Tag Archives: singing

Arachnophonia: Romantic Arias

Posted on by

Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Esther (class of 2025) and features a CD collection of opera arias sung by tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Thanks, Esther!

Romantic Arias

Romantic Arias Jonas Kaufmann cd cover

If you frequent the music library, you may remember the question we had on our whiteboard last semester: do you listen to music when studying? If you do, this CD is something you should definitely check out.

Side note: the whiteboard questions are open for anyone to answer!

This CD is a collection of arias, or long accompanied songs for soloists, from a variety of romantic composers. The romantic era in music can usually be characterized by the introduction of chromatic harmonies and new chord progressions that “break” the rules of classical composition. They do not necessarily rely on resolving a melody or having a constant tempo throughout the piece. Romantic composers saw music as a medium to express human emotion and experience; it was seen as a way of communication.

Sung by my favorite tenor, this CD contains arias sung in Italian, French, and German. Jonas Kaufmann is a German operatic tenor noted for his versatility. You may remember seeing him as Don José in Carmen, but I personally became a fan after watching him in Massenet’s Werther. Check out this CD along with the CD players we have available for use in the library for your next study session!

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann

Parsons Playlists: Classical Singing Crossover

Posted on by

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today we feature a collection of songs with a bit of new perspective on classical singing curated by student assistant Wonyoung (class of 2024).

Classical Singing Crossover

When we think of “Classical Singing” and “Opera”, it may be hard to approach because it may seem dry and far from modern day music. However, it does not always have to be so. Here is a playlist of Classical Singing Crossover into a more modern day style. It is on the upcoming in South Korea so here is a playlist that brings a new perspective.

Music notation design

“O Isis und Osiris” from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (ft. Franz Josef Selig, Bass)

“Nessun dorma” from Puccinis’s Turandot (ft. Yonghoon Lee, Tenor)

“Erlkönig” D. 328 by Franz Schubert (ft. Byeong-Min Gil, Bass-Baritone)

“Il Mondo” by Carlo Pes et al (ft. You Chae Hoon, Tenor)

“Starai con me” by Ornella D’Urbano (ft. You Chae Hoon, Tenor)

“E lucevan le stelle” from Puccini’s Tosca (ft. Minseok Kim, Tenor)

“La calunnia é un venticello” from Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (ft. Jun In-Ho, Bass)

“Libera” by Renato Zero (ft. Ku Bon Su & Park Ki Hun)

“Nelle tue Mani” (“Now We Are Free” from Gladiator) by Hans Zimmer et al (ft. Choi Sung Hoon, Jeong Min Seong, Park Ki Hun, & You Chae Hoon)

“La tua semplicità” by Jeff Franzel (ft. An Dong Young, Kim Sung-sik, Minseok Kim, & Park Hyun Soo)

Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHE2uJabYdvZFXr3Q_OecuKYySaRhBwI8


 

Spider Sounds: Diana Krall “Live In Paris”

Posted on by

Editor’s Note: “Spider Sounds” invites members of the University of Richmond community to share their thoughts about CDs (or other items in the Parsons Music Library’s collection). The links included will take you to the library catalog record for the item in question, or to additional relevant information. Today’s installment of “Spider Sounds” is by Julie (aka Xinyi), one of our student workers, and features a live album from Canadian jazz pianist & singer Diana Krall which was originally released in 2002 and won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Thanks, Julie!

Diana Krall

Live In Paris

Diana Krall - Live In Paris

I picked the CD called “Live in Paris” by Diana Krall, because I personally prefer European-style music. This CD has many different pieces. The first one is called “I Love Being Here With You.” At the very beginning, the general rhythm sounds very lively and energetic. It provides me a happy feeling of living in Paris. Because of the quick rhythm and pace, I feel it encourages listeners to become more interested in living in Paris and assume living in Paris would be a colorful and interesting experience.

The second track is called “Let’s Fall In Love,” which has a very different mood from the first track and is much slower paced.
I think Paris is known as a romantic city, and the second track fits that “romantic” feeling quite well.

The other songs on this CD, in general, consists of alternating quick and slow tracks. I feel this is variety is good so listeners won’t feel bored when they listen to the whole album.

This album also is available to UR students, faculty and staff via our streaming service — click on this link to access it: http://librarycat.richmond.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=4353&recCount=25&recPointer=0&bibId=1455539.