Mr.Gumby wrote:
André Rieu usually has a novelty Oirish item that features a whistle. It's not as uncommon as you may think. And its usually cringe worthy, as it is here.
I think all one really needs to take away from this is "Andre Rieu" and "cringe-worthy."
Nanohedron wrote:
bigsciota wrote:
The slight flinch from the lady at 0:26 really makes it for me.
Eye of the beholder, I guess. When I saw it, I thought,
Yep. Here come the waterworks, right on cue. What I didn't expect were the numbers; I confess that I cynically wondered if I weren't witnessing a paid claque.
My favorites were the couples clutching each other heartwarmingly as if watching their long-suffering chronically-ill child finally walk for the first time to go up and accept that Nobel Peace Prize or something.
Peter Duggan wrote:
Nanohedron wrote:
I was rather mystified by the wholesale upwelling of tears
I'm not. It's one of the great simple tunes or tune/harmony combinations... tightly shaped, powerful and loaded with further meaning by the words now effectively (before Richard appears to tell us it's actually 'New Britain') synonymous with it. It's just naturally stirring, whether or not that particular arrangement (with or without distractively hyperactive whistle) does it for you.
Sure. I love
Amazing Grace and the GHB as much as the next guy, and I won't lie, GHB can move me to tears. (okay, I admit it, I like
Highland Cathedral) It's just that Rieu tends to enjoy putting on a show of romanticism (I've changed it from a word that might be seen as more offensive by those who like what he does) that doesn't work for me. I'm a sentimental git but even I draw lines somewhere. (Look, I won't say the guy's not 10 times better at playing violin than I am-- though that's not a very high bar-- or that he doesn't make a hell of a lot more money than I do, but that doesn't mean I have to want to buy what he peddles. Some people do and that's fine, but I imagine it's unlikely to be people who know very much about Irish or Scottish music?)