Performer: Melody Moore, Bradley Moore
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Pentatone
Release: 2019
Size: 1.31 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Barber: Hermit Songs, Op. 29
01. No. 1, At Saint Patrick’s Purgatory
02. No. 2, Church Bell at Night
03. No. 3, St. Ita’s Vision
04. No. 4, The Heavenly Banquet
05. No. 5, The Crucifixion
06. No. 6, Sea-Snatch
07. No. 7, Promiscuity
08. No. 8, The Monk and His Cat
09. No. 9, The Praises of God
10. No. 10, The Desire for Hermitage
Heggie: These Strangers
11. No. 1, These Strangers, in a Foreign World
12. No. 2, In the Midst of Thousands
13. No. 3, I Did Not Speak Out
14. No. 4, To a Stranger
Heggie: How Well I Knew the Light
15. No. 1, Ample Make This Bed
16. No. 2, The Sun Kept Setting
Floyd, C: The Mystery
17. No. 1, He Has Kissed Me
18. No. 2, Gentleness
19. No. 3, To My Husband
20. No. 4, At Dawn
21. No. 5, Rocking
Copland: Four early Songs
22. No. 1, Night
23. No. 2, A Summer Vacation
24. No. 3, My Heart Is in the East
25. No. 4, Alone
26. Getty: Goodbye, Mr. Chips: Chips, Darling, It’s Started (Arr. for Voice & Piano)
Getty: Three Welsh Songs
27. No. 1, Welcome Robin
28. No. 2, Kind Old Man
29. No. 3, All Through the Night
30. Getty: Deep River (Arr. G. Getty for Voice & Piano)
31. Getty: Danny Boy (Arr. G. Getty for Voice & Piano)
An American Song Album is a fine collection of songs by American composers, presented by soprano Melody Moore. The repertoire includes Samuel Barber’s introspective Hermit Songs, Jake Heggie’s engaged cycles These Strangers and How Well I Knew the Light, Carlisle Floyd’s exploration of motherhood in The Mystery, Copland’s impressionist and oriental Four Early Songs, as well as a varied selection from Gordon Getty’s vocal works. Set to Irish, Welsh, Chilean, German, Arabic and Afro-American poetry, these pieces constitute a panorama of the US as a melting pot of cultures, while simultaneously being bound together by an unmistakably American sound. Melody Moore manages to lift out the poetry of these works with her warm, lyrical voice and impeccable vocal technique. She is accompanied on the piano by Bradley Moore, one of the most eminent conductors and song accompanists of today’s American musical scene.
With her first solo album, Melody Moore continues her PENTATONE discography that already features recordings of leading roles in Gordon Getty’s Plump Jack (2012) and The Little Match Girl (2015), as well as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello (2017).