Glad to hear a voice of reason. RT
----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Daniel Shoskes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Lute Net" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 10:30 AM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Hear Sting Dowland CD at amazon.de > Daniel, > > > I don't know... It is interesting at least. The > biggest annoyance for me were the problems with > intonation. Sting's been belting out rockers in > stadiums for years, presumably without much vocal > coaching. As such, it doesn't seem that his voice has > held up entirely - very breathy, almost like a > crooner. > > Then there's his use of (vowel and pitch) inflection. > In order to be considered a "good singer" in pop > music, everyone has to develope his or her own > personal way of pronouncing words. You could never > just sing "Yeah, yeah," you gotta scream "Yey-ha, > YUahe-haAAAaaHHH!" (or something). Appropriate for > that style, I suppose, but also present on this CD and > less sucessful. I would guess that Sting has been > doing this for so long that he's not aware how - or > even that - he does it. > > Having said that, I at least find the CD intriguing. > And despite our perhaps over-critical judgement, it > may bring some attention to what we do. I think we > forget just how far removed Early Music is from the > average person's musical world! Those folks probably > would not even pick up on what I mentioned above. > > As for the lute sound - I thought it was just fine. I > personally think that nearly all lute recordings are > massively over-produced and -refined, like pasta > that's been boiled for hours. Karamozov at least has > the guts to give us a little al-dente. Refreshing. > Just like, I guess, a good rock guitarist. > > Chris > > --- Daniel Shoskes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Yikes! I have been looking forward to this disc with >> an open mind and >> very anxious to enjoy it on its own merit, realizing >> that it would be >> very different from what we usually associate with >> HIP. But wow, this >> is very tough to listen to. Also, just based on the >> internet >> streaming quality, the mic placement and engineering >> for the lute >> sounds way off; very closely recorded and too >> bright. Almost >> reminiscent of the horrible engineering on >> Kirchoff's CD's for Sony. >> >> >> On Sep 22, 2006, at 11:51 AM, Howard Posner wrote: >> >> > Here's a link to samples of the Sting Dowland CD: >> > >> > >> > http://www.wom.de/classic/detail/-/hnum/4504071/rk/classic/rsk/charts >> > >> > Fascinating stuff. There are spots where I have >> no idea what language >> > he's singing in. It kind of gives the impression >> that every syllable >> > is a new challenge, encountered for the first >> time, and he's sort of >> > guessing how to form the vowel (which is a >> remarkably long process in >> > spots -- it reminds me of a Tibetan humi singer >> rolling the vowel >> > around in search of the harmonic) and when to go >> the next >> > consonant, as >> > as he goes along. Perhaps I'd hear less of the >> nuts and bolts and be >> > more at home with the performance if I were >> hearing the complete >> > performances instead of online excerpts. >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > > > ___________________________________________________________ $0 Web Hosting with up to 200MB web space, 1000 MB Transfer 10 Personalized POP and Web E-mail Accounts, and much more. Signup at www.doteasy.com
