Question of the Day | 07/21/2008 12:00 am

What music makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? Why?

Liz Smith | 07/21/2008 12:00 am

Liz Smith: The Good and the Bad of It

Most music makes me absolutely crazy, especially thump thump thump sounds that go on in beauty salons and elsewhere.

Only Cole Porter, Noel Coward and the creators of American musicals make me really happy. The recent revival of “South Pacific” made my heart go pitty-pat again. So beautiful, the music of Richard Rodgers.

I also love to dance to the rock pop stuff of the ’60s and ’70s.

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3 Comments

Joan Ganz Cooney | 07/20/2008 12:00 am

Joan Ganz Cooney: From Alto to Soprano …

Italian opera. Because I’m a romantic.

2 Comments

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Anne wouldn’t let me play that too often—it often led to expected results in a very short time for us lol

By Frank Peterson on 07/21/2008 2:50 pm

;-)

By Jane Cougar Melonhat on 07/21/2008 2:54 pm

I agree with you all that are choosing the Elgar cello. But, I must add the following that just a few that can put me away: The Saint-Saens 2nd Piano. The Love Duet from Madama Butterfly. The tenor aria from Il Puriatani in which the tenor must hit 9 high Cs and proceed to D above the C(or is it E?) Juan Florez did it last season at the Met and had to do a RARE aria encore; so ended up doing it twice. That hadn’t been done since Pavrotti did the aria when he was young and also repeated it. And, then there is Shostashovich’s Gadfly. The Romance brings tears no matter how many times I hear it. A haunting melody. Tosca and Traviotta, will do it. And, also the Verdi Requiem. Well, that’s enough…I could go on and on…

By Diana T on 07/21/2008 2:25 pm

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Diana I read abut the encore of Flores—I think I Puritani is out on CD—I’ll have to pick it up==thank you. Puccini rocks my boat too as does the Saint-Saens. :-)

By Frank Peterson on 07/21/2008 2:37 pm

Frank, I heard a repeat of the encore performance last year when Juan Diego Florez executed it. Boom,boom,boom…5 high C’s and then, the leap up…to the E above C. Very few tenors have been able to do that, which is why we don’t very often see Il Puritani performed. Last year, on the Saturday afternoon Met, they did a recording of Pavrotti hitting his mark. It really is quite thrilling when done correctly; rather like watching a very high ski jump. Florez is one of the best tenors I have ever seen; he is still young and his voice has a long way to go yet. Also, he is very physical; what I’ve seen him do whilst singing at the same time is unbelievable. And, he sings with such ease. I am not sure if his recording of IlPuritani is out(check amazon or my other music source Arkiv music.com. p.s. The Gadfly is awfully hard to find; I got mine from arkivmusic. It is still one of my favorite screen compositions ever!

By Diana T on 07/21/2008 4:09 pm

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Physical is what one would never call Pavarotti :-) By yes you’re right tenors like Florez don’t drop in every day—Seattle Opera just this season offered I Puritani but I couldn’t go dammit! I read it was really quite good—having seen a few in my time there I can believe it was. I’ll check out Arkivmusic—they usually have things no one else does. Thanks for the tip Diana ;-) Shostakovich’s Tha Gadfly I haven’t heard, but I play is String quartets often— and the symphonies, esp the later ones.

By Frank Peterson on 07/21/2008 5:38 pm

Mozart, and more Mozart!

By Bonnie Oliver on 07/21/2008 3:40 pm

Always Bonnie, Always—for me it’s the string quartets and quintets with the Lindsey Quartet and the operas esp Giovanni.

By Frank Peterson on 07/21/2008 6:55 pm

I often now play Bach: Angela Hewitt playing the Partitas for example but lately I purchased the Cello Suites—again, I have them played by Yo Yo Ma ,Slava Rostropovich and Casals but the new CD is played by a young Franch cellist, Anne Gastinel, and her playing is just marvellous—now I play then 2-3 times a week and never tire of her playing which is rich with deep understanding for one so young. She makes me see the Suites whole and clear a prodigious gift to and for me. An amazing CD, an amazing cellist.

By Frank Peterson on 07/21/2008 4:08 pm

Rock music stays the most important kind for me to listen to. It just seems that I can’t outgrow it. Went to see Clapton this past year and enjoyed that as much as see the Rolling Stones 25 years ago. Of course, today with our weather reports showing a tropical storm, possible cat 1 Hurricane Dolly, an old show tune “Hello Dolly” keeps running throught my mind.

By Sandbee (FB) 54 on 07/21/2008 4:19 pm

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Ave Maria makes me cry. Amazing Grace lifts me. Nessum Dorma sends me someplace else. Why? I don’t know they just do.

By kat on 07/21/2008 4:24 pm

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kat… Nessun Dorma does that to me too. Have you heard, or seen Paul Potts performing it?? (Who hasn’t? Really?) It’s amazing and so beautiful! And when he hits those high high notes… O M G!!! Here’s the first time he was on “Britain’s Got talent” : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA Seing the expression on the faces of the judges (especially Simon Cowell) … going from disbelief to amazement, it’s priceless! Here’s from when he won the big finale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_5W4t_CBzg And here’s a longer, even more magnificent version, of Nessun Dorma - with some funny comments from the judges in the beginning of the video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGFXMvMcmbs By the way - his CD is fantastic! “One chance” is its name, in case you’ve missed it.

By Christina on 07/23/2008 1:02 pm

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MOTOWN!!

By Marilyn Miller on 07/21/2008 5:29 pm

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Old church music (e.g., The Old Rugged Cross, Little Brown Church, etc.) because my dad used to sing them all the time… Also, Amazing Grace (Scottish bagpipe version) because I played that at my mother’s funeral.

By John G on 07/21/2008 6:23 pm