lambert, is indeed a trivia item, but that's not to say his music is trivial! AllMusic's scant bio (all of three sentences) touts him as "the most important composer of French airs in the second half of the 17th century," and one of 'em happens to belong in my desert-island collection, the equally heavenly "Vos mépris chaque jour":
And since the translations on YT tend to be too loose or anachronistic for my liking I'll just quote from the booklet for the otherwise, well, enchanting Versailles: L'île enchantée album (mezzo Guillemette Laurens is fine in other numbers but alternates between by-the-book trudging and oversinging in this one):
These French airs require the utmost lightness and sprezzatura, as if they seem to be emanating from the blissful gardens of Versailles themselves, and while I'd have preferred a fuller-bodied accompaniment in the Lambert the vocalist in both cases (Jolle Greenleaf and Suzie LeBlanc) could hardly be bettered.
Now the final selection, this time from a more recent past:
IIRC Solas performed this traditional hymn-cum-folk standard one of the two times I saw them live before their indefinite hiatus beginning in 2017, and while those attuned to Doc Watson's more familiar recordings might balk at the unusually dense arrangement I can say that spooky pump organ does not feel at all like a gimmick even in person. Among the most humbling and strangely uplifting music ever written, regardless of one's religious persuasion.
One more thing:
I had to look that word in the dictionary the first time you brought it up because I am not a native English speaker and I only had a vague idea of its meaning, but now I get it. The answer is that I am not drawn to kitsch, Berlin has a lot of songs which are not kitsch. He was a popular composer in the 1910s and 1920s. If you look into art in any form of the 1910s and 1920s there is a "kitsch" element to a lot of it, even in something as universally appreciated as The Great Gatsby. In that other conversation I dangerously walked the line of trollery, but that was only due to your blanket dismissal of Berlin's talent (implying that he didn't deserve to be in a list of that nature).
I like music in many genres, I just like good music when I hear it. I am not the artsy type, though, in the sense that I don't have the vast theoretical knowledge and experience (not to mention the will to do so) to flaunt it in endless posts to my inferior colleagues.
LOL, I'm not an artsy-fartsy type myself, not IRL anyway. Never belonged to any club, society or organization, and my day job is about as mundane as they come. The only hint you might glean from my everyday activities is that I've been a freelancer almost all my career, which more often than not gives me the time and flexibility to pursue my real interests.
Also you continue to misconstrue my comment about Berlin. I fully grant that he's one of the 20th-century's best, and in addition to "White Christmas" I'll throw in "Puttin' On the Ritz" and "Blue Skies" as my own faves. I just think "God Bless America" presents Berlin at his worst - maudlin, naive, unctuously patriotic, even sanctimonious. In other words, yes kitschy, ripe for nationalistic propaganda which has been its raison d'etre for decades now.
I know you refused to listen to the late Jessye Norman explain why "America the Beautiful" should replace "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the US national anthem, but you should give it a try, or at least heed these wise words from the great soprano:
Of course you could say "God Bless America" itself falls under the latter description... except that it places the one Deity front and center while he's more of an afterthought in "America." It's no coincidence that Berlin's ditty replaced its predecessor as the patriotic show of force amid the jingoistic post-9/11 fervor, and for shame.
There's a cogent case to be made that national anthems should be done away with entirely, but we know that ain't happening in our lifetime and if we must have one I say "America the Beautiful" should take precedence over its two main rivals.
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Another Hank Williams tune by other artists:
