This is a wide topic, I know, and also subjective, but what makes a good singer? I have always loved Luciano Pavorotti (and not just because he is popular). There is a quality to his singing that is not just technically correct but there are also nuances of feelings and subtle instincts that makes any song he sings a joy to listen too.
After the death of a close relative recently the undertaker picked a hymn around his deathbed and the hymn was 'Päivä vain ja hetki kerrallansa'. I was so moved by this song, I chose it for the funeral. On researching further, I discovered this is popular all over Scandinavia and is known in the USA as 'Day by day and with each passing moment' but not really known in England. The original version is Swedish and was written by Lina Sandell in 1865, Blott en dag.
So of course on arriving home I just had to download it and hit on a beautiful version by Mauno Kuusisto (Finnish) and Goran Fristorp (Swedish). I gasped when I heard the Swedish version. He is not a particularly accomplished singer, but he sang it with so much melancholy it was enchanting and is now a firm favourite. Coming back to Kuusisto, he is such an amazing singer, like Pavarotti, or perhaps - to me - even more, so I had to find out more. I soon discovered he was the singer of a track I had loved so much many years ago 'Vaiennut viulu' (the 'Silenced violin') and I was excited to have been reunited with this song and singer as he had stirred me so much all those years ago. The track had been on a populist compilation album and it stood out from all the others like a bright star in a black night.
I got to wondering what makes a singer good? Looking up Wikipedia, I discovered Kuusisto (1917 - 2010) had been an orphan at an early age and had started off working at a Finlayson textile factory in Tampere. After singing in their various works choirs and entering auditions, he was very quickly in great demand and became one of the most renowned singers in Finland.
Likewise, Pavarotti came from an ordinary family: dad was a factory worker and Pavarotti himself started his career as a footballer.
There is just one other incredible singer I'd like to put forward for the prize: Georg Ots, 1920 - 1975, an Estonian who was revered over Estonnia, Russia and Finland. Wikipedia says:
Have a listen to his version of Karjallan kunnailla.
One thing all of these singers have in common is an ability to sing with deep emotion, and I wonder if this is an influence of their early childhood. We hear this same melancholy in, for example, Beethoven's piano classic 'Moonlight Sonata', the chords of which are absolutely heartrending when we consider Beethoven and his profound deafness. Or Chopin.
And of course, nordic folk songs tend to be in minor keys with lots of flats that translate well for these types of singers, conveying intense longing for lost homes (e.g. Karelia), deep-rooted patriotism or an acknowledgement of death and dying.
Yet, none of the aforementioned singers went through the traditional route of bourgeois family, private tutor, music academy, classical singing training (although I am sure that came eventually).
So over to you.
After the death of a close relative recently the undertaker picked a hymn around his deathbed and the hymn was 'Päivä vain ja hetki kerrallansa'. I was so moved by this song, I chose it for the funeral. On researching further, I discovered this is popular all over Scandinavia and is known in the USA as 'Day by day and with each passing moment' but not really known in England. The original version is Swedish and was written by Lina Sandell in 1865, Blott en dag.
So of course on arriving home I just had to download it and hit on a beautiful version by Mauno Kuusisto (Finnish) and Goran Fristorp (Swedish). I gasped when I heard the Swedish version. He is not a particularly accomplished singer, but he sang it with so much melancholy it was enchanting and is now a firm favourite. Coming back to Kuusisto, he is such an amazing singer, like Pavarotti, or perhaps - to me - even more, so I had to find out more. I soon discovered he was the singer of a track I had loved so much many years ago 'Vaiennut viulu' (the 'Silenced violin') and I was excited to have been reunited with this song and singer as he had stirred me so much all those years ago. The track had been on a populist compilation album and it stood out from all the others like a bright star in a black night.
I got to wondering what makes a singer good? Looking up Wikipedia, I discovered Kuusisto (1917 - 2010) had been an orphan at an early age and had started off working at a Finlayson textile factory in Tampere. After singing in their various works choirs and entering auditions, he was very quickly in great demand and became one of the most renowned singers in Finland.
Likewise, Pavarotti came from an ordinary family: dad was a factory worker and Pavarotti himself started his career as a footballer.
There is just one other incredible singer I'd like to put forward for the prize: Georg Ots, 1920 - 1975, an Estonian who was revered over Estonnia, Russia and Finland. Wikipedia says:
Quote:
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Before studying singing with the Estonian baritone Aleksander Arder in Yaroslavl in the rear of the Eastern Front, where a cultural center for evacuated Estonians had been established, Ots was a young Navy Officer who had escaped a sinking ship and was taken prisoner in Russia.[citation needed] He was released a year later, and on his return home, he auditioned for a place at the conservatory in Tallinn. At the same time, he became a member of the chorus at the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn. His solo opera debut was a small part in Eugene Onegin (1944). He soon became one of the most revered singers in Estonia and Finland and was also admired and loved all over Russia. |
One thing all of these singers have in common is an ability to sing with deep emotion, and I wonder if this is an influence of their early childhood. We hear this same melancholy in, for example, Beethoven's piano classic 'Moonlight Sonata', the chords of which are absolutely heartrending when we consider Beethoven and his profound deafness. Or Chopin.
And of course, nordic folk songs tend to be in minor keys with lots of flats that translate well for these types of singers, conveying intense longing for lost homes (e.g. Karelia), deep-rooted patriotism or an acknowledgement of death and dying.
Yet, none of the aforementioned singers went through the traditional route of bourgeois family, private tutor, music academy, classical singing training (although I am sure that came eventually).
So over to you.
via International Skeptics Forum http://bit.ly/2XulBXd
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