#geraint evans

[sitting-on-me-bum]

WOODLAND WONDER

West and North Yorkshire are not well endowed with woodland. The region is best known for its moors, such as Ilkley, gritstone landscapes as at Brimham, and rivers: the Wharfe, Aire and Nidd. However, nestled in the steep-sided valleys created by those rivers that begin life in the limestone Yorkshire Dales to the west and which then cut through the overlying gritstone, are hidden wooded areas.

By Geraint Evans

[princesssarisa]

Doublet for Leporello in Don Giovanni, from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1962. Designed by Franco Zeffirelli and worn by Geraint Evans.

@leporellian

[aschenblumen]

Gustav Mahler, Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Wyn Morris, director Geraint Evans, barítono Janet Baker, contralto

[ariesmusingz]

૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა ╱ WELSH NAMES MASTERLIST ( below the cut is #293 welsh first names. they are a mixture of feminine, masculine and neutral names, but please use as you see fit. please like / reblog if you found useful. )

feminine ;

addien

aderyn

adwen

aelwen

aeres

aerfen

aerona

aeronwen

aethwy

afanen

amser

anchoret

angharad

annwyl

anwen

aranrhod

arianrhod

arianwen

arlais

awen

awena

bethan

bethwyn

betrys

blodwedd

blodwen

blodwyn

braith

branwen

briallen

bronwen

bronwyn

brynn

buddug

caraf

cari

caron

carys

catrin

ceinwen

ceridewn

cerys

delyth

dilys

eilir

eira

eirlys

eirwen

eleri

eluned

enfys

enid

ffan

ffion

gaenor

gaynor

gladys

glain

glenda

glenys

glynis

glynnis

guenevere

guinevak

guinevere

gwawr

gwen

gwendolyn

gwenhwyfar

gwenifer

gwenllian

gwennan

gwenno

gwaldus

gwylan

gwyneria

gwyneth

haf

hafwen

heulwen

igraine

iorwen

kiah

lleucu

llinos

llywelya

lowri

lunet

mabli

maybn

madrona

madwen

mair

mairwen

mared

marged

medi

megan

meghan

melangell

menna

mererid

merlyn

morgana

morgause

morwen

myfanwy

nia

non

olwen

owena

raewyn

rhian

rhianna

rhiannon

rhianu

rhonda

rhoswen

seren

sian

sioned

siriol

sulwyn

talaith

tanwen

tegan

teleri

telyn

terrwyn

masculine ;

adda

aeron

aled

alun

andras

aneirin

arawn

arthur

baeddan

bedivere

bedwyr

berwyn

bevan

beynon

bleddyn

bowen

bran

broderick

brychan

brynmor

cadell

cadfael

cadfan

cadogan

caradoc

carwyn

ceron

cledwyn

collen

dafydd

dai

derwyn

dewey

dewi

dillan

dillon

dilwyn

eirwyn

elisedd

emrys

ercwlff

euros

gaerwn

gareth

geraint

gerallt

gethin

griffin

grittith

gruffudd

grugwyn

guto

gwalchmai

gwaltney

gwern

gwil

gwilym

gwydion

gwyn

hedd

heddwyn

howell

hywel

ianto

idwal

ieuan

ifan

ifor

illtyd

ioan

iolo

iorwerth

islwyn

kynan

lleu

llewellyn

lloyd

llyr

llywelyn

mabon

macsen

maddock

madoc

madog

meilyr

merewyn

meriadoc

mervin

mervyn

meurig

mihangel

mordred

myrddid

nye

owain

pasgen

peredur

powell

pritchard

pryderi

pwyll

rhodri

rhun

rhydian

rhys

romney

siarl

taffy

talan

taliesin

taran

trefor

tremain

trevelian

tudor

twm

urian

vaughn

yestin

ynyr

neutral ;

afon

avalon

avon

bricen

cadewyn

cadwalader

caerwyn

cai

cambrie

cariad

celyn

ceri

colwyn

crwys

dwyn

dylan

ebrill

eirian

elwyn

emlyn

evan

gaiwan

garan

glyn

glynn

gryffon

llar

meredith

morgan

mostyn

nesta

ninian

parry

pembroke

pugh

ragle

reese

rhoslyn

rice

sianai

tristan

uther

wynn

wynne

[redsoapbox]

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY INDIE CHRISTMAS (VOLUMES 1-4) COMES TO A CLOSE BY BEING NAMED 'THE GREATEST INDIE XMAS ALBUM EVER' (JOHN KENNEDY - RADIO X).

So there we have it. Three years plus of joyous hard work, curating 208 of the finest original indie Christmas songs in order to raise funds for Crisis at Christmas. The money raised by Have Yourself A Merry Indie Christmas (HYAMIC) will be officially confirmed as soon as the holiday is over (comfortably between £11 and 12,000). I'd like to say a big thank you to the various Crisis case officers who have assisted me, presently Ali Discombe. All have been kind and understanding of my circumstances.

As a music writer, and as somebody who likes to talk about great pop music almost as much as I like listening to great pop music, curating the album has been thrill-a-minute stuff. I still can't quite believe that some of my all-time favourite artists appear on the albums, including The Wedding Present, The Lucksmiths, Suzzy Roche, The Pearlfishers, Pete Astor, Tot Taylor, BOB and Armstrong. Equally, I was thrilled to discover scores of new bands that now rank alongside those favs mentioned above. I could list a 100 here, but will settle for - Sunturns (I played 'III' on Boxing Day morning and it blew me away!), Alpine Subs, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize, St Lenox, Hanemoon, Charlie's Hand Movements and Pale Sunday. There are songs on the HYAMIC albums that I would now rank in my top 20 Xmas songs of all-time - I absolutely fell in love with 'A Pretty Good Christmas' on first listen' (The Disappointment Choir Tr4 Volume 1).

I want to thank all the writers/broadcasters/podcast hosts/presenters/label bosses that got right behind the project, including some names of true international renown. Take a bow -

John Harris, Pete Paphides, John Kennedy, Adrian Goldberg, Gareth Jones, Andy Von Pip, Huw Stephens, Adam Walton, Ken Kessler, DJ Indi, DJ Oscar, Mickey Bradley, Bill Cummings, Alice Peter-Burns, Dr Art Jipson, Matt (Sarah), Tom (Fika Recording), Sandra Zettpunkt, Kat E, Josh Meadows, Tony Hardy, Gideon Coe, Vic Galloway, Geraint Evans, Gary Raymond, Alex Rawls, Francis (New Sound Wales) Wayne (Sunshine music I Radio) and Darrin (subjangle). A special mention for Jim of Christmas Underground, a trailblazer who made an album of this type possible. I spent many, many happy hours reading his always illuminating thoughts on some of the extraordinary songs that he was uncovering. Huge apologies to those that I have no doubt missed off the list somewhere along the way.

Thanks to Karen, Jenny & Becky for all their love and understanding throughout the HYAMIC years!!!

The albums remain on sale here - https://v4velindre.bandcamp.com/music

Look out for the final figure raised on New Years Eve.

[vampyreblogger]

MERLIN SEXYMAN ROUND ONE

POLL A:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711982741124726784/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

aglain VS aggravaine VS alator VS albin VS alined VS alrick VS althild VS alvarr VS alynor VS anhora

WINNER: aglain

POLL B:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711983663172272128/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

aredian VS ari VS arthur pendragon VS asgerd VS VS aulfric VS balinor VS bayard VS bedivere VS beroun VS bertrand

WINNER: arthur pendragon

POLL C:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711984904182824960/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

bolg VS cador VS caerleon VS cedric VS cenred VS cerdan VS cylferth VS daegal VS dagr VS darien

WINNER: cenred

POLL D:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711985846428090369/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

devlin VS ebor VS edwin muirden VS eldred VS elyan VS eoghan VS ethan VS evan VS evoric VS ewan

WINNER: elyan

POLL E:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711986791996063744/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

fermin VS fyren VS gaius VS geldred VS geoffrey VS george VS geraint VS gilli VS godwyn VS gorlois

WINNER: gaius and geraint (tie)

POLL F:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711990638031372288/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

gregory VS grettir VS gwaine VS halig VS helios VS hengist VS iseldir VS jarl VS john howden VS jonas

WINNER: gwaine

POLL G:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711991302511837184/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

joseph VS julius borden VS kanen VS kelda VS kendrick VS kilgharrah VS king olaf VS knights of medhir VS lancelot VS leon

WINNER: lancelot

POLL H:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711992078749581312/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

lochru VS lot VS matthew VS merlin VS montague VS mordred VS morris VS myror VS nollar VS odin

WINNER: merlin

POLL I:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711993086897750016/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

olwin VS osgar VS oswald VS owain VS pellinor VS percival VS radnor VS ragnor VS robert VS rodor

WINNER: percival

POLL J:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711993808358883328/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

ruadan VS sarrum VS sentry VS sindri VS sir william of deira VS taliesin VS tauran VS terrence VS thomas collins VS tindr

WINNER: sir william of deira

POLL K:

https://www.tumblr.com/oops-spaghetti-hoops/711994516175044608/merlin-sexypeople-polls-masterpost

tom VS trickler VS tristan VS tristan de bois VS tyr seward VS uther pendragon VS valiant VS william

WINNER: uther pendragon

[newswireml]

Farmer's distress at slaughter of pregnant cows#Farmers #distress #slaughter #pregnant #cows

Geraint Evans recalls seeing six of his herd being shot in his farmyard “I can cope with seeing a cow being shot,” said farmer Geraint Evans. “But what hurt me most was seeing the calf in the womb, being suffocated.” He was describing the result of regulations which means pregnant cows testing positive for tuberculosis (TB) have to be slaughtered on his farm. There have been calls for a change…

[moradadabeleza]

Geraint Evans

Against the Squall

[celestial-alignment]

10 Characters, 10 Fandoms, 10 Tags!

Thank you @nade2308 for tagging me to share my 10 favorite characters from 10 different fandoms!

In no particular order. I just think they’re neat. When I have them all laid out like this, I begin to see some patterns in the characters I’m drawn towards... In my defense (and to explain Piccolo being there) I don’t just pick characters I happen to think are pretty. That’s usually just a wonderful bonus. Picking just ONE from each fandom was also very hard.

1. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars

2. Artemus Gordon, The Wild Wild West

3. James T. Kirk, Star Trek, The Original Series

4. Nick Knight, Forever Knight

5. Methos, Highlander: The Series

6. Horatio Hornblower, Hornblower (Series and all the books, honestly)

7. Steve Rogers, Captain America (movies and comics)

8. Piccolo, Dragon Ball (Z, Super, whatever. If it’s Piccolo I’m there.)

9. Hannibal Lecter, Hannibal

10. Sir Percy Blakeney, The Scarlet Pimpernel (a lot of the films and the books)

Tagging whoever wants to join, but no pressure!  @cypanache @munoz13 @countesspetofi @pursuitoftruth @obiknights @labyrinth-runner @accio-baqat @butternuggets-blog​ @temporaryusername2015​ @more-comfortable-in-hell

[bookjotter6865]

Winding Up the Week #79

Winding Up the Week #79

An end of week recap

Exploring literary Dublin.

A shortened digest comes to you this weekend. It is also a day late, for which I apologise. I have enjoyed a restful week sailing to France with my partner and friends via Dublin, the Scillies and the Channel Islands and now intend to crack on with various reading projects. I also hope to post something about the more literary aspects of my trip…

[sitting-on-me-bum]

WOODLAND WONDER

West and North Yorkshire are not well endowed with woodland. The region is best known for its moors, such as Ilkley, gritstone landscapes as at Brimham, and rivers: the Wharfe, Aire and Nidd. However, nestled in the steep-sided valleys created by those rivers that begin life in the limestone Yorkshire Dales to the west and which then cut through the overlying gritstone, are hidden wooded areas.

By Geraint Evans

[neurodiversitysci]

A Very Interesting Twitter Thread from Geraint Evans (@GeraintWorks)

His response to folks who interrupt you talking about what it’s like to have autism or ADHD in order to object, “BUT EVERYONE DOES THAT”:

Geraint Evans is: AuDHD@GeraintWorks

PSA for the "that's not ADHD/Autism" crowd. I have identified the problem, I know why you're upset. You're thinking about it wrong 7:22 AM · Oct 18, 2022·

Geraint Evans is: AuDHD@GeraintWorks·9h

Replying to @GeraintWorksYou think we're creating some sort of medical checklist, a criteria for which enough  should indicate a medical diagnosis.

Geraint Evans is: AuDHD@GeraintWorks·9h

So, if I say something like "ADHD is: forgetting to brush your teeth" you read it and go "but everyone forgets to brush their teeth sometimes" therefore it doesn't belong on the checklist.

Geraint Evans is: AuDHD@GeraintWorks·9h

But I'm not doing that, I'm talking about an experience related to being ADHD. I *know* everyone forgets to brush their teeth sometimes.

Geraint Evans is: AuDHD@GeraintWorks·9h

But, what everyone doesn't do is forget to brush their teeth so often, even when they want to, need to and plan to that they have to set reminders in their phone and plug it into their Google calendar.

Geraint Evans is: AuDHD@GeraintWorks·9h

That's why it "is" ADHD. It's not a marker for diagnosis - it's what it feels like to be ADHD. Basically, a joke, or at least an observation about our lives.

Geraint Evans is: AuDHD@GeraintWorks·9h

Imagine I tweet something like "A migraine is: wearing shades indoors" would you rush to say "that's not a migraine, I wear shades indoors and I'm just insufferable"?

Geraint Evans is: AuDHD@GeraintWorks·9h

No, because you understand the reference. Maybe you just need to accept that we're not talking to you and you wont understand.

Geraint Evans is: AuDHD@GeraintWorks·9hWe're not trying to diagnose everyone - we're talking to each other. You're just able to see it.

I actually do think people would rush to say “that’s not a migraine, I wear shades indoors and I’m just insufferable” (ok, maybe leave that last part implied). But otherwise, yes.

10/19/22

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Traversing the Verdi Canon #30: Falstaff

Production: Met 2013. “Savannah, you’re watching this production for the umpteenth time instead of watching something new to you?” you ask with faint disdain. well, this production/performance is pure gold and complete comfort food for me, and why not go out on a guaranteed high?

Synopsis: it’s Merry Wives of Windsor with some spliced-in scenes from the two parts of Henry IV. here’s the synopsis from this production.

Experience: this is the last of the Seven From 2015. thank you, Solti recording with Sir Geraint Evans (still my favorite on audio). ever since I heard it, this opera has been a favorite.

Thoughts: If there are six words I can use to describe this opera, they are “unbelievably effervescent, sharply sweet, beautifully honest”.

As with Otello, we begin right in medias res and the pace never lets up from there: just slow enough to allow the audience to learn to know and love these characters while fast enough to keep the riotous energy and quick wit of the plotting moving along. The words, the music: everything matches each other to keep the tone right, whether looking at it moment by moment or as a whole.

Really, Falstaff is best appreciated in the context of Verdi’s own career: while on its own, it’s already basically perfection (and as previously stated, one of four candidates for Verdi’s Most Perfect Opera), in the context of the whole career it is nothing short of jawdropping.

it is a well-known fact that Verdi wrote a comedy at 27, one which as discussed earlier in this series was itself brilliant, and then while he did occasionally incorporate comedic elements into later operas, he did not write another full comedy after that first one for fifty-three years. and yet, this is one of the most brilliant, genuine operatic comedies ever written. the music has just such a lightness, an irresistible joie de vivre about it...all from a composer who spent most of his career writing about the various pains of this messy, complicated thing we call life and who had suffered plenty of sorrows over the course of his own life.

and yet, in his late seventies, less than a decade before his own death, he is able to look back on his work, on his sorrow, and smile. little references to his other operas dot the work—Quickly’s cries of “povera donna!” echoing Violetta Valéry, Ford’s monologue that is the last of the “jealous, wronged Verdi baritone aria” type—and so on. perhaps most poignantly, I’ve heard that the way Verdi wrote Nannetta and Fenton, that sweet pair of young lovers not quite like anyone else in Verdi, was supposed to look back with a sweet smile on his first love with Margherita Barezzi (his first wife). indeed, the music for those two in particular is nothing short of magical: sweet, filled with all the promise and optimism in the world. 

“Tutto nel mondo è burla,” sing all the characters in the astonishing fugue that ends the opera. Everything in the world is a joke. it’s a fitting end: ultimately, everything, even the pain and suffering so common in life, can, should, and will end in joy. everything is confusing, even deceptive, but in the end it’s something to look back on and understand and smile at. in a way, everything in Verdi’s operatic career has led to this moment: musical virtuosity and emotion, sharp characterization, and a very human lesson that says “you know what? the world may be fucked up, but it will all be okay in the end; we might as well enjoy it.”

there’s a really great quote from Julian Budden, courtesy of a post by @valinaraii, that pretty well sums it up:

“He had grown up in the days of the stagecoach and candlelight; he died in the age of steam and electricity. He had seen empires rise and fall, ideals overturned, age-old beliefs blown away by events. He had seen the Risorgimento and the cause of Italian unity gathering force through the heroism of its leaders only to collapse in petty squabbles. He could have observed with Oscar Wilde that there is only one tragedy greater than being baulked fo one’s heart’s desire, and that is attaining it. By his eightieth year he knew that nothing in this world can be taken for granted and than “Man is born to be made a fool of”. That he was no mere destructive cynic; that, if not orthodox Christian, he thought seriously on first and last things and was capable of religious experience we know from the Requiem and the Quattro Pezzi Sacri that were his last compositions; but the final message of the secular Verdi is one of tolerance, comprehension and humour. If we cannot all agree we can at least laugh with each other and at ourselves. It is a message of hope.”

— Julian Budden: The Complete Operas of Verdi, v. 3.

Ma ride ben chi ride la risata final. But he who laughs last laughs best.

After all this time, this is how Verdi chooses to end his career: with a wink. This is his last laugh, and if this line, the final one of this opera, is any indication, he is laughing quite well. At the very end, after all the pain, he can finally laugh: it has taken a life to learn this, and we would all do well to learn now.

It is certainly a beautiful, deeply moving way to go out.

Tip of my hat to you, Maestro Verdi. It’s been wonderful really getting to discover all of you from beginning to end. Now let’s all laugh. Because really, what else can we do?

[itsloriel]

Geraint Evans

Home

[scotianostra]

Good Morning from Scotland

Hushinish by Geraint Evans

[opera-ghosts]

Walter Hyde (6 February 1875 – 11 November 1951) was a British tenor, In 1901 he sang Borrachio in the premiere of Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing and soon appeared in London's West End in light opera and Edwardian musical comedy. He appeared regularly at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden between 1908 and 1924, becoming known for roles in Wagner operas, among others, both in Britain and America. He was also in demand as a concert artist. In his later years he was Professor of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music where his students included Geraint Evans and Owen Brannigan. He received lessons in voice before winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied composition under Joseph Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford and harmony and orchestration with Walter Parratt. On graduating Hyde was engaged by the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden to create the role of Borrachio in the premiere of Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing on 30 May 1901. Hyde was appearing as Bandmaster van Vuyt in Miss Hook of Holland when he impressed Percy Pitt who introduced him to Hans Richter Richter was preparing for a 1908 production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in English at the Royal Opera House and cast Hyde as Froh in Das Rheingold and Siegmund in Die Walküre  Hyde accompanied Richter and the rest of the cast in concerts at Manchester and Leeds where they sang Act I of Die Walküre; Hyde would continue to sing Wagner roles for the rest of his career. By 1909 he was singing tenor roles in oratorio at the Hereford and Birmingham Festivals and continued to do so up to and including the Leeds Festival of 1928. In May 1909 Hyde made his début in Italian opera at the Royal Opera House as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly followed by Gluck's Armide, In November 1909 he sang in Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust in a Proms concert under the baton of Henry Wood repeated two days later in a Royal Command Performance at Windsor Castle. The same year, Hyde returned to the Royal Opera House as Loge in Das Rheingold and Siegmund in Die Walküre. n January 1910 he sang Walther in an English-language version of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under the baton of Richter.For Thomas Beecham's first season at the Royal Opera House in February 1910 Hyde sang Sali in A Village Romeo and Juliet by Frederick Delius. For Beecham's second season at Covent Garden he was Laertes in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Erik in Der Fliegende Hollander and sang in Gounod's Faust. In March and April 1911 Hyde sang Loge in Das Rheingold and Siegmund in Die Walküre in Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow. On returning to England in 1913 Hyde toured the provinces singing in Wagnerian tenor roles before singing Pelléas in September 1913 in the first performance in English of Debussy's Pelléas and Mélisande at Birmingham. In early 1914 Hyde was booked to sing the title role in Lohengrin at the Hungarian State Opera House, but a misunderstanding over language (he thought he was to sing in German and did not know the role in English) resulted in the organisers switching to Die Meistersinger, which he sang in English. in 1919 he played Samson in Saint-Saëns' Samson and Delilah  During 1923 Hyde created the role of the Troubador in Holst's The Perfect Fool and sang in Wagner's Ring cycle at the Royal Opera House in the first production since the end of the War. Commencing on Boxing Day at Covent Garden that year, he sang in Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, The Magic Flute and as Belmonte in Il Seraglio.