Oh dear. Following my "Wagner" experiences a few weeks ago (for which Stephen Fry and BBC 4 are not without blame), my Spotify playlist has taken an increasingly operatic turn. As well as dipping back in to my old Wagner haunts, I have also been tempted into Italian opera. Now there's a thing. In my full-blown opera-loving teenage years, I tried a bit of Verdi (quite liked Aida and really liked the pyrotechnics of the huge drums in his Requiem), but no more than that. It all seemed a bit too Andrew Lloyd-Webber after Wagner. And, in those days, it even mattered to me that Wagner himself didn't think much of Joe Green.
Anyway - almost accidentally I picked up a Deutsche Gramophon Verdi sampler from a Spotify playlist, and this time, nearly 30 years on, it really hit the spot.
Verdi Highlights
It doesn't have the visceral drama of Wagner - but those tunes are big and meaty and just all-round fabulous! Co-incidentally, I chanced across La Traviata on Sky Arts, and (because the rest of the family were busy with school work) ended up watching the whole thing. (It's La Dame aux Camélias in opera form - who knew?) I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the audience applauding at the end of "numbers". You can see why Wagner looked down his considerable Teutonic nose - but how fabulous was the music?
Have I gone over to the dark side?
A few train journeys and shopping trips with Verdi on my Android - and I was ready for more. Oh yes. Puccini. A bit of Turnadot and Butterfly. I know! Where will it all lead?
Puccini Highlights
With any luck this is another phase and I'll be back to Indie guitar, or maybe Beethoven, before you know it.
Hehehe - loving it really.
Another shopping trip round Tesco today. I managed to give the opera a skip this time - and listened to Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Mighty fine too. Maybe I should just get on and enjoy it.
I promise my next post will be Opera-free...
