Anyone listened to Ca Ira recently?

[PublicImage]

It's only an okay opera, in my view. It should have been much better considering how long it took him to compose it, but I suppose having high expectations might not have been totally fair, as Roger Waters is not really much of a musician.

The all four operas in The Nibelung's Ring by Richard Wagner are much better.

[Parish]

What's confusing is that Roger stated that English Operas that he was used to hearing were lame lyrically and the way they were delivered. Ex: " The jam is on the taaaaaaaaaaaabllle!"
But then you listen to Ca Ira and full of these lines delived in the same way. What strikes me most is the lack of melody. There are just no memorable songs here. I find the instrumental sections much more appealing...

[kardyl]

Must say I haven't listened to it for a wee while, but I do like it.

As it is really the only opera I have ever heard (apart from what I sing in the shower) I don't have a lot to compare it to.

You can certainly hear Rogers musical sway going thru it tho, a couple of bits with a sort of Pros & cons sound maybe.

[nosaj]

I have not given it a spin in years now.

[danielcaux]

I didn't like it much, but I didn't like Wagner's ring cycle either. Well I REALLY liked Wagner's instrumental parts, especially Das Rheingold's, but all those sung parts were booooooring, and each opera was like 5 hours a night, for 4 nights! Gimme a break!

But yeah, compared to Wagner, Waters' opera sounds a lot more conservative and mmmm ...soundtracky, almost Disney-like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiyoLa9z1ao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3quhsknLhP4

But the fact that he, of all PF members, could write an entire opera is pretty stunning to say the least. I still can't believe it, I mean I could only be more shocked if it were a Nick Mason's opera.

But is not that bad, the prolem is that it is, afterall, an opera, with the sopranos and tenores singing all over it. I would really like to listen to an instrumental version of it, or even more so the whole "album" sung by Waters himself in his regular raspy pop-singing style, I bet it wouldn't be that much different from The Final Cut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLllFMF-OkQ


PS/ Am I the only one who gets a Selling England By The Pound Genesis vibe out of this song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xnd4hVDhwA

I guess this song is a good example of the problem most of us have with opera: is just the singing style. The girl parts and male parts sound quite pleasant, but when the lady sings you feel kind of put off. I think that with the invention of the microphone, that powerful but timber-less singing style really lost its sense.

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

Sorry for bumping this thread, but it more or less answers the point I was going to make a thread about.

After all this time, and despite it being on Spotify and You Tube, I still haven't listened to this album all the way through.
I don't even own a copy!
I have tried, but couldn't make it through the whole of the first track!

With opera shows planned for next year, is it worth swotting up on?

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

And it's doing that double post thing again.

[twcc]

^^^
Ditto to many of the above comments. I listened to the 'English' version when first issued, tried the DVD last night (earlier I had been out to watch The Hobbit Five Armies) after seeing recent activity and the announcement of the USA date ... I'll listen to the CD's on a 210-mile road trip today.

[twcc]

I listened to the 'English' version all the way through and it is pleasant enough. Not much toe tapping and not much to sing along to. Some good effects on the car stereo.

An interesting observation I made when I got home is the 'English' version I have is SACD/CD but the French version (even more difficult to understand) is just CD.