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Music for
Grown-Ups Newsletter
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13/01/2004 Callas soars above the rest in The Voice
Music for Grown-Ups espouses great artists in all genres. If music is good, we enthuse about it - regardless of whether it's labelled rock or soul, jazz or opera, roots or blues. Music is music. The same philosophy is clearly shared by those behind The Voice, a revelatory new three-part TV series now airing on Channel 4 in the UK. Show Some Emotion: The Female Voice, Sunday's first part, was a lovely showcase for some of the greatest women singers, from Bessie Smith to Billie Holiday, Patsy Cline to Edith Piaf. But, although Ella Fitzgerald looked deeply impressive, Maria Callas dominated the programme, soaring above the rest. The clips from a couple of Callas live performances - a stunningly beautiful concert performance of Casta Diva, and a clip of Vissi d'Arte, from her last full operatic appearance - were breathtaking: it just doesn't get any better than this. Other artists sampled included Aretha Franklin and Bjork, a particular favourite of this web site. The archive performance footage, though mostly familiar, was skilfully selected. The contributions by the talking heads, mainly from music's premier league, were patchy, varying from the stimulating (notably top modern soprano Renee Fleming, legendary Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler, and jazz chanteuse Dianne Reeves) to the vacuous. While the best of the one hour programme was magnificent, it's ideally viewed on video, with the remote's fast forward at the ready - an uncomfortable proportion of the performance clips and talking head inserts were by lesser musicians whose inclusion among so many landmark singers was puzzling. The Voice's breadth of focus makes it a worthwhile introduction for music lovers seeking to painlessly sample some of the key names across the genres. The two remaining programmes are being transmitted by C4 over the next two Sundays: * Getting intimate: The Male Voice - 18 January, 8pm * God only knows: Vocal Harmony - 25 January, 8pm. The Voice is an international co-production with Bravo Network, so if you're outside C4's transmission area, watch for this recommended series coming to a channel near you soon.
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