Note about the downloadable Graduate Recital feature

Color-coded for your somewhat ease of navigation:
1. Disclaimer
2. Reasoning
3. Modus Operandus/Security thingee
4. Invitation to the voyage!!
5. Final Babble
6. Link

1. Here's the thing: I thought my Graduate Recital went well, all things considered.  Things considered include imperfect singing (mostly imperfect singing), as well as a few recording issues.  The tracks near the middle are a little bit off (the end of some songs ended up at the beginning of other songs), and there is some skipping (again in the middle).  It's a live performance recorded by a student engineer--we both did a good job...all things considered.  I just want to warn anyone thinking of listening to or downloading the program.  The tracks I have up as videos are (in my opinion) the ones most worth listening to. 

2. So why am I making the (even more) imperfect tracks available (for a limited time--I'm thinking maybe two months)?  I think it's because the recital was an important point for me, and I do want to share it, or at least make it available to anyone who's interested (for a bit).  The recital was--is--a real expression of songs I love and feel a connection to, within a context I tried to create (the French section's title is "Invitations," the German's, "Homecoming," the English's, "Longing," and the Bach/Italian arias', "Regeneration" [or something like that]).  I want to keep sharing a moment that was really about sharing--to fit the form to the thing itself. 

Come on, Sara, do you really think you need to get this heavy over an optional fileshare?  ANYWAY...

3. Not being the most tech-savvy of mortals, I'm downloading the whole thing to a filesharing program that I found when looking up "upload music to places HELP ME GOOGLE."  The files are in .mp4 format, which I know was a problem for Picasa but am hoping won't be a problem for anyone who wants to listen to them.  They should be okay if you open them, for instance, in iTunes.  I'd be willing to bet.  At least 50 cents.

I'm not 100% sure about filesharing security issues--according to my web-knowledge friend, filesharing is perfectly safe, but according to my internet explorer, it may not be entirely secure.  The 4shared security measures seem pretty impressive--to find out more, visit
http://help.4shared.com/index.php/Security_overview

4. Finally, if you're interested in, like, discussing any of the pieces, just drop a comment on here; I'd LOVE to hear what anyone has to say about interpretation or history, or favorite recordings, or experiences had in singing or witnessing performances...

5. Or if you're interested in getting a translation for any of them (I wish I were more computer-good so that I could include this information with the tracks themselves), I can throw you one.  Except the "Nel profondo," which will have to remain an approximation until further notice.  Seriously, my understanding of the translation of that piece goes something like this:

"In profound of this world
the precipices of a type
the spiteful to this heart
the strongest love will win
with the aid of valor"

Nothing like really doing a text justice.

6. If you're on the blog as opposed to the website, the link to the page with the download is here:
http://sara.couden.net/listen