Argento: Andree Expedition & From the Diary of Virginia Woolf / Mulligan, Long
Naxos
CD
$19.99Aug 11, 2017
Dominick Argento is widely considered to be one of America’s leading composers of lyric opera and choral music. The two major song cycles on this recording demonstrate Argento’s flair for setting unusual texts to music. From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, which won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Music, is based on eight of the writer’s confessional journal entries, while The Andree Expedition sets diaries and letters from an ultimately tragic balloon expedition to the North Pole in 1897. “For me, all music begins where speech stops.” (Dominick Argento)
Although orchestral music and operettas such as Tom Jones (Naxos 8.660270-71) were Edward German's main focus as composer, he wrote a dozen or so works specifically for violin and piano, mostly during his time at the RAM, London, UK, where he was recognized as a gifted violinist, and the years immediately following. Many of these salon pieces were written for his own use, including his earliest known compositions. From the beguiling charm of the Chanson d'Amour to the haunting Souvenir, these works are exquisitely crafted miniatures, several of which have remained unheard for over a century.
