Echo

Poem by Lawrence Durrell, music by John Mitchell. Soprano Wendy Lashbrook, pianist John Mitchell. Video by Vicky Brago-Mitchell.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• lawrence durrell
• echo
• poetry
• poem
• classical music
• john mitchell
• piano
• pianist
• soprano
• wendy lashbrook
• vicky brago mitchell

[bragova]

The composer and pianist is my husband John Mitchell, the singer is Wendy Lashbrook, and the faces in the video are mine and my cat Shelley's.

[bragova]

Thank you, freeglitter!

[bragova]

Thank you so much Alexander! I read your comment to John and he thanks you too. And it is very interesting to hear this about Tchaikovsky's librettos. We love the operas and I think we have every video of them ever made of them, but we do not understand Russian at all.

[bragova]

Ms Elinor, I'm sorry you disapprove, but you probably don't like Verdi's Shakespeare librettos either.

[bragova]

MsEllinor, John takes a few liberties with texts. As do most composers of art songs.

[freegliter]

Oh! Your voice is wonderful! :o Aand the pianist too, and the song... *CLAP*

Lawrence Durrell is the best autor ever, but you are the best "group" : )

[AlexanderFeht]

Strangely that even here one finds a controversy. Most of the composers adjust the texts - sometimes for better, sometimes - not.

One of the awful examples are Thaikovsky's operas ;o). Pyotr Tchaikovsky with his brother's help had re-written Pushkin's texts almost completely. I don't think that Pushkin would ever approve these librettos. But the music is beautiful, and we still have Pushkin originals - for anybody who wants to read them.

[MsEllinor]

bragova: This is just as I suspected. I can't say I approve, especially if Durrell was dead at the time, and couldn't defend himself.

[MsEllinor]

I find the music and singing quite beautiful, but object to the fact that the text has been altered a little. In three different editions of Durrell's poetry, I find NO "ever" on the first line, and no "never" on the fourth; instead, Durrell uses "not", on the fourth line. If "ever" and "never" have been inserted for the sake of the rhyme, I must (as a poet myself) in any case object to this tampering with Durrell's poem. Unless he, while he was still among us, approved of these alterations?

[RuthPalmerArtist]

Hey Vicky!

Cool! You'll have to get some shots of John in on the next one too!