10 books that helped shape my life I’ve had two different friends ask me to post to Facebook a list of 10 books that have ‘stayed with me over the years.’ So for those friends, here’s my list: 1) The King James Bible 2) Dream Power (Ann Faraday) 3) Walden (Henry David Thoreau) 4) The […]
The unprecedented assault on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military this week brought to mind a hymn whose text was written by Johann Heermann in 1636, “Zion klagt mit Angst und Schmerzen” (Zion mourns with anxiety and pain); all one needs to do is substitute ‘Gaza’ for ‘Zion’ and the hymn could be sung […]
15 Favorite Operas and 15 More: Reflections on the Love of a Lifetime By Pauline Park I have been listening to opera and attending opera performances since 1979, when I discovered this ‘exotic and irrational entertainment’ through an album of Mozart arias by Margaret Price and Joseph Losey’s film of “Don Giovanni.” Since then, I […]
Conchita Supervía & the Golden Age of Opera Conchita Supervía (December 8-9, 1895-March 30, 1936) was one of the great opera singers of all time and one of my favorites. Supervía’s life was tragically cut short in childbirth. It’s only too bad that so few of today’s opera lovers know of her, because Supervía’s vibrato — unlike […]
“Maria Stuarda”: the Metropolitan Opera’s New Year’s Eve Gala 2012 a very informal non-review by Pauline Park Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda” was chosen for the New Year’s Eve gala at the Metropolitan Opera for the first time on 31 December 2012; it was a rather disappointing experience, I regret to say. The basic problem is that “Maria Stuarda” […]
As Julie Andrews says in “The Sound of Music,” these are a few of my favorite things — music that I love to listen to. Renaissance & Baroque Fra Pietro da Hostia, Un Cavalier di Spagna (La Capella Reial de Catalunya – Hespérion XXI – Jordi Savall, director) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejWtsDJiYP0&feature=related Francesco Patavino, Un Cavalier di Spagna […]
Barricades Mystérieuses piano music performed by Pauline Park 1) Couperin: Les Barricades Mystérieuses (1713) (2:46) 2) Bach: Goldberg Variations: aria (sarabande) (BWV 988) (1741) (1:45) 3) Bach: Goldberg Variations: #7 (giga) (1741) (1:09) 4) Bach: Goldberg Variations: #13 (sarabande) (1741) (2:51) 5) Bach: Goldberg Variations: #30 (quodlibet) (1741) (1:10) 6) Bach: Sarabande (Partita in B-Flat Major) (1726) (2:17) 7) Beethoven: Sonata No.8 in C minor […]
In “The Queen’s Throat,” David Koestenbaum writes that opera queens are distinguished by their propensity to keep lists of operas that they’ve seen. So here’s my list of operas that I’ve seen and/or heard live or recorded: 1607 L’Orfeo (Claudio Monteverdi) 1640 Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (Claudio Monteverdi) 1642 L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Claudio Monteverdi) […]
…an 18th century-style double-keyboard French harpsichord of the sort for which most Baroque keyboard music was written… “Music for a while shall all your cares beguile” (from “Oedipus”) is one of my favorite songs of Henry Purcell, widely considered the greatest of English composers. Music has always been an important part of my life, and […]
One of my favorite places on earth: Frying Pan Creek in Mt. Rainier National Park… Awhile back, a friend of mine suggested I do ’25 Things’ on Facebook, but I was a little reluctant to do that application on Facebook (too much like a chain letter), so I’m doing it my own way, here on […]
Renée Fleming in Rossini’s “Armida” The Metropolitan Opera’s 2009-10 season is anything if not eclectic, representing a judicious mix of old warhorses and operatic rarities. The new season will feature eight new productions – four of which are being billed as “company premieres” – and 18 revivals. Among the “tried and true” are new productions […]