Classical Crushes

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

.

Aye, now that's a crush!
Now I see how they got the name for these:





My new classic crush:





Note the young Henry Fonda:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TfddrnmvbA



.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I just came across a talented beauty that may surely be more up to Neely's ideal:



Ivana Gavrić was born in Sarajevo and moved to the UK where she studied music at the Guildhall School of Music, Cambridge, and the Royal College of Music. She has studied with pianists as distinguished as Dmitry Bashkirov, Stephen Kovacevich, and Roger Vignoles.



Ivana is featured as ‘Rising Star’ in the BBC Music Magazine’s December 2010 issue, and as Gramophone’s ‘One to watch’ in the September 2010 issue. She has garnered glowing reviews for her performances and her first recording, has received the highest accolades including comments such as "There is no doubt in my mind that this CD could well mark the beginning of an outstanding international recording career: playing of this quality does not come along every day. Above all, Ivana Gavrić is a true musician." (International Record Review, October 2010) and "Gavric’s playing is altogether of an extraordinary calibre.” (5 stars) Instrumental Choice of the month)." (BBC Music Magazine)



I'm intrigued in her unusual or eclectic choice of music for her first recital recording. Rather than seeking out the usual favorites of Chopin or Beethoven, Gavrić elects to perform Janácek's In the Mists, Schubert's Sonata in D Minor, D 784 and several of his Moments Musicaux, as well as Liszt's Tre Sonetti di Petrarca from Anées de Pèlerinage and a couple of Rachmaninoff's Preludes.



Ivana Gavrić's website can be found here:

http://www.ivanagavric.com/

... and samples of her playing can be heard here:

http://www.ivanagavric.com/audio/

Oh by golly yes. This is indeed a pretty looking one and something to bring a little light into a dreary January. I must look into those (and listen to them when I am at home, no sound here). Sounds a promising one too.

[Taliesin]

I must admit that I haven't yet progressed to the level where I can tell the differences of different classical performers so, for aesthetic appeal, I have to settle for composers.

Such as Eric Whitacre.



He conducts his own pieces here:

Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine
or
Stolen Child

I still have to admit that I like his music better than his face and if it weren't for his music, I probably wouldn't find him that attractive, though he looks pretty good while conducting.

[LitNetIsGreat]

He looks a bit like Brad Pitt.

I'm definitely liking the cute Ivana Gavrić. It's a shame that she is only playing in London at the moment. I'll keep my eye on her though that's for sure.

[stlukesguild]

I didn't know that Whitacre was so young. He must certainly be the youngest composer whose music I have been actively following.


No... I did a quick Wiki search and discovered that Thomas Adès, born March 1, 1971 and Tarik O'Regan, born January 1, 1978, are both younger.

What is really sobering is that I am currently listening to a new recording of a composer who was dead before he had reached the age of any of these young composers with the exception of O'Regan:



Needless to say, just these two works outstrip the entire oeuvre of any of these composers.

Symphony 41, is an absolute miracle... especially the final movement. Mozart constructs the final movement of five separate themes which he eventually weaves together in a fugue-like structure inspired by his recent explorations of J.S. Bach. The results are spectacular. This symphony won't be equaled until Beethoven's 3rd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prvBEXbnDR0

[DanielBenoit]

I have been unable to fully appretiate another Le Nozze di Figaro ever since watching the Karl Bohm conducted 1976 version of the opera which is in fact filmmed on a film set with everything dubbed. Of course this is a distraction as well as the attempts to make a "cinematic" version of the opera with all sorts of distracting visuals. But all-in-all because this was one of the first operas I saw, I am in love with it and all of its singers who act wonderfully and with great charm.

Now it is a great thing that Mozart didn't let Figaro into every scene or else the infinitely handsome Hermann Prey would dominate my attention and overshadow the less charismatic but equally great characters such as the Count and Countess.

I just love him, not only is he gorgeous but the charisma he puts into the character of Figaro compliments the music and the playfulness of Mozart exceptionally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViX6aQKENxE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeGbiRKYI4Q







That said, he only seems to look good when he either has a mustache or is under 50

[LitNetIsGreat]

A genuine reason to bump off work next Wednesday?

http://www.musicintheround.co.uk/event.php?id=203

[Emil Miller]

A genuine reason to bump off work next Wednesday?

http://www.musicintheround.co.uk/event.php?id=203

Does Mrs Neely know about your interest in the oboe?

[LitNetIsGreat]

Does Mrs Neely know about your interest in the oboe?

Well Mrs Neely doesn't have to know anything about it, I managed to keep my love of tin whistles hush hush anyway.

[stlukesguild]

Well, as you have resurrected this thread, Neely, I might as well add another lovely with more talents than than mere appearances... although these are certainly attractive in their own right:





Emmanuelle Haim is a French harpsichordist and conductor specializing in Baroque music. She studied at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, after which William Christie invited her to work with his ensemble, Les Arts Florissants. She has also worked as a coach and assistant to Simon Rattle.

She began conducting in 2001. Her production with the Glyndebourne Touring Opera of Handel's Rodelinda, first brought her to wider artistic notice. Her return to Glyndebourne in 2006 with the production of Handel's Giulio Cesare was highly acclaimed.

She has been involved in a number of highly acclaimed recordings including a marvelous recording of Bach's Magnificat and Handel's Dixit Dominus...



a brilliant new recording of Moneteverdi's L'Orfeo with Veronique Gens, Ian Bostridge, and Natalie Dessay...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvK7A5k6yJE

and several highly acclaimed and award winning discs by Natalie Dessay...





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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrXcT-j27Rc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChXIOeGkvX8

and the brilliant Philippe Jaroussky:





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKzL7Xqy7jg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v9PHmwRBIY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEJs5X57LMg

[Emil Miller]

This coincides with the Gershwin entries on the Classical Listening thread.
I know this doesn't actually qualify for a Classical Crush as the girl is a skater but the music fits the bill and what an angel she is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc35PYNEQMk

[Petrarch's Love]

This thread clearly needs some more men on it. The first classical performers that spring to my mind are the opera singers. I quite like the looks of Lawrence Brownlee:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdz6y...eature=related

Juan Diego Florez:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vawnfrv7n7I

And I must say I would have liked to see a young Jose Careraras

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVvcK...eature=related

or Placido Domingo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CedCD33qB5g

both with those gorgeous dark eyes. I saw Domingo perform a few years back and, even old in person that voice was incredibly seductive (at least from the last row in the house where you could pretend it was a much younger man on the stage):


The cellist Zuill Bailey is also fairly easy on the eyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgX3a...eature=related

And the beautiful violinist Stefan Jackiw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_owoi6fInU

[Emil Miller]

This really is the stuff that dreams are made of.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Vi2QweFww

[stlukesguild]

I thought I'd make an attempt to breathe some new life into this thread considering my recent references to it. Beside which... I am of little doubt that Kristine Opolais deserves to be recognized here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh4bLomcrwQ

To be honest... however... it was her performance in La Traviata that first garnered my attention:

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

Don't get me wrong... I am still "loyal" to my beloved Anna Netrebko... especially after seeing her in Massenet's Manon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQC0O3j8Ttk

For some time the recording by Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland was considered the finest performance of this opera on record... yet can you imagine the two of them rolling around in bed during this scene?.

[stlukesguild]

Now Gaële Le Roi is absolutely enchanting in this version of the Magic Flute. You can absolutely feel the sexual tension as Papagena leaves Papageno absolute speechless... unable to utter anything but gibberish: "Pa Pa Pa Pa..." Only Mozart could pull off the most brillian love song with the most inane of lyrics!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87UE2GC5db0

Of course Sylvia Moi is equally enchanting in her own way in the same duet:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prdOP-9kgLI