Anyone watch this on Friday night?

It's a subject close to my heart (obviously, lol) and I have some gripes with it.

Nessun Dorma was transposed so drastically that it became a Bass aria. One of the most iconic tenor arias ever known (except for Brindisi or La Dona e Mobile, which was also transposed!) was made so low that the whole point was lost.

They also put in Largo Al Factotum, which has the most famous phrase in opera - "Fiiiiiiiigaro!". And they missed that bit out.

There were other things - LLB? What is he doing there?! - but that's the main stuff.

I would've posted sooner but my internet has been not working (again) since Saturday morning!

Obviously?


Probably because Darius is a bass baritone, I guess they had to work with what they had. I do agree some of the choices did seem a tad on the odd side.


I wondered that at first but then he does present on Classic FM and he obviously has a passion for it. He's probably being used to be a bridge between the professionals and the public.

It was kind of interesting to see "popstars" completely out of their comfort zone and attempting something of value.

No

::shudder::

Oooo

I know I'm being thick but why's it close to your heart?

Perhaps because from a distance he looks like a good Calaf?

No

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

NO!

From what I remember from the forum he performs Opera.

I caught the repeat on Saturday morning. I missed the first couple of perfomances but saw Marcella who I thought was absolutely amazing. I'm a big fan of Maria Callas and love that aria. It gave me goosebumps. None of the others affected me like that and I thought Alex should've stayed and they should've got rid of that awful girl Vanessa.

My boyfriend didn't recognise Meatloaf silly man lol.

I have no idea what any of you are talking about

Ooh I totally agree with you about Vanessa! She was just so... so breathy... There was just no need for it, it's like she had a clarinet in her throat! But i'll admit she had some lovely notes in the higher range so there's room for improvement there. Alex was awful but I thought he put on the best show and he was very entertaining.

I found it funny that LLB just kept mentioning nothing to do with their singing and just used random analogies like "You make me want an ice cream" or "I'd buy a whole pub".. We had fun guessing what he'd say about the next one!

I really think that, whilst a complete travesty, this is the best reality-tv i've seen in a long time. Merely because they're finally bridging the gap between what is generally thought of as "stuffy" music and pop culture. It's getting great publicity for opera and breaking down some pretty annoying preconceptions about it so that's awesome.

And opera is close to my heart because i'm president of the Opera Society here in Leeds and i'm directing an opera on 3 weeks!

(www.operasoc.co.uk)

I think even my boyfriend enjoyed it and he's not in to any kind of classical music. Good to see it on TV and if it means there are more fans out there at the end of it all the better