Operaman performs a public service

Last Friday evening had an early dinner date at Jake’s Grill with Alexis Hamilton, Portland Opera’s Manager of Education and Outreach. She had invited me to attend the Destination Opera discussion at the Art Museum that evening and I thought it might be helpful to me if we could have a chat over a glass of Jake’s finest so that I could get an overview of what the panel and audience would be chatting about. I am so gald we did because, as you will probably have gathered by now, I am not possessed of a well-developed academic mind. My approach is usually more along the lines of “How can I know what I think until I hear what I say?” The delightful combination of sancerre and Alexis primed me perfectly and by the appointed hour I had gathered my wits into something resembling order and was ready to play with the grown-ups.

The discussion was about Exoticism and Orientalism in art. The panel comprised Bob Kingston who knows a thing or two about opera (his talks at the Keller before performances are always informative and insightful) together with an art historian and a dance historian. Alexis was the referee moderator. It was a lively and fun discussion and I plan to make a point of attending more of these. You should too. They are free and make for a very pleasant evening. Thanks Alexis!

You may have recently read that American researchers working in Paris have discovered a 'recording' that is said to predate by seventeen years the patent granted to Thomas Edison for his phonograph. It's an interesting and fun story which you can read by clicking here. A couple of things in particular struck me about it: the French must be sick that it was an American who made the discovery, the recorded sound is that of a human voice singing Au Claire de la Lune while Edison's famous first recording was of Mary Had a Little Lamb (what is it about nursery rhymes? was my question) and that when Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville made his phonautogram he never intended that it would be susceptible of play-back.

The sound quality is, as you would expect, rather poor but anyway here is what the researchers came up with.

All of this made me so excited that Operaman went on his own sound research expedition and can now proudly unveil the results of his efforts. Under mountains of dust he has found and now you can hear for the very first time a recording which he has every reason to believe significantly predates not only Edison but also Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. It would seem to be the voice of one person calling to another.

A roll on the drums please... Here it is.

Expect publication and Grammy nominations shortly.

And while on the subject of awards, I was delighted to read this week that an old chum of mine, Vernon Handley, is to be given a lifetime achievement award at the Classic Brits 2008 to take place next month at the Royal Albert Hall. I can think of nobody in my lifetime who has dedicated himself more wholly nor had such a profound effect on the popularization of English classical music than Handley (Tod to his friends). I am delighted for him. I have to record though that my pleasure was tempered somewhat when I saw that Andrew Lloyd-Webber is to receive an award at the very same proceedings for 'Outstanding Achievement'. Now there is there is no doubt that he is a man of outstanding achievement - staying out of clink notwithstanding the wholesale theft of Puccini's music is one not to be sneezed at - but to classical music? Oh, come on! I frequently take issue with the opinions of Norman Lebrecht but when I saw he finished this article with these words: "Honouring him at the Classical Brits is like giving Jeffrey Archer the Nobel Prize for Literature. It won’t change anyone’s perception of what the man writes. All it does is to discredit the award itself." I almost stood and cheered. Except that I'm still happy for Tod.