Monday, October 17, 2011

In the "insane far out crazy sh*t" category.
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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 17, 2011 at 10:46 AM

    How did you even find this?!? That lady is a mind-fuck!

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  2. AnonymousOctober 17, 2011 at 11:41 AM

    "As it might be sung by a Handel oratorio singer in the provinces" I think she nailed it.......

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  3. LesTPOctober 17, 2011 at 12:04 PM

    She did a whole album of Beatles' covers, as can be heard, for instance, here; with full orchestral treatment - string section, harpsichord and all. "Help" is even more insane than this, if that's possible.
    She was a very forward-thinking musician, BTW, collaborating with many contemporary composers on all sorts of avantgarde and wackiness - some very far from the opera diva standard.

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  4. voyagerOctober 18, 2011 at 4:28 AM

    Oh this was just brilliant - first class musician having a fun - also of interest is very angry Nina Simone going trough that horrible cheesy "Feelings" (youtube) that is another example of artist against the song.
    On the other hand - in "no talent" category check youtube of Mrs.Miller (provincial housewife singing "Downtown") or worst Elvis imitator Eilart Pilarm doing unspeakable acts to "All shook up"

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  5. LesTPOctober 18, 2011 at 9:00 AM

    Well, an evil twin for this one would probably be Florence Foster Jenkins

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  6. PaulNovember 14, 2011 at 12:11 PM

    This strikes me a the conceptual inverse of Sonic Youth's performances of Ticket to Ride. Cathy Berberian minimizes, perhaps even nullifies, the exuberance of the original pop version by channeling the energy of the song into a very studied formalism. Sonic Youth maximizes the energy of the song to the breaking point, and the song disintegrates in less than 30 seconds into chants of "ugga ba-bugga." [see here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDhoPf5wxm4] Both versions frustrate our expectations, one by collapse into formalism and the other by explosion into formlessness. Both versions take an essentially destructive stance toward the original, however where Sonic Youth is blatant, Cathy Berberian is subtle. In an era when blatant punk rock has become so commonplace that it has lost it's ability to shock, contemporary classical is regaining its ability to impact. When i drive downtown with my windows open blaring aggressive punk or hip-hop, nobody blinks an eye and my personal space is not enlarged in the slightest despite my sonic intrusion into public space. But if I turn Kronos Quartet all the way up to 11, people notice. Only contemporary classical music is still capable of the Production of Space as described by Henri Lefebvre.

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  7. LesTPNovember 17, 2011 at 4:31 PM

    Thank you, Paul, great analysis. Where's the like button when you need it? :)

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  8. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2012 at 4:33 AM

    "Even Cathy Berberian knows... There's one roulade she can't sing" (Your Gold Teeth, Steely Dan, 1973). I guess this isn't it.

    Incidentally, in our house we don't sing roulades any more. Tried it, looks way too wierd.

    Thank you for your wonderful blog, which I always enjoy revisiting.

    - Nick the Unanonymous

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