Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sings "Summertime" - "Porgy and Bess"

[ktw0629]

She's good, but Leontyne Price is phenomenal!

[windstorm1000]

Ok, this is one of the few broadway shows where opera singers CAN stroll down the Great White Way--that 's because P and B needs strong non-miked voices and IS an opera-with Br'way overtones. But everyb lady and their mother thinks they can do Summertime--its become almost a bad cliche in second rate nightclubs--and unfortunately Carnegie Hall--Kiri is not going low brow enough for this song---she's wayyy too far south, know what I mean??? Doing strauss when she should be in Charlston.

[jazzdanca59]

Nah, it's somewhere back in behind her nose! Swallowing the voice yet again!

[LEOPARDTWO]

World class.

[an87b43]

I've listened to all of those you have mentioned, and I love the song sung many ways -- but this is the one I choose for my playlist.  I thihk it is perfectly "Gershwin" and Te Kanawa's voice perfectly suited for the piece.

[maggiepower]

Great, but I wish she'd done it in the original key.

[musikenergy]

@maggiepower The aria is sung twice in two different keys. The key she's singing it in is the same key Bess sings it in the opera.

[vivlingdarling]

Lovely. I love it preformed both this way and the "Ella Fitzgerald way" for different reasons-they're each wonderful in their own right. However, i also love Anna Moffo's version of this song.

[Caribman123]

Ok so we're just gonna pretend that that awful breath in the last note wasn't there right... :) She has such a pretty voice

[flaze3]

Not bad. This piece is so hard to perform classically!

[katesinger]

ahhhh lol

[flaze3]

ahhh what?

[katesinger]

just..summertime is originally from the opera "porgy and bess" therefore it is classical and supposed to be performed operatically. it was around long before anyone decided to make it contemporary!!

[flaze3]

Yeah, I'm aware of that, but it's pedantic to think that because something was composed for some particular setting, there can be no superior interpretation.

In my opinion, the blues/jazz covers capture the mood of the words in a way that the high-falluted classical version doesn't.

Not that the original classic version is not commendable in other ways! I was merely saying that I think it's hard to sing this aria/song classically and evoke all the emotional depth that a bluesy version does.

[lilywhitedmb]

Dude, don't diss Gershwin. Feel free to prefer the jazzy version, but don't diss the original, it is one of the most persevering songs of the last 100 years for a reason.

[sea1song]

@flaze3 I am not so sure I would call this version superior. I really don't think it gets better than Leontyne Price or Kathleen Battle.

[sea1song]

@flaze3 I am not so sure I would call this version superior. I can't imagine it geting any better than the versions by Leontyne Price and Kathleen Battle.

[theblueangel28]

@katesinger well, except that the "anyone" who decided to make it contemporary was..you know..the composer himself

i like it much better better as an aria too, but Gershwin gave it to Billie Holiday for a reason

[822003]

Only a black woman can do justice to this piece.

[idraote]

Not this time, Ms Te Kanawa... This version isn't as good as I'd have expected from you

[gabreucorreia]

Prezada amiga Kiri Te Kanawa:

Gosto imenso da sua interpretação do "Summertime"; aliás, gosto de todas as suas interpretações, pois sois uma grande soprano!

Que seja Feliz!

Espero que este video não deixe de existir no youtube, como aconteceu com o outro onde aparecia o príncipe Carlos de Inglaterra! Seja a que título for, o que é belo deve existir sempre!

Muita Paz! Muita Luz!

GUILHERME DE ABREU CORREIA

(ESCRITOR ESPIRITUALISTA UNIVERSALISTA CRÍSTICO)

FUNCHAL - MADEIRA ISLAND

[MissLimLam]

wow!!!

I love this..

when was she DAMED??????

[fferocious]

Kiri Te Kanawa was created a Dame Commander of The Order of The British Empire in 1982.

[MissLimLam]

LOL I have no idea what that is but AWESOME!!!!

[yodavidnavarro]

Very beautiful!

[Bocanumenth]

Tanks...

[Liriki3]

Agradeço mais uma vez a damekirilover por colocar aqui concertos que não temos possibilidade de arranjar emk DVD.

[damekirilover]

Yes, just enjoy please!

dame-KIRI-lover

[Liriki3]

Thank you very much. I'm very happy to see this concerts.

Kind Regards.