music corner

Santiago Francia (one of my music teachers) used to say that "a life without music is a life in black and white" and I totally agree.

Here you will find some recommendations (I'll try to avoid very well-known pieces)

Classical

Close your eyes, and fly:

Marco Rosano: Stabat Mater - O Quam Tristis (Andreas Scholl - contratenor)
Tomás Luis de Victoria: Caligaverunt oculi mei
Satie: Three Gymnopedies

Beautiful voices:

Vivaldi: Sposa son disprezzata (Cecilia Bartoli)
Farinelli OST: Haendel - Lascia ch'io pianga (voice created by mixing tenor & contralto)
J.M.Cano: Luna - Epílogo (Renée Fleming)

For dark days:

Beethoven - Grosse fugue
"Vier Minuten" (Four minutes): Finalle. (Great movie!)

A smile:

Tom & Jerry - Cat concerto. F.Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody nº 2

Passion, passion...

Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto 1 - First movement
Wagner - Tristan und Isolde - Liebestod (Birgit Nilsson)

The greek Orpheus' lyre

Villa-lobos: Melodia sentimental (Cristina Braga - harpist)

Jazz

Mingus, Mingus, Mingus - II B.S.
The Jungle Book OST - I wanna be like you (Louis Prima)
Andrea motis i joan chamorro: Feeling good (great sax: Scott Robinson)
Raphael Gualazzi: Follia d'amore
Eva Cortes: Te me escapas, como agua entre los dedos
Manel Camp & Kitflus - Diàlegs: Celebrem-ho
Elis Regina & Tom Jobim - Aguas de Março (what a lovely Jazz Bossanova :-)
Kandace Springs - I Put A Spell On You. What Jazz-Classical fusion: Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' with 'I Put A Spell On You'. What a delicious version.

Dialog between two Divas (for scat lovers)

Ella Fitzerald - How High the Moon - Brutal!!
Sarah Vaughan - How High the Moon - Funny answer, check the lyrics:

How high the ocean, how high the moon
how high the ocean, how high the moon
i don't know the words of this song, but i'm a gonna sing 'em anyway
i hope you enjoy it, hope you enjoy it
Ella Fitzgerald sings this song real real real crazy
<scat> that's the way she sings it
so i'm gonna try to sing it that way for you
so here goes, so here goes how high the moon
<scat> …
I hope you enjoy it, we did the best we could…

And finally,
a bit of everything

From Mallorca:

Cap Pela - No som el rei (No intruments, only voices!)
Buika - Volverás
Joan Valent i Maria del Mar Bonet - De sentir
Maria del Mar Bonet (Lluís Serrahima) - Què volen aquesta gent?

Natch (con Ismael Serrano) - Ellas (Atención a la letra, qué gran poeta-rapero :-)

From Latinoamérica:

Las Taradas - El otorrinolaringólogo
Calle 13 - Latinoamerica
Susana Baca - Maria Lando

5 people playing the same guitar:
Walk off the Earth, Somebody That I Used to Know

Jeff Buckley - Grace

Versions, versions... (worse than originals, really?)

Beatriz Luengo - Dos gardenias
Joss Stone - L.O.V.E.
"Moulin Rouge" OST - Roxanne
Lila Downs: La Cucaracha
Aoi Mizuno: Habanera (Opera "Carmen")