Word: singers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Well, they fooled us. The music is not so much a blend of East and West as a journey from East to West. The piece begins with traditional Peking opera: a singer-dancer intoning a sacrifice ritual in Chinese. (You'll get subtitles in the theaters, as we at the Met got translations on the backs of the seats we were facing.) Behind him, on 12 rows of bleachers than span the stage, a chorus of about 150 keened along. Once the plot kicks in, though, the music becomes westernized and, to these inexpert ears, neither daring in form...
Antigravity illusion: To duplicate onstage an effect from his 1988 Smooth Criminal video, the singer created shoes that pitch the wearer forward 45º. Guess someone else got the patent on that whole one-glove thing first...
...Brown?s importance went beyond movies, or even music. He was a prime pop showman, who brought the notions of melodrama and irony to his performances. You couldn?t help noticing this in the first years of rock ?n roll, the mid- to late 50s, when a singer?s physical exuberance was as radical as the raucous sound he was selling. The revolution was televised, so it had to be musical and visual...
...rather than sexiness. She renders "Silent Night" as a lullaby to the baby Jesus, and mines all the yearning in "I'll Be Home for Christmas." Addressing not just Christmas but all the chilly months, Wintersong is truly a seasonal CD. My favorite pieces are by two of the singer's fellow Canadians. Gordon Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night" is another lonely-in-the-cold ballad - "If I could only have you near / To breathe a sigh or two / I would be happy just to hold the hands I love / On this winter's night with...
...Which sets me to thinking about another virtuosa vocalist. Isn't it odd, and sad, that k.d. lang - the supreme lyric reader of our time, the modern singer without rival at making sentiment sound like world-weary wisdom - hasn't done a Christmas album? That would be a lovely present under next year's tree...