Manufacturer: Philips
This is a fascinating CD, containing two song cycles--one brand new, by Osvaldo Golijov, and one dating from 1964, by Luciano Berio. Berios's is a setting of folk songs from several countries, including France, Italy, America, and Sardinia. Golijov's songs are in Spanish, but they cross Christian, Jewish, and Arab cultures. The Berio arrangements contain nicely odd harmonic cadences in the ...
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
Dawn Upshaw here explores outstanding examples of the past century of French song, adding a brief detour into Spanish with a haunting gem by Osvaldo Golijov. The recital's centerpiece is Fauré's La Chanson d'Eve, a cycle of 10 exquisitely fashioned songs whose delicate subtlety and carefully weighed balance between light and shade are beautifully realized by Upshaw and her excellent ...
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
Barber's Knoxville, Summer of 1915 is a setting of a lovely chunk of prose text by James Agee describing an evening from his childhood. An accomplished singer himself, Barber's vocal writing is expert, and this work must rank as one of the finest examples of the art of word-setting in any language. Barber perfectly captures the conversational quality of the text, while at the same time ...
Soprano Dawn Upshaw's programs are always interesting, and this one's a beauty: one of Bach's most heartfelt cantatas flanked by songs and arias of Purcell. For the most part, she's in excellent voice, but with the tics that make some demur from enthusiasm: occasional swooping, thinning of the voice in the upper regions, lapses into a "Broadway" type of vocalism, and diction problems. The latter, ...
Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas have long been regarded as the Mt. Everest of the form, heights that can be scaled only by pianists who possess the keyboard technique to realize the depth of the composer’s vision. By those standards, if Uchida isn’t the equal of such giants as Arrau, Kempff, and Schnabel, she certainly comes close enough to make this an outstanding release. Her ...
