Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012 July 10

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July 10

Asian Football Confederation Champions League

How come nations like Bangladesh, India, and Tajikistan never get to send their football clubs to the Champions League? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.92.149.173 (talk) 01:31, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

This: AFC Champions League#Current Regulations seems to provide some answers, particularly the "football competitiveness, professionalism, marketability, and financial status of the league and its clubs" part. --Theurgist (talk) 03:09, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

My Man's Gone Now

What is considered the best non-operatic performance of Gershwin's song?

I am familiar with Nina Simone's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKUu_P-wfdQ and Sinead O'Connor's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGhvFrzq7kQ versions, but all the rest I find are operatically sung. μηδείς (talk) 04:39, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

I can't answer your question as such, but you probably "find" them to be operatically sung because Porgy and Bess is in fact an opera, and "My Man's Gone Now" is an aria. It can be sung as a song divorced from any operatic connection, but that wasn't how it was written. Let me quote from the booklet to the world premiere complete recording, conducted by Lorin Maazel in 1976:

• Porgy and Bess is an opera. It is not an operetta, a musical comedy, nor is it a jazz drama, Black Blues, or pre-Soul. We performed and recorded it as an opera, as one worthy of the same care and devotion we would have accorded any operatic masterpiece. Gershwin's compassion for individuals is Verdian, his comprehension of them Mozartean. His grasp of the folk-spirit is as firm and subtle as Moussorgsky's [sic], his melodic inventiveness rivals Bellini's, ingenious and innovative are his compositional techniques, How glorious it is to hear the entire opera, without the dozens of cuts, which have mutilated form, flow, dramatic tension. The reinstated sections are of the richest inspiration, and serve to realign the internal balance of the work. Love for the opera felt by the cast, chorus and orchestra imbued the recording sessions with a fervor, I believe, the microphones have caught. May the listener share our joy".

I would add that the other thing Porgy and Bess is not, the thing it's often described as, is a "folk opera", whatever that is. I've edited the MMGN article accordingly. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 05:42, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

I am a great fan of opera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MR6D7tL38U I would hope you don't think I don't realize Porgy and bess was written as an opera. I have heard Leontyne Price and others sing the song. But they make me think of footbinding, castrati, and forcefed geese. Not my lover's voice. What are the best regarded non-operatic performances of My Man's Gone Now? μηδείς (talk) 06:40, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

Lucia in the Sky with Diamonds.  :) Actually, I have no knowledge of what you do and don't know about virtually anything you care to name. I know nothing of your personal identity or life history. It's not good to make assumptions about people, so I don't. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 08:55, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

Well, my using and italicizing "non-operatic" should give a hint I knew the difference and meant what I said. Good one with 'Lucia in the Sky', btw. So, anybody able to answer the original question? μηδείς (talk) 17:34, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

It's unanswerable. How about an instrumental version? Ghmyrtle (talk) 13:57, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

Lol. Okay, I meant a sung song, not an instrumental arrangement. (The Bill Evans version is pleasant, but the piano isn't strong enough for the part of the voice.) Maybe there's a fully scat version? Figured this was a famous enough song there'd be some sort of critical opinion as to who sang it best. μηδείς (talk) 02:39, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

But it's not a famous song, it's a famous aria, so if there's a critical consensus on the best version it's probably operatic! That said, try Ella Fitzgerald, on the Porgy and Bess album she did with Louis Armstrong. ReverendWayne (talk) 21:10, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

Haven't been able to find the Ella Fitgerald version, but did find this Miles Davis (fixed link) version and this Sarah Vaughn version by searching for her. μηδείς (talk) 22:02, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

Those are actually two recordings by the divine and sassy Ms. Vaughan to which you linked us (one in the studio, with strings, the other live, without) . I don't believe Miles can be heard on either, though he did record the tune in the studio on Porgy and Bess (the Miles album). Over twenty years later he recorded a very different live version on We Want Miles. This much less literal take, deconstructed if you like, in turn had inspired Shirley Horn's sung interpretation on I Remember Miles. I can recommend all of these, but of course your taste is to remain indisputably your own. If you enjoy jazz with strings, there's also Carmen McRae's version on Boy Meets Girl. Personally, I wish Dinah Washington had recorded it. (and you deserve a prize for managing to weave Neil Diamond into this thread)---Sluzzelin talk 23:28, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

Mozart would have been proud of him. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 03:45, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, Sluzzelin. I only now remember Shirley Horn from PBS in my childhood. I couldn't find her singing the Gershwin, but I did enjoy the version of Fever she sang http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to_fMpf5G6o&feature=related. I found McRae, and enjoyed the musical arrangement as spare and clean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QVsQkybdss. But her delivery was far too restrained and 'white'. I do have to say at this point I far prefer Nina Simone's version. And I do have to agree I would love to have heard a Dinah Washington cover. Makes me think of Cat Woman. μηδείς (talk) 03:00, 17 July 2012 (UTC)