Barbra Streisand

[Mark Fox]

Just spoken to friends who were in London last week-end for Barbra's concert-ABSOLUTELY SUPERB!(their words)!

[Terence Lee]

BARBRA Streisand met Beatrix Potter when the American singing star paid a surprise visit to Hill Top.

Staff at the former home of the Lakes author, at Near Sawrey, were astonished when the 65-year-old diva turned up.

Ms Streisand made a tour of the house and gardens before paying a visit to the shop.

Gillian Lewis, the retail manager at Hill Top, said: “She showed great interest in Hill Top, its architecture and the ambience of the house. She was polite and charming, and took time to sign autographs for us all.”

“I am never star struck but, for me, Barbra Streisand is a true icon. My mum adores her singing, so I was listening to Barbra Streisand from the cradle.”

A Hill Top shop assistant said: “On her arrival she paused in the shop briefly en route to the house, so we felt confident that we had a customer, on the return walk back to her car.

“Sure enough she asked to purchase the teeny, teeny, tiny mice she saw in the house and bought one of our Petri Bronzes ornaments.”

National Trust spokeswoman Liz Houseman said: “We were given half an hour’s notice. She had her bodyguards with her and the property manager gave them all a tour of the house.

“It was a fantastic surprise, especially for the girls in the shop who have been so busy following the Miss Potter film.”

The Hill Top visit was not the first shopping trip Ms Streisand has been on in Cumbria.

Prior to her Manchester gig on July 10, she was caught on CCTV shopping for antiques in Brampton. The star was captured browsing the shelves of the Cumbrian Antiques Centre for a good hour before spending several hundred pounds.

Among her purchases were a shaving mug, opera glasses and some lace pommels. At the Manchester show she told the audience that Cumberland Sausage was one of her favourite foods.

[Marian]

That's an interesting account of her visit to Hill Top Terence.

Really fascinated to know the names of the Antiques Centre Barbra visited now, and her favourite sausage??!!

Marian

[Lena & Harry Smith]

It was the Cu mbrian Antiques centre in Brampton Marian, but her favourite sausage could be anybody's guess.

Had to write the name like this ....a none came up

[Marian]

Thanks Lena and Harry. Maybe Terence will be able to let us know somehow. I thought it was black pudding, but if this prints okay it can't be right!!
Marian

[Terence Lee]

I don't understand why the word none keeps popping up when I type in her favourite sausage. Let me try again.....

Barba Streisand's favourite sausage .........C U M B E R L A N D

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Looks like the same reason that i tried to type in C UMBRIAN Terence.
They are generally those round sausages.

[Marian]

Ah, I see now! We could have had a quiz to guess the name
Thanks Terence for letting me know anyway. They are good!
Barbra has good taste.
Marian

[Terence Lee]

Naturally I don't know what C U M B E R L A N D sausage is since it is not available here. The next time I am in UK, I will have to sample it!

[Terence Lee]

Barbra's sister Rosalind Kind has a good singing voice but she can't step out of Bab's shadow much like Lorna Luft.

[Terence Lee]

Barbra Streisand, who recently completed a European concert tour, is reportedly among those being considered to star in the movie musical Sunset Boulevard.

The on-again, off-again movie musical version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard appears to be on again.

The London Telegraph reports that actresses Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand and Glenn Close are currently the frontrunners for the lead role of deluded silent screen star Norma Desmond in the motion picture.

The musical, which was based on the classic Billy Wilder film, features a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. Hampton told the U.K. paper, "Meryl Streep is on our list. It was during the last round of discussions when her name came up. Glenn Close is also on the list, as is Streisand."

In addition to the creators of the musical, Paramount Studios will also have a say in casting. Paramount owns the rights to the original black-and-white film, which cast Gloria Swanson as Desmond.

All three women have ties to the musical: Close played the role in Los Angeles and on Broadway; Streisand was the first to record the show's anthems "With One Look" and "As If We Never Said Goodbye"; and Streep was among the small audience at Lloyd Webber's Sydmonton estate, where the workshop of Sunset Boulevard — starring Patti LuPone — was originally presented.

[paul jh]

I think I read somewhere in the forum that Lena and Harry had written Alan Titchmarsh asking about the song played at the end of the Chelsea Flower Show. He mentioned that he received many letters regarding this. He played the song on last week's Melodies For You which was "The Love Inside" by Barbra Streisand. It was from one of her Barry Gibbs albums.

Last week's Melodies For You was particularly wonderful even though there was no Elgar or Matt Monro played. I listened to it twice---especially to hear the beautiful Polovstian dances from Prince Igor by Borodin. (Of course, the second time I advanced 5 minutes to miss Neil Diamond's Hello Again and Diana Krall's S'Wonderful.)

He played "I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls" by Suzanne Murply with the Welsh National Opera. Alan said it's a staple for Melodies For You. I never knew this song until hearing it on MFY and hearing it on UK artist albums. Does anyone know where it's from and why it's so popular in Britain?

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Paul, we did hear last weeks Melodies For You when Alan mentioned The Chelsea flower show, but it wasn't a Barbra Streisand song that we had asked about.
The tune that I questioned Alan about at the end of one of the Chelsea Flower show progs (and now have since well remembered )from many years past was "Sanctuary Of The Heart " a beautiful tune and just one of many of Albert William Ketelbey.
There were several different sets of words added to this tune and the one played on the mentioned day and ... I am now certain was sung by Ronnie Ronalde who incidently was 85 yrs old on Sunday.
We found his double CD on E-Bay with the song, which is now winging it's way to us.
I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls is from an opera The Bohemian Girl about a girl who is snatched by Gypsies as a young child and though she falls in love falls with a nobleman, she fears that because of her status she probably wasn't worthy of his love. not knowing and without being aware, her real father was a wealthy count and when she was falsely accused of stealing a piece of jewellery he turned up, she was aquitted and all's ends well.
Doesn't this story remind you of OLIVER.

[paul jh]

Thanks for the information Lena and Harry. I will search for this Ketelbey music. (He wrote the most gorgeous melodies. ) Maybe Alan will still play it. He doesn't play Ketelbey very often.

I've never heard of the opera The Bohemian Girl.

I think I will start a "light music" thread. It deserves a special place in the forum. I have become more interested in light music from listening to Alan Titchmarsh and Friday Night Is Music Night.

[Terence Lee]

Barbra Streisand

The singer's new 'Love Is the Answer,' produced by Diana Krall, is lushly orchestrated.

by Susan King
Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2009

Barbra Streisand may make beautiful music, but she rarely listens to it.

"I don't understand today's music," Streisand acknowledged, adding that she does enjoy some contemporary artists. "I saw John Mayer recently. My God, what a great guitarist and singer, but I don't turn on music. I listen so much when I am making a record.... I get so tired of music."

Especially when songs favor the beat over the lyrics.

"I can't relate," said the 67-year-old Streisand. "I guess the society is getting somehow angrier and angrier and less from the heart. It's sad. You know we are living in very hard times. We are living in fear and anger, and that is represented by the music."

Such negative emotions are nonexistent in her latest album, "Love Is the Answer," which will be released Sept. 29. The work, Streisand's first studio album since 2005's "Guilty Pleasures," is about melodies and lyrics, she said.

The bestselling female recording artist in history avoided the recording studio because of her touring schedule as well as the demands of building a new Cape Code-style house in Malibu.

"I didn't even know if I would have a voice left because I was full of sawdust and screaming over the hammers and the saws," she said.

"Love Is the Answer" also marks the first time the Oscar-, Emmy-, Tony- and Grammy-winning Streisand has worked with award-winning Canadian jazz artist Diana Krall and her combo.

Streisand was executive producer of the album; Krall was producer.

"We had a mutual respect for one another and admiration," said Streisand from New York during a recent phone interview.

"Her mom used to play my records," added Streisand, who met Krall at the Monterey Jazz Festival a few years ago. "So she kind of grew up with them. I usually produce a lot of my own things, so we did it as a collaboration. "

Oscar-winning composer Johnny Mandel ("The Shadow of Your Smile"), who has worked with Krall and Streisand previously, provided the disc's lush orchestrations.

"We met several times to just go over songs," said Streisand of Krall. "She would send me songs. I would tell her what I would like to sing. What I haven't sung. What I meant to sing."

For example, the smoky bossa nova "Gentle Rain" from the 1959 classic film "Black Orpheus" was in Streisand's repertoire on her latest tour as "my opener because it was nice to open the voice with a gentle song. Diana had recorded it, so it was the perfect thing to put on this album."

Streisand had always wanted to record Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen's haunting "If You Go Away." Streisand was such a fan of the French singer Brel that she flew to Marseilles in the 1960s to hear him perform in concert, only to have him not sing his signature tune.

Krall suggested the lovely "Make Someone Happy" from the 1960s Broadway musical "Do Re Mi," composed by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne, who wrote the music for Streisand's Broadway hit "Funny Girl."

"I love the fact that my dear friend Jule Styne wrote it," she said. "I fell in love with that song. That was so fun. We did that several times to get it right."

Streisand even changed the lyrics for a fundraiser last year for then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama:

"Barack is the answer
We know that he is the answer
Since we've found him
Let's all rally 'round him"

The regular CD features the Mandel-arranged orchestra versions of the songs; the two-disc deluxe CD set also features Streisand performing the selections with Krall's jazz group.

Krall always records basic tracks with her band and then the orchestra is added later.

"David Foster records that way, where you do the tracks first," said Streisand. "I don't particularly like it. I love the inspiration of the orchestra. But it brought me back to the way I started, so there is something very pure about it, not innocent but young and youthful -- nostalgic."

Streisand is giving an intimate concert of selections from "Love Is the Answer" at the famed New York jazz club the Village Vanguard on Sept. 26 for 100 lucky fans.

Her website at http://www.barbrast reisand.com/ is offering three contests to win tickets: Pixel Puzzle Game, Show Us Your Streisand Video Contest and Sammie's Cutest Pet Photo Contest. Sammie is Streisand's fluffy white pooch.

The concert was the brainchild of her manager, Martin Erlichman, who has handled Streisand since she was a teenager making a name for herself at such New York nightclubs as the Bon Soir and the Blue Angel, which no longer exist.

When she was 19, she auditioned at the Vanguard. "Miles Davis was the star of the show. The opening girl singer was Joanie Sommers. My friend Rick Edelstein was the waiter and he got Miles' musicians to back me at the audition."

"I didn't get the job," she added.