it seems like years since it's been here
Considering how every morning I read the news with dread because I know the Orange Menace and his ilk in all nations will have found a way to make a bad situation even worse, endanger and murder more people, I am glad for every reminder of the good things we as a species are capable of as well. Even in plague times. Every so often, that reminder comes in musical form, so I'd like to share with you some of the more joyful and beautiful things I've found on YouTube last week:
The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France plays Charlie Chaplin's composition "Smile" for UNICEF - this is amazing not just in terms of the musical but also of the visual representation, which includes some lovely homages to silent movies. (And I'm thrilled these could be accomplished with home office equipment.) Chaplin composed Smile for Modern Times, his 1936 movie where he finally caved and incorporated (some) sound, though the Tramp still does not speak. There wasn't a text - that was only added when Turner & Parsons adapted it in 1956, and there isn't one here:
Then the Beatles' Here Comes the Sun as adapted by the Camden Voices. Here Comes the Sun was composed by George Harrison near the end of what truly was one of the most miserable winters of Beatles history, January and February 1969, which had seen the group imploding during the attempt to save it in the doomed film project. George gets often accused of being relentlessly negative during that era, but here he is as optimistic as can be, and so are the Camden Voices:
And finally, Simon & Garfunkle's The Sound of Silence as rendered by the choir of the Roland Gymnasium in Burg. The beauty of the song juxtaposed to what the lyrics are actually saying has always fascinated me, and here they come perfectly together:
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1395884.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France plays Charlie Chaplin's composition "Smile" for UNICEF - this is amazing not just in terms of the musical but also of the visual representation, which includes some lovely homages to silent movies. (And I'm thrilled these could be accomplished with home office equipment.) Chaplin composed Smile for Modern Times, his 1936 movie where he finally caved and incorporated (some) sound, though the Tramp still does not speak. There wasn't a text - that was only added when Turner & Parsons adapted it in 1956, and there isn't one here:
Click to viewThen the Beatles' Here Comes the Sun as adapted by the Camden Voices. Here Comes the Sun was composed by George Harrison near the end of what truly was one of the most miserable winters of Beatles history, January and February 1969, which had seen the group imploding during the attempt to save it in the doomed film project. George gets often accused of being relentlessly negative during that era, but here he is as optimistic as can be, and so are the Camden Voices:
And finally, Simon & Garfunkle's The Sound of Silence as rendered by the choir of the Roland Gymnasium in Burg. The beauty of the song juxtaposed to what the lyrics are actually saying has always fascinated me, and here they come perfectly together:
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1395884.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.