More from Carmen..... O Mio Babbino Caro from Puccini

After listening to Taylor Swift (who is at least a very gracious lady) and the sick and demented behaviour of  Lady Gaga at the CMA's I needed this .... the best of Opera offers the most beautiful sounds imaginable expressing the complete spectrum of the human spirit...

Notice the older guy in the crowd who wiping back the tears.... that is her father.... so cool and so beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5lZSZTJXa4&list=PLCDFA7424B6775466&index=9&feature=plpp

and  Carmen's  Viljalied from Franz Lehar......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtZqqvdS_sE&feature=related

The angel from Brazil.... Carmen Monarcha

Andre Rieu features this beautiful gal from Brazil who sings with the voice of an angel.... hope you enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asp1Yas_7mc&feature=BFa&list=PLCDFA7424B6775466&lf=plpp

and here Carmen joins Mirusia and the full orchestra with one of my favorites... You'll Never Walk Alone...
so beautiful  and the 150,000 in attendance seem to agree.   I really needed this after watching the CMA and Taylor Swift!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKKsZij81lM&feature=autoplay&list=PLCDFA7424B6775466&lf=plpp&playnext=1

Final Scene of Puccini's La Rondine... very beautiful

John Garrison and Elizabeth Brighton are hard to beat in this heart-rendering  love duet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nFOOnNQbbw&feature=related

Anna Netrebko Day....

This beautiful Russian lady sings a very romantic  aria with one of the great baritones of his generation,

Dmitri Hvorostovsky       "E allor perche, di', tu m'hai stregato"  from Pagliacci 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36vm2VoXuXA

(The same aria done live by Teresa Stratas.... never pass up a chance to showcase this gorgeous soprano!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtyeeX1rgBg

Anna Netrebko having fun Placido Domingo and Rolando Villazon  in another (oh my gosh!, not opera!...yes, Opera!)  Franz Lehar's beautiful   Dein ist mein ganzes Herz  from The Land of Smiles
BTW, note that 110,000 people spread out over 2 football stadiums enjoying these spectacular  sounds...but alas, its Europe, not America that this is taking place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa58TdbRGJ4

Let's leave with Anna and Rolando singing  another gem from  the Berlin 2006 Concert.
O soave fanciulla - Anna Netrebko - Rolando Villazon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_UtIy5VEz0&feature=related

Everyone loves Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro and so does Anna and the 120,000 people listening!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTltPfALLL8&feature=related

....and  "My Lips Kiss with Fire"  from another Franz Lehar Operretta....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_kaOYC_Fww&feature=related

Children's Day.... on the piano. Wow, you won't believe these kids!

I am going to start with a little 7 year old Chinese boy playing what I believe is the finest performance of Chopin's beloved Fantasie Impromptu in C# minor.  The fluidness and dynamics of this childs rendering of this work surpass anything I have heard.  I mean Yundi Li can match it but Horowitz is left in the dust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuQDV5TCn5Q&NR=1

Saint Saens Piano Concerto #2 by 11 year old George Li
1st Mov:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqlADlXDZKU


George Li:  Flight of the Bumblee Encore after the Saint Saens Piano Concerto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF3hrp3qcps

His Carnegie Hall performance of Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody # 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSMJ1gGOzhU&feature=related

Derek Wang, whose feet can barely reach the floor, plays this Moskowski Etude #6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMh1ykwiXBQ

Derek plays the popular Chopin Fantasie Impromptu in C#minor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngVPImaTXAQ

Lets end with 74 Seconds of pure virutosity from Lang Lang.  He is following in the footsteps of Franz Liszt int that each of these kids before him have been helped by him in many ways... he's quite a generous guy and good will ambassador for piano!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrM0gAXXMs4&feature=related

...more to come

All Pianistic roads really lead to Liszt- via Lisitsa...Valentina that is...

So many beautiful virtuoso pianists and so little time.... we heard from Yuja Wang now its Valentina Lisitsa from Russia (with love).  The superlatives used to describe this woman and her playing continue to pour in even from the harshest of critics.  She possesses a fluidity of style that seems to say to all the different schools of thought, this is the way it should be played!


Lets begin this session with a wonderful video tribute and introduction to Valentina Lisitsa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1VnAdqEjRs&feature=related

Franz Liszt, the greatest virtuoso pianist/composer that ever lived provides the brilliance and difficulty that only someone of Lisitsa's calibre can truly handle.  Excellent video here to prove my point about this wonderful young lady.  Liszt's famous La Campanella from his Paganini variations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD6xMyuZls0&feature=channel

Here is his Wagner Spinning Song arrangement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_7_FPtG0Mk&feature=related

Liszt's most difficult Hungarian Rhapsody, #12 is performed here by Valentina:
yes, Liszt could sometimes sound a little bombastic as, maybe, in the first 3 minutes of this one but, oh my, after that its all pianistic glory as only he could render!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBhRm9p5hig&feature=channel

Liszt 1st Piano Concerto as performed by Valentina Lisitsa   part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb6i0KQTWic&feature=related
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFuiozEGjIY&feature=channel

Lisitsa performing  the famous Horowitz Carmen variation by Bizet.  Its amazing to me that she plays this considerably faster than Horowitz in the most difficult places with not a hint of loss of articulation!

One thing about the super-virtuoso class of pianists.  There are only a few of them around in any generation.  Their repertoire is vast and consists of the most difficult music to which they perform it flawlessly and at a level above.  Russians Valentina Lisitsa, Evgeny Kissen, who we will visit later, and a few others are members of this class of pianists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPB0K-RCJQE&feature=related

Rumsfeld's Plague... the unleashing of poison (Aspartame) upon an unsuspecting populace

This article contains verifiable medical and scientific facts regarding the  real and insidious plague that was unleashed upon us when Don Rumsfeld was able to single-handely overpower the expert witness and data presented by the medical community as it tried to stop Aspartame from being approved by the FDA.

Anyone with children or women hoping to conceive must use wisdom and become informed.  Please read this article and google articles like it.  The pervasiveness of adverse effects from this poison is stunning.

I, personally, conducted experiments on myself several years ago when involved in an intense phase of a design of some complex electronic circuits with additional  software tasks needing to be written by me.  I proved over and over that brain fog, short term memory loss and blurred vision followed immediately, within minutes, of my drinking a 20oz Diet Pepsi or Diet Dew.  Every single time I went from a mentally focused, high energy state, mentally, to one of confusion, lethargy and unable to remember what I had just read.  It was stunning!

After 2 hours, I was back to my old self.  If these were the only symptoms it would be bad enough but these are the least serious symptoms and God only knows the long term effects of this poison.  Please read this article and act accordingly.  If you care about people, you don't just sit there and watch them topple over the dam in their comfortable little raft, do you?

http://www.naturalnews.com/026849_aspartame_poison_health.html