American Classics - Beach: Songs / Kelton, Bringerud

$13.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
October 19, 2004
Format
Added to Cart! View cart or continue shopping.


    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      BEACH AMY
    • PERFORMER
      Katherine, Catherine, Kelton, Bringerud
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      October 19, 2004
    • UPC
      636943919125
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      8559191
    • LABEL
      Naxos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Vocal
    Works ⌄

    1. The Rainy Day

      Composer: Amy Beach

    2. 4 Songs, Op. 1: No. 4. Ariette

      Composer: Amy Beach

    3. No. 2 When Far from Her

      Composer: Amy Beach

    4. No. 3. Empress of night

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    5. 4 Songs, Op. 14: No. 2. Le Secret

      Composer: Amy Beach

    6. 3 Songs, Op. 19: No. 2. Ecstasy

      Composer: Amy Beach

    7. No. 1. Within thy heart

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    8. No. 3. Sleep, little darling

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    9. 4 Songs, Op. 35: No. 1. Nachts

      Composer: Amy Beach

    10. 3 Songs, Op. 41: No. 3. Forgotten

      Composer: Amy Beach

    11. No. 1. Dearie

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Katherine Kelton, Catherine Bringerud

    12. No. 4. Far awa'

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Katherine Kelton, Catherine Bringerud

    13. No. 1. The year's at the spring

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    14. No. 2. Ah, love but a day

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    15. No. 3. I send my heart up to thee

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    16. No. 1. Come, ah Come

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    17. No. 4. Canzonetta

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    18. Ich sagte nicht, Op. 51, No. 1

      Composer: Amy Beach

    19. Wir drei, Op. 51, No. 2

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    20. Juni, Op. 51, No. 3

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    21. Je demande a l'oiseau, Op. 51, No. 4

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    22. No. 2. Go Not Too Far

      Composer: Amy Beach

    23. No. 4. Shena Van

      Composer: Amy Beach

    24. No. 1. Baby

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    25. No. 2. Hush, Baby Dear

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    26. No. 1. A Prelude

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    27. No. 2. O Sweet Content

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Catherine Bringerud, Katherine Kelton

    28. 2 Songs, Op. 72: No. 1. Ein altes Gebet

      Composer: Amy Beach

    29. 2 Songs, Op. 73: No. 2. Der Totenkranz

      Composer: Amy Beach

    30. No. 1. The Candy Lion

      Composer: Amy Beach

    31. No. 2. A Thanksgiving Fable

      Composer: Amy Beach

      Performer: Katherine Kelton, Catherine Bringerud

    32. In the Twilight, Op. 85

      Composer: Amy Beach

    33. 3 Songs, Op. 117: No. 2. The Host

      Composer: Amy Beach

    34. May Flowers, Op. 137

      Composer: Amy Beach

    35. I Sought the Lord, Op. 142

      Composer: Amy Beach

    36. Though I Take the Wings of Morning, Op. 152

      Composer: Amy Beach


Amy Beach's songs are pleasant enough, and certainly well-crafted, with smartly chosen texts--Burns, Longfellow, Browning, Shelley, and some lesser-known poets, including Beach herself. But most of their appeal lies with the composer's deftness in borrowing from and incorporating the styles of major artists such as Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, Richard Strauss, and Debussy into her writing. She even takes directly from Beethoven in her quite lovely song "The Rainy Day". In other words, there's nothing really original here, but melodically and in terms of overall accessibility and singability, Beach understood the genre and knew how to create music that nearly everyone--singers as well as listeners--could enjoy. There are lullabies, German lied, and French chansons, as well as a nod or two to English and American parlor-song. And we're fortunate to have as our interpreter a singer who is one of the world's experts in this repertoire: mezzo-soprano Katherine Kelton did her doctoral dissertation on Beach's songs. She exhibits a voice of rich color and easy, inviting expressiveness, and her technique effortlessly conveys the varied moods and cleverly imitative styles so that we can just sit back and appreciate each one of these charming if not particularly profound works. Beach's piano accompaniments are carefully thought-out and add essential, characterful aspects of tone, color, and texture that are often very technically challenging. Catherine Bringerud is completely at home with this music and at one with Kelton's vocal interpretations. The sound is complementary to vocal and instrumental timbres and presents the performances in realistic perspective. Fans of American song--and especially of Amy Beach (who did much of her writing just down the road from where I'm writing this review, at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, NH)--shouldn't miss this interpretively considerate, solidly performed recital.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com