Two great talents, three if you count conductor Seiji Ozawa

In my continuing effort to bring culture to the masses, here for your musical edification and listening enjoyment are two versions of the same song.

1. Here's Kathleen Battle singing the aria 'O mio bambino cara' from the opera Gianni Schicchi by Puccini (2:09).

2, Here's a chicken playing the aria 'O mio bambino cara' from the opera Gianni Schicchi by Puccini on the piano (2:02).

Which did you enjoy more?

Please note that Miss Battle sang completely from memory and did not require visual promptings of any kind.

Kudos to her. Also to the chicken.

To prove that time definitely marches on, which someone said recently, here are the artists when they were younger:

Dit kleine meisje is verbazingwekkend!

...or, as we say in English, this little girl is amazing!

Amira Willighagen, 9 years old, appeared on Holland's Got Talent in 2013. She seemed normal in every way until she began to sing.

Listen to her sing "O mio babbino caro" (7:50) and you'll think she is verbazingwekkend too.

One judge said Amira had the soul of Maria Callas. He may be right. Here is Maria Callas singing the same song (2:09). Puccini's aria is in Italian, of course, but since this post has a more international flavor than my usual ones, Miss Callas's rendition includes a translation in French.

We aim to please.

I have been young, and now I am old....

Here is a young Kathleen Battle singing Johann Strauss’s “Frühlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring)” (with Herbert von Karajan conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra).

And here is a not-quite-as-young Kathleen Battle singing Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro” (with Seiji Ozawa conducting the China National Symphony Orchestra).

My post title refers, of course, to conductors Herbert von Karajan and Seiji Ozawa, not to Kathleen Battle, who remains exquisite.



And if listening to Kathleen Battle is not your cup of tea, there is always Anna Netrebko.