What's weird is that you never get this on American Idol, the gold standard of singing competitions and surely Simon's cash cow.
As I sat in that wonderful chapel listening to its fine choir, I became conscious of other, practical problems facing church music: the familiarity of tonality (the major and minor scale, in which the masters mentioned above all wrote) and the standard of singing in most choirs, even concert choruses.
Solti's conducting was praised, but illnesses and last-minute replacements of leading performers affected the standard of singing.
The work, recorded in a Paris church, was based on the 1711 score; Alan Blyth in Gramophone praised the standard of the singing, and despite reservations about the sound quality, called it one of the most enjoyable of available Handel opera recordings.
It was a shock to be told that I was not up to the standards of a singing-telegram company.
About 3 30 p.m. on April 1, Sir Rex received a cable now widely considered remarkable even by the standards of British sang-froid.
"Atizame el Fogón" is hardcore salsa from 1982, rhythmically hard-punching, with three vocalists, including Gilberto Santa Rosa, who has since become the standard of quality in salsa singing; the other five reissues, including "From the Depth of My Brain" and "El Rey del Ritmo," are recommended, too.
(It's a Kentuckified version of a Scottish folk standard, "Loch Tay Boat Song"; instead of singing "I look towards Ben Lawers," in reference to a Scottish mountain, he sings, "I look towards Floyds Knobs," in reference to some hills in southern Indiana, across the river from Louisville).
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee's duos bring one back to the jazz duets of Bobby Hackett and Jack Teagarden, whose choice of familiar tunes then leads one to the great singers of the first songbook of standards, Ella singing Gershwin, and on and on.
The use of singing, he said, is a standard technique to help restore speech in people with brain injuries.
