Xmas Blog #5: Desert Island List of Operas

Yet another list...

My List of Operas I'd want with me on that proverbial desert island are:

NONE.

WTF would I need with opera?! I'd be freaking out that I'd have no food or water or that I'd never be rescued! Not to mention no antiseptics...

These sorts of hypotheticals annoy me greatly.

Now, if you'd ask me what my top ten operas are, I'd tell you.

Warning: This list varies slightly year to year. There is an ebb and flow to life, and certainly an ebb and flow to my opinion. Or, it's just that I'm getting older.

PJH's TOP TEN OPERAS:

10) Albert Herring

9) Sweeney Todd (shut the fudge up, it's an opera!)

8) Alcina

7) Die Zauberflöte

6) The Turn of the Screw

5) La Traviata

4) Tosca

3) La Boheme

2) Bluebeard's Castle

1) Le Nozze di Figaro

PJH's TOP TEN ARIAS (and favorite performances):

10) "Se pietà" from Giulio Cesare by Handel (Veronique Coutu)

9) "Come scoglio" from Cosi fan tutte by Mozart (Lara Ciekiewicz)

8) "Donde lieta" from La Boheme by Puccini (Mirella Freni)

7) "Largo al factotum" from Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini (Robert Orth)

6) "Di quella pira" from Il Trovatore by Verdi (Franco Corelli)

5) "Kudà, kudà, kudà vi udalilis" from Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky (Clifton Forbis)

4) "Mésicku na nebi hlubokém"from Rusalka by Dvorak (Elizabeth Koch)

3) "E lucevan le stelle" from Tosca by Puccini (Luciano Pavarotti)

2) "Mein sehnen, mein wehnen" from Die Tode Stadt by Korngold (Troy Cook)

1) "Deh vieni non tardar" from Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart (Mirella Freni)

Freni gives a lesson in how to sing a Recitative! (Plus the aria!!)

PJH's TOP TEN MUSICALS:

10) Oklahoma or The Sound of Music or South Pacific or Music Man

9) Next To Normal

8) West Side Story

7) A Funny Thing...

6) Kiss Me Kate

5) Guys and Dolls

4) Into the Woods

3) Godspell

2) Jesus Christ Superstar

1) Camelot

Julie Andrews giving a lesson in singing text!

PJH's TOP TEN PIECES OF MUSIC (Non-Operatic):

10) Brahms sonata in F minor

9) Marx "Hat dich die Liebe berührt"

8) Strauss "Morgen"

7) Ravel "Gaspard de la Nuit"

6) Chopin Ballades, all four

5) Prokofiev piano Concerto #3

4) Rach #2

3) Tchaikovsky piano concerto in Bflat

2) Grieg piano concerto in A minor

1) Chopin piano concerto in E minor

Kissin playing the bel canto piece of all time, Chopin's e minor concerto

PJH's TOP TEN MOVIES:

10) His Girl Friday (best long takes with whiplash dialogue)

9) Indiscreet (Ingrid at her most flirtatious)

8) North by Northwest (Brilliant)

7) Philadelphia Story (Hepburn coming out into the light after her night of drinking...)

6) Reds (Saw it dozens of times when it first came out in the theatres)

5) Gandhi (Saw it even more times than Reds)

4) Field of Dreams (It's the Iowa thing, coupled with the Dad thing)

3) Singin' in the Rain (Made me want to be an entertainer)

2) The Lion in Winter (Makes me want to be a writer)

1) Moonstruck (My wife's and my favorite movie to quote from and I never tire of it!)

Loretta and Johnny "Che gelida manina" scene

Someone stop me. No more lists.