Ah! Mes Amis (La Fille du Régiment): Flórez and Pavarotti versions

The best versions of Ah! Mes Amis from Gaetano Donizetti‘s La Fille du Regiment. Juan Diego Flórez sings in Vienna (2007), and Luciano Pavarotti’s version is from 17 February 1972, at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. La fille du régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) is an opéra comique in two acts by Donizetti. It was written …

Pink Martini – La Soledad

La Soledad is a Latin ballad, recorded on Pink Martini’s first album Sympathique (1997). It is one of the songs which is sung by the guest singer Pepe Raphael on the album. The band’s leader Thomas Lauderdale is a brilliant pianist who does justice to the classical pieces that he sometimes incorporates into their music. …

Charles Aznavour: La Bohème

Four different versions of “La Bohème” from the French-Armenian singer, lyricist, actor, and diplomat Charles Aznavour (22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018). I don’t know from what year the first version is (black/white), probably the late 60s. The second version is from 1968 and the third version is from 2004. And the fourth one …

Pink Martini – ¿Dónde estás, Yolanda?

“¿Dónde estás, Yolanda?” is a beautiful Latin American song, from Pink Martini’s 1997 album titled “Sympathique”. It is sung by the guest singer Pepe Raphael. “¿Dónde estás, Yolanda?” is a song composed by Puerto Rican musician Manuel Jiménez Fernandez and made popular in the 1960s by Afro-Cuban singer Orlando Contreras and the Mexican group Sonora …

Malagueña (Sabicas)

One of the best flamenco guitarists of the 20th century, Sabicas is playing the famous “Malagueña”, a song by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona; written in 1928, it was originally the sixth movement of Lecuona’s Suite Andalucia. The song has since become a popular, jazz, marching band, and drum corps standard and has been provided with …

John Williams plays Vivaldi’s Concerto for Lute in D-major

One of the most beautiful pieces of Baroque music: John Williams plays Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for Lute in D-Major, RV 93. Antonio Vivaldi wrote many concertos for various instruments, including lute and mandolin. This Concerto in D major for Lute and Orchestra has been transcribed for guitar. It remains one of the finest examples of …