Music I Liked – Black Panther and Berlioz

Once again, last week the music I liked was determined what I watched. Like everyone else in America, I saw Black Panther at the movie theater last week. I was also part of a smaller group that watched Seattle Opera’s re-premiere of the opera Beatrice and Benedict by Berlioz.

Black Panther

If you are one of the three people left in America who has not seen Black Panther yet, do it now. Even if you don’t usually like superhero movies. Seriously, go now. I’ll wait….

See? It’s amazing. I won’t even bother going on about how good it is. You can read glowing articles about it in Rolling Stone or Time or wherever without my bloggy comments. When the senior politics editor at the Atlantic gushes about a Marvel movie, you know there’s something going on. Suffice to say that I love just about every detail of that movie and listened to the Black Panther soundtrack a lot last week, even though I usually don’t count myself as a Kendrick Lamar fan.

I can’t find a legal embed, so enjoy this second track and then go buy the album from wherever you get your music.

Beatrice and Benedict

Even though I was unable to get press tickets to the opera last weekend, I was able to attend, thanks to my mom. The opera was Beatrice and Benedict, a retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. I was completely unfamiliar with the composer, Hector Berlioz. I’m not usually a fan of Romantic music, but the score for Beatrice and Benedict was quite lovely. I especially enjoyed Beatrice’s aria when she discovers she is in love, and the Nocturne. I was also very happy that Seattle Opera inserted a baritone aria into Berlioz’s original.