Composer: Jake Heggie
Performer: Joyce DiDonato, Philip Cutlip, Frederica von Stade, Measha Brueggergosman
Orchestra: Houston Grand Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Parlophone
Release: 2012
Size: 695 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Dead Man Walking
CD 01
01. Prelude
02. Prologue: “Watching you” – “A Kiss in the Dark” (Boy, Girl, Joseph De Rocher, Anthony De Rocher)
Act 1
03. “He will gather us around” (Sister Helen, Children, Sister Rose)
04. “Heavens! Look at the time” (Sister Rose, First mother, Sister Lillianne, Sister Catherine, Jimmy Charlton, Mrs Charlton, Sister Helen)
05. “Be careful people have always told me” (Sister Helen, A Motor Cop)
06. “This journey. This journey to Christ” (Sister Helen)
07. “Sister Helen? I’ve been waiting for you” (Father Grenville, Sister Helen, Inmates)
08. “Some of them didn’t look so bad” (Sister Helen, Father Grenville)
09. “I don’t like that man” (Sister Helen, Warden)
10. “Woman on the tier!” (Guards, Inmates, Warden, Sister Helen)
11. “Thank you” (Sister Helen, Inmates, Warden, Joseph)
12. “Are you frightened?” (Sister Helen, Joseph)
13. “You ever been with a man?” (Joseph, Sister Helen)
14. “Five more minutes, De Rocher” (First guard, Joseph, Sister Helen)
15. “The defendant’s mother” (A Paralegal, Older brother, Joseph’s mother)
16. “Joe, my Joe, is not a bad boy” (Joseph’s mother, Owen Hart)
17. “What you all say my Joe did is so terrible” (Joseph’s mother)
18. “It’s a good sign when they take so long to decide” (Sister Rose, Sister Helen, Owen Hart, Jade Boucher, Kitty Hart, Howard Boucher)
19. “You don’t know what it’s like to bear a child” (Jade Boucher, Kitty Hart, Sister Helen, Howard Boucher, Owen Hart, Joseph’s mother)
20. “I’m sorry. So sorry” (Sister Helen, Owen Hart, Jade Boucher, Howard Boucher, Kitty Hart, A Paralegal, Sister Rose)
21. “Guess your nun ain’t comin’ back” (First Prison Guard, Sister Helen, Joseph)
22. “I believe in the here and now” (Joseph, Sister Helen)
23. “The Bible says” – “Excuse me. Do you have any change?” (Sister Helen, Joseph, Warden, First Prison Guard)
24. “He will gather us around, all around” (Children, Sister Rose, Inmates, Sister Helen, Joseph, A Motor Cop, Joseph’s mother, Kitty and Owen Hart, Jade and Howard Boucher, Father Grenville)
25. “What happened?” (Warden, Sisters, Children, Joseph, Kitty and Owen Hart, Jade and Howard Boucher, Joseph’s mother, Inmates, A Motor Cop, Father Grenville)
CD 02
Act 2
01. Prelude
02. “31 … 32 … 33 …” (Joseph, Warden)
03. “Everybody hear that?” (Joseph, Warden, Inmates)
04. “The girl. I remember the girl” (Joseph)
05. “Oh! Now and at the hour of our death. Amen” (Sister Helen, Sister Rose)
06. “God’s love and forgiveness” – “Well? well?” (Sister Rose, Sister Helen)
07. “What time is it?” (Inmates, Joseph, Sister Helen)
08. “Joseph! I’m scared” (Joseph, Sister Helen, First Prison Guard)
09. “The new Ford Mustangs are so cool” (Joseph’s brothers, Joseph, Joseph’s mother, Sister Helen)
10. “All those people out there” (Joseph’s mother, Sister Helen, First guard, Joseph, Second guard, Younger brother, Warden)
11. “Don’t say a word” (Joseph’s mother, Joseph, Sister Helen)
12. “Who will walk with me?” (Sister Helen)
13. “Good evening” (Sister Helen, Howard and Jade Boucher, Kitty and Owen Hart, Second Prison Guard)
14. “I’ve said some harsh things” (Owen Hart, Sister Helen)
15. “You’re a regular illustrated man” (First Pison Guard, Second Prison Guard, Inmates)
16. “How much longer? How much more time?” (Joseph, Sister Helen, Inmates)
17. “We’d been drinkin’ and smokin’ weed at the road house” (Joseph, Sister Helen)
18. “I killed her” (Joseph, Sister Helen, Warden, Father Grenville)
19. “Dead Man Walking!” – “Our Father” (Warden, Father Grenville, Joseph, Sister Helen, Kitty and Owen Hart, Jade and Howard Boucher, Guards, Inmates)
20. “He will gather us around, all around” (Sister Helen)
Dead Man Walking, the 2000 opera with music by Jake Heggie and libretto by Terence McNally, has established itself as a classic among contemporary modern operas, with dozens of U.S. and international productions. The San Francisco Opera, which premiered the piece, released a very fine recording of the first production on Erato in 2001, conducted by Patrick Summers. Virgin Classics has issued a terrific new recording taken from a 2011 performance at the Houston Grand Opera, also conducted by Summers, making this one of the very few 21st century American operas with the distinction of having two professional recordings.
Listeners who want to choose between the versions won’t go wrong with either and fans of the opera will want both. Two of the leading performers from the original recording return; besides Summers, Frederica von Stade reprises her wrenching portrayal of Mrs. De Rocher, a role Heggie wrote for her. (Also, John Packard, the first Joseph de Rocher, sings Owen Hart, father of the murdered girl.) The newer recording has more star power, including Measha Brueggergosman as Sister Rose, Susanne Mentzer as Jade Boucher, mother of the murdered boy, and rising star Philip Cutlip as Joseph de Rocher. Heggie wrote the role of Sister Helen Prejean for Susan Graham, who left an indelible mark on the part. Joyce DiDonato is no less memorable as Sister Helen, so listeners have the luxury of comparing two excellent interpretations, as they might, for instance, in a standard like La Traviata; there are many ways of approaching a part, and listeners can savor the different personalities and voices singers bring to the role. Graham is warmer and more vulnerable, and DiDonato is more incisive, making the most of Sister Helen’s wry humor. Cutlip is vocally stronger and more dramatically engaging than Packard, and brings greater range to the part, more raw menace and more anguish. In both recordings the supporting roles are well taken, and the orchestral playing is outstanding. Both versions were recorded live; the sound in the new recording has a better sense of presence and immediacy, and that gives it an acoustic edge over the first.