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IN my
earlier articles of YouTube, I threatened to write more
about the treasures of this virtual Art Space, this
techno museum curated by men and women who cross
borders, identities, genders even. Here, I make good my
threat.
In
pre-Internet days, a rainy day would be the reason for
me to stay at home, curl up on the sofa and listen to
Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald in
that perfect order. If the rains persist, I move on down
to Lena Horne, Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughn. If the
storm comes and the electricity continues to fight
Nature, I will change my aural location and move into
the territory of Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo and
Timi Yuro, in that crazy sequence. Somewhere among the
three categories, I can see myself going for Don Mclean,
Bob Dylan, The Andrews Sister, Mama Cass (always with
her “Young Girl’s Lament” that is poetry, blues and
regrets fused to make anyone sad), Renata Tebaldi,
Bessie Smith, Mel Torme, Cenon Lagman, Renee Fleming and
many others in that combination made without any
apology.
I write
this with the rains going on and on. Just for fun and
without nodding to the more learned view about the
arts—for who cares? that view will be boring anyway—I
decided to come up with a list of things that would have
just remained on the level of the aural and memory had
not this YouTube came into being. I was trying to hit
for rarity as a benchmark because YouTube has
practically everything from charming cats playing the
piano to Rachmaninoff playing Rachmaninoff, from real
swans dying to prima ballerinas as swans dying to the
music of Camille Saint-Saens. I, therefore, just
followed my fingers, heart and the speed of an Internet
connection to come up with this list, as arbitrary as
the extra notes on Arthur Rubinstein’s “Polonaise,” and
as wayward as the raindrops on the roof of our old
apartment.
Sleepless in Opera
“Nessun
Dorma” from Turandot is a staple solo for any tenor and
would-be tenor. Lani Misalucha sang it in one of her
concerts, and that is in YouTube. That is a feat but the
song (originally meant for a male voice singing “No One
Shall Sleep” because he, Prince Calaf in Puccini’s
Turandot, will win the challenge of finding the name of
the princess and marry her) is a shock when it is sung
by an R&B and gospel singer. Now, when it is none other
than Aretha Franklin performing “Nessun Dorma” in place
of Pavarotti, who could not make it, the moment becomes
both a revelation and a subversion. The aria following
the groans of Afro-American beat, rather than the trills
of the opera, is one reason to celebrate
Franklin
and her contribution to music—that a great singer can
always own a song.
Tenors
that Count
TALKING
about tenors, we always forget that there is such a
being called countertenor, or contratenor. It is a voice
that has been used in place of the castrati, a male
singer whose soprano or mezzo voice is produced after he
is castrated before puberty. The countertenor is also
used in opera for the so-called trouser roles, male
roles that are sung by female singers, usually a
mezzo-soprano or alto. Look for Philippe Jaroussky and
be floored by a voice that sounds like Cecilia Bartoli.
He sounds like the great soprano but marshals an
appearance that is totally male, a hybrid of Hollywood
teen idol and a Hugo Boss endorser.
Raging
Film Divas
Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis are two of the
well-represented film icons in YouTube. Practically all
of the films of Hepburn are shown in splices or in still
shots: Bringing Up Baby, Morning Glory, The
Philadelphia
Story, Adam’s Rib—name
it. If you want to enjoy Kate, mannerisms and
idiosyncrasies all, then try the scenes from Suddenly
Last Summer, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and
Lion in Winter.
As Mrs.
Venable in Suddenly…, Kate Hepburn delivers a
performance that is remarkable for the sheer bravery to
delineate a mother on the brink of dementia, in a role
that teeters between camp and tragedy. In YouTube, the
scene is the visit of Montgomery Clift to the house and
shows Kate coming down via gilded elevator. She talks as
it descends and talks about the Emperor Byzantium, who
uses a throne that rises to the consternation of the
guests who end subordinate to the ruler. But, her
character says, “since we are in a democracy, I reverse
the position. I do not rise, I come down.” From there
on, the scene is bathos and pathos, comedy and tragedy
rolled in an incursion into the mind that is nothing but
gothic.
If
Dorothy Parker were only alive, she would have enjoyed
YouTube’s entries. Parker, noted for her wit and caustic
epigrams, described Hepburn’s early film outing with
this line: “She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B.”
As for
Parker, there are entries. In one, Jennifer Jason Leigh
channels her in that poem “The Lady’s Reward.” It has
these lines: “Be you wise and never sad,/You will get
your lovely lad.”
Bette
Davis camp has more camp than what the US has in the
Middle East. Of course, the scenes from All About Eve
rule mightily over the entries. Quotations after
quotations roll like melted chocolate with just a bit of
acid courtesy, or with all the impudence, of Miss Davis.
The Letter, Jezebel, The Anniversary. A long
scene from her 1952 film The Star, a full six
minutes of anger, is in YouTube. The scene is dramatic,
melodramatic, sentimental, over-the-top—that gloriously
bad mix which spells doom—but somehow it works. All
because of Bette Davis, who is always Bette Davis
onscreen or off. Check her appearance in the varied
interviews.
The high
point, in my book, is her scene with Dinah Shore. She is
presenting her LP recording. As she talks, she chews on
what must be a lozenge. She gives the wrong title of the
song; she calls it “I Give You Love.” Dinah Shore, the
singer, tells her it’s “I Wish You Love.” She does not
budge. She explains that she will sing along with the
record. Shore says: lip-synch. Davis says: sing along.
Then she does sing along, and except for some slips, she
actually looks like she is singing live, everything in
synch.
The
voice has the croak, as she describes it. The singing or
the performing is pure gem with a surplus of grand
theater in it. At the end, the applause is expected.
Which should go also to YouTube. |
