Composer: Samuel Barber
Performer: Gerald Finley, Julius Drake, The Aronowitz Ensemble
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67528
Release: 2007
Size: 236 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. There’s Nae Lark
02. The Beggar’s Song
03. In the Dark Pinewood
Three Songs, Op. 2
04. III. Bessie Bobtail
Hermit Songs, Op. 29
05. I. At St Patrick’s Purgatory
06. II. Church Bell at Night
07. III. St Ita’s Vision
08. IV. The Heavenly Banquet
09. V. The Crucifixion
10. VI. Sea Snatch
11. VII. Promiscuity
12. VIII. The Monk and his Cat
13. IX. The Praises of God
14. X. The Desire for Hermitage
Three Songs, Op. 10
15. I. Rain has fallen
16. II. Sleep now
17. III. I hear an army
Mélodies passagères (5), Op. 27
18. I. Puisque tout passe
19. II. Un cygne
20. III. Tombeau dans un parc
21. IV. Le clocher chante
22. V. Départ
Three Songs, Op. 2
23. I. The Daisies
24. II. With rue my heart is laden
Four Songs, Op. 13
25. IV. Nocturne
26. III. Sure on this shining night
27. Dover Beach, Op. 3
The wonderful Gerald Finley, described recently as the best living baritone currently at the peak of his powers (The Globe and Mail), brings his glorious sound and great dramatic instinct to this fascinating selection of songs, sensitively accompanied by Julius Drake. Barbers songs are among his greatest musical achievements, demonstrating above all his sustained lyric impulse and graceful melodic writing. Another aspect was his well-developed literary taste. He unfailingly selected texts of high quality, including English Georgian poets, Irish bards, the French Symbolists and poets writing in English who were affected by them, such as James Joyce, as well as some of his own American contemporaries. Throughout his song output, he found ways of embodying the poets thought in musical correlatives that were never merely decorative, and developed an instinctive knack for embodying words in a memorable vocal shape. Presented here are a range of early and later songs including Barbers first success for voice, Dover Beach, which the composer sang on its first recording in 1935.
The wonderful Gerald Finley, described recently as ‘the best living baritone currently at the peak of his powers’ (The Globe and Mail), brings his ‘glorious sound and great dramatic instinct’ to this fascinating selection of songs, sensitively accompanied by Julius Drake.