Part II of my “Salzburg Journal,” on the homepage today, has an assortment of items. They ought to be supplemented by links. Will give you a few.

I mention “Beyond the Sea,” a perpetually appealing song. Bobby Darin sang the famous version. But how about the jazzman George Benson?

I also mention the ’76 Olympics, in Innsbruck — in particular Dorothy Hamill and Franz Klammer. As I say in my journal, I wrote Dorothy a letter. (I was twelve.) What I don’t say is that she never wrote me back. Still waiting …

Anyway, here is her short program. I ask you: Has there ever been a more appealing girl? In the history of girls?

And here is Klammer’s historic run. It is a tumble down a mountain, a virtual wreck — and brilliant. Thank goodness cameras were there. What if it had been, say, the 1924 Olympics, in Chamonix?

Finally, I devote an item to Luca Pisaroni, the bass-baritone, who took part in an interview series I host in Salzburg.

Earlier in his career, Pisaroni auditioned for Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the veteran Austrian conductor. He began to sing the Catalogue Aria (i.e., “Madamina, il catalogo è questo,” sung by Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni). It was too straight for Harnoncourt. “More rubato,” he admonished (meaning, more license with time, more freedom of interpretation). “Like Frank Sinatra.”
I love that story.
The maestro told Luca, “Be with me at the beginning of the bar and at the end of the bar. What you do in between is your business.”

So, I thought you should have a link to Luca in this aria (one of several). The “song” in this one begins at about 1:05.