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Tavener: Lament For Jerusalem / Summerly, Et Al
Naxos
CD
$9.99
$19.99
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Mar 21, 2006
Sir John Tavener describes the Lament for Jerusalem as a mystical love song. The Lament brings together Christian, Judaic, and Islamic texts and is sung in Greek and English. The musical structure is that of a lattice whose proportions are carefully designed so that the listener is invited to focus on key points of the text which are themselves supported by transcendental melodic, harmonic, and textural devices. The simplicity of the work's form and it's logical progression through a series of seven linked, self-referential tableaux allow the Lament to grow in power and beauty during it's course. The American composer Steve Reich has described some of his own music as purveying 'a kind of dynamic stasis' and that aptly sums up the effect of Tavener's Lament for Jerusalem. The Lament is rooted in grim tradition, yet it looks longingly into the future to a time when beatific vision is restored, and, as in much of the very greatest art, form and content are inseparable.
SUMMERWIND
KINGSTON RECORDS
CD
$14.99
Jun 07, 2005
Ray Brown on bass, Monty Alexander on Piano/vocal Johnny Griffin on saxaphone and Martin Drew on Drums, This quartet swings for 73 minutes of pure hip hop jazz. In 1980 these 4 great jazz giants got together for the very first time to record this record. This album was first recorded by direct disc one take and that's was it, no second chance. This CD has never been released in the USA.
Wolfgang Mitschke: The Berlin Nightbirds
Naxos
CD
$9.99
$19.99
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Jun 05, 2020
The jazz pianist Wolfgang Mitschke appeared in Jazz magazines for the first time with Jazz masters such as Albert Mangelsdorff, Charlie Mariano, and Don Friedmann and became known to a wider audience with his Fusion Jazz record "Night Over Berlin," published by SKIP-Records. A stylistically similar album with the title "Midnight Moods" was also released by SKIP in the summer of 2008. On these albums, Wolfgang Mitschke already understood to organically employ the technical possibilities "single-handedly" with perfectly sampled sounds of the piano, e-piano, bass, rhythm guitar, strings, and the drum in such a way to produce a full sound impression.
Autumn Gold
Stradivarius
CD
$24.99
Mar 20, 2026
A selection of Lieder, however broad, focuses perforce on the German language, as dictated by the theoretical, historical, and technical definition of the word "Lied," of the genre "Lieder." What is more, this particular selection of Lieder, though broad, gravitates around a strong poetic inspiration which, entrusted here to Sara Mingardo, is oriented towards the evocation of moonlit nights, of mysterious nocturnal scents, of that contemplative solitude that quivers between the two extremes of eros and nostalgia. The Lieder of Brahms and Mahler promise cosmic dimensions in the sphere of the sublime. In these, too, the listener also moves, but in ascent or descent: (s)he "moves his (her) steps" not here and there, but into the depths which, when inverted, lead to the heights of heaven, in a sphere almost independent of time and space. At this point our reconnaissance brings us to the music presented for our enjoyment on this CD. Here again, one senses the air and the motion of the passeggiata, of an easy, informal stroll. This apparently unlikely association is prompted by the metaphorical image of music in the open air as a leisure pursuit, as entertainment. And here is the nub: this image, which implies the idea of "movement" in space and time (the brief space of a public garden, the brief space of a spring afternoon, or that between summer and autumn), takes on much broader ramifications as soon as we establish a logical connection between the democratic social and cultural function of the "Proms" and the mature self-analysis of the kind of lofty, profound music, intimately bound up with a poetic text of similar spiritual level, that was such a feature of Austro-German culture between 1860 and 1914, between the national (or even "nationalistic") undertones of the said culture and the First World War. The historical parallel is not negligible. Between the phenomenon of the provision of music in a social and urban context-typically but not exclusively British-and an inspiration that can be discerned in the work of two supreme composers who shared the same German language and culture, Brahms and Mahler, we seek to trace an element of continuity. Additionally, we might note, however, how any and every possible concert programme (including every recording and every conceivable form of electronic reproduction) is always a journey, a path; and how music, too, always and in any case, is a language that would not exist if it did not move in space and time, forwards or backwards, towards the "before" or towards the "after," up into the highest heavens or down into the unfathomable depths, emphasised on occasion by the very notion of walking, as in Musorgsky's Pictures, or driven by the desperation of a headlong flight from oneself, as in Schubert's Winterreise. And now, without further ado, let us listen!
There I Long to Be
Sono Luminus
CD
$16.99
Sep 26, 2025
Who knew? Certainly, we did not. When the eight of us met at WBEZ in Chicago on September 13, 2022, we thought we were taking the first step toward recording a new CD. It was a fine day in the studio, we got a bunch done and it sounded pretty great, but then we spent much of 2023 working on a chamber theater piece that split it's time between LA and Chicago, leaving not much empty space to go back into the studio. January 5 of 2024 was the next time we gathered to record, this time at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland - and there were a lot of us. There were the five core members of the group, with Tim Langen on fiddle, and James Oxley, tenor, for a total of seven musicians. Dan was producing, Charlie at the console, and Lindsey overseeing it all. Honestly, it was a tough session. We had been overly optimistic about what could be achieved, perhaps we were under-rehearsed, and I had cancer. This is not a poor-pitiful-me-moment. It's just a fact that sometimes when you have cancer and you don't know it, you haven't been diagnosed, nothing feels right, and indeed, nothing felt right. Even in the haze of exhaustion and infirmity, there were shining, glittering moments of extraordinary music making. Isaac brought his saxophone. Ensemble Galilei, known for early music/traditional music crossover had never, ever, recorded with something that modern. Cape Clear, a traditional Irish air would be played on sax accompanied by the viola da gamba. Who knew? Both instruments rumbled and sang, Isaac's saxophone riding the red-hot coals of grief, with the gamba, in the basement of it's range, providing a partner in darkness. James Oxley poured himself into, Come Away, Death, with Jesse Langen's extraordinary guitar giving space, air, and light to the tune. Bernard McWilliams, the session photographer, was there when the jig set was being recorded, a straight-ahead Irish set that Tim, Jesse and Isaac had assembled a few days before, and he looked me straight in the eye and said, "That is like hearing pure joy." The Boys of Barr na Sraide with it's perfect imperfection still makes me cry when I hear Isaac singing, And when the hills were bleeding and the rifles they were aflame To the rebel homes of Kerry the the Saxon strangers came And the men who fought the Auxies and beat the Black and Tans Were the boys of Barr na Sraide who hunted for the wren. There was a biopsy on April 15, I told my surgeon that my first free day to go under the knife was June 17. I had things to do. We had recording sessions already scheduled. As our producer, Dan Merceruio, and I listened to the tracks from December, there was music that soared and there were pieces that didn't quite rise. We needed a fiddler. I called Hanneke Cassel who lives in Boston, asked her if she might have one day to come to DC to record, and when she said, "Yes, if it's May 6, " we were good to go. I flew up for a rehearsal, we went over the tracks she would be working on, she created beautiful and compelling parts, and May 6 was one of those days of focused creativity that one never forgets. At that time, there were two projects in the works, on parallel paths. For the first time, we were going to record an early music CD in a conventional classical music style. Ensemble Galilei had always been known as a crossover group, meaning that while it was true that we performed early music, traditional music was always right around the corner. We never sought to achieve a level of historical performance practice that might engage early music audiences, until now. There were just four of us when we met to rehearse in the spring, and when the rehearsals were over and we were convinced that we had something to say that had never been said before, we scheduled a session for June 6-9. Kathryn Montoya and I were the early music representatives from Ensemble Galilei and we would be joined by the extraordinary lutenist, Ronn McFarlane and the peerless English tenor, James Oxley. Unfortunately, right before James was set to fly to the US from England, he tested positive for Covid. The studio at Sono Luminus had been reserved, Erica Brenner our producer, had her tickets, and Robert Friedrich, our engineer, had packed all the equipment. We were going to record. That studio is designed for a group to record together - sharing space, hearing the music as it is being played, feeling the resonance of the room. There is no isolation, no overdubbing, no fixing that pesky buzzy string in bar four that will be problematic later. The sound of the recording will be broader, there will be more room sound, and the process is inherently different. You can see each other, hear each other breathe. And if you make a mistake, it lives on in everyone's microphone. There is, after all, a plus and a minus to everything. Those days of recording with Kathryn and Ronn were astonishing. Because we had three days booked (and since we weren't recording any of the vocal music), we could focus, really take our time, stretch out and listen, and with Erica gently guiding us, rearrange, and go again. It is rare that time is your friend in the studio, and for us in those days, it was. We were able to book the studio with James for August 4-6, and there we met again. True confessions, two of the songs that James sang are profoundly important in my life, and the way that he sang John Dowland's Flow My teares and Go Cristall teares made playing the bass line, with Ronn taking the lute part, an exquisite experience. And I do hear it, in the recording. All of that intention, all of that seemingly effortless technique (which we know is not effortless) and the heart that they put into the performances, these are the things that one lives for in music. I called Collin Rae, the head of Sono Luminus, on the way home from the session, hoping that he might have a great name for this Ensemble Galilei early music spinoff and he suggested that instead of releasing two different projects under two different names, that we release a single recording as a two CD set. Lindsey Nelson, our executive producer, who seems to always have the wisdom and experience to guide us when we are in uncharted territory, was in the car during that phone call. It was a mind-blowing moment. There were so many things that made sense about it, and at the same time there were major obstacles. We had always been an ensemble that embraced a wide range of music, so putting early music and traditional music on the same CD was business as usual. But we had recorded in radically different sonic environments, intentionally, and how we would marry these diverse soundscapes was challenging. But Collin was right. It was crazy to spin off a different group, give it another name, and release a CD. And while it had never occurred to Lindsey or to me, a two-CD set was the perfect solution. The summer of 2024 was tough, and yet astonishing things kept showing up. A few years before, I looked at our Spotify page for the first time and saw that we had millions of streams. Our big cities were Paris, Seattle, and London, and our demographic was predominantly people in their late teens, twenties, and early thirties, not our usual concert audience - and they were not hearing the music on a Spotify radio station, they were listening and sharing with friends. This was happening all over the world. And then in August, Come, Gentle Night, the title track of a CD that was released in 2000 on Telarc, caught fire. All of a sudden, our top five cities were all in Turkey. The tune was streamed hundreds of thousands of times, again, shared from one person to another. People were listening. Radiation started for me in September. For my first session, which would be the longest, the tech asked what I would like to hear and I said, "Me. Us. Ensemble Galilei." He found Ensemble Galilei on Spotify and as I lay on the cold metal table, in the chilly, dimly lit room, I heard Following the Moon, the title track of a CD released in 1995. It was the second tune I had ever written, and it had been decades since the penny-whistle, harp, viola da gamba and fiddle soaring through space had crossed my consciousness. As I am listening, the machine delivering the radiation starts to rotate across the table, doing it's own, graceful, beautiful dance to the music. Then the next tune, and the next tune and what I realized, in that extreme and novel moment, was that there was a kind of hope and humanity in our music. You could hear it. You could feel it. I understood that people around the world were listening because these tunes offered them a place to be. Of course it did. We had been making music for thirty-five years because it's what we do, not because we ever had a big breakthrough, or there were sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall. Did it make a difference that now there were over twenty-one millions streams? Yes, actually it did. We weren't quite finished recording. We needed Jackie to sing As I Roved Out in a way that only he could do, and we needed a great first track for the first CD. Isaac was writing a new tune that would go with an old tune, and he and Jesse finished working on it on Friday, December 13th and aptly named it, The Last Minute. It changed a little after the concert on Saturday, we did it again in concert on Sunday so, sure, it was ready Monday morning. December 16th was the one day when Dan could fly north, and Jackie, Jesse, Isaac and I would all be in the area, so after our Sunday afternoon concert on December 15th the four of us drove to the studio, met Charlie, set up the microphones, chairs, headphones and whatever else we needed so that we could start recording right at 10:00am, but the next morning there was fog in DC so Dan's flight was delayed. Of course it was. In spite of the challenges we had an extraordinary day, clocked out at 6:00 and everyone made it to their airports on time. After Dan edited the tracks from Chicago and Takoma Park, after Erica edited the tracks from Sono Luminus, I got to work sequencing. Now that all of this music would be one project, we needed a single person to make the choices, to guide the process, to envision and manifest this opus. It was Dan. It had to be. He had been our north star for fifteen years and the hard decisions would have to be his. Some tracks would not make it into this recording and his expertise, compassion, and patience were essential. We also needed to get a proof of concept CD to Collin. None of us really knew for sure whether we could make these two very different sonic fields into one compelling project. When I downloaded all the tracks and started putting them into an order that made emotional sense, I started to hear the stories. But there were problems. There were moments in sequencing the two discs when there seemed to be no way to get from the early music to the Irish music, or back again, and then Kathryn and her recorder solos provided exactly what we needed. In an unexpected turn, the recorder which is so clearly identifiable as an early music instrument became timeless. In her hands, this instrument which is essentially a wooden tube with holes in it, became an expressive and infinitely transmutable pathway for traversing the cultures and centuries. It was miraculous. It would have been technically possible to have the early music recording and the traditional music recordings come close to matching in sound and space, but honestly, I came to love the differences. Robert, a master location engineer, had achieved a sound that included the room, with it's high ceiling and hardwood floor, and also brought the resonance of each of us close to the listener. Charlie, who had produced the very first Ensemble Galilei recordings, knew exactly how to place the microphones so that on that amazing guitar solo, Bruach Na Carraige Baine, the pure sound and the overtones would sparkle, and fill the ear. As I listened down through all thirty-four tracks and forty-seven tunes over two CDs, sometimes I felt like I was turning a corner, from one song to another, moving from an Irish hillside to a medieval castle, from one world to another - each of them compelling, expressive, and sonically exquisite. In the end, if the musicians have brought their hearts, souls, and years of mastery, if the recording team has entered into the space with wisdom, tools, patience and good will, if the executive producer is saying, "Sure, let's book one more session to make this the very best it can possibly be" then the opportunity exists for the listener to hear it all - the breath, the intention, the ensemble, the soloist, the fingers on the strings, the air as it comes out of the recorder, the hands on the regulators of the uilleann pipes, the tipper as it touches the head of the bodhran, the rosin on the fiddle's bow, and feathered end of the note on a viola da gamba. It is all there. What you do not hear on this recording is the harp being played by EG Emeritus member, Sue Richards. Never in the thirty-five years of Ensemble Galilei has there been a recording without Sue. Who are we without that grace, without her sense of beauty and joy? The answer must be that we are still making music, still telling stories, still finding our way into new territory, trusting our hearts and our sensibilities. Playing music together is a place where we meet, a place that we love, indeed, it is there I long to be. - Carolyn Surrick, March 10, 2025 Ensemble Galilei Isaac Alderson - uilleann pipes, Irish flute, whistles, tenor saxophone Jesse Langen - guitar Kathryn Montoya - recorders, whistle, shawm Jackie Moran - banjo, bodhran, egg shaker Carolyn Surrick - viola da gamba With Hanneke Cassel* - fiddle Gjendine's Bådlåt and Gjendine's Waltz, Boys of Barr na Sraide Tim Langen - fiddle Jig Set, When that I was a Tiny Boy Ronn McFarlane - lute James Oxley - tenor *Ensemble Galilei emeritus Barn Dance no.1 and Leaving St. Kilda were recorded at WBEZ in Chicago on September 13, 2022. Recording Engineer - Brian Doser Producer and Editing Engineer - Dan Merceruio Mixing Engineer - Charlie Pilzer Producer and Music Director - Carolyn Surrick Come Away Death, Io son un Pellegrino, Serbian Wedding Dance, Bruach Na Carraige Baine, Cape Clear, When that I was a Little Tiny Boy, Waltz no.1, Sliabh Geal gCua, Aggie Whyte's, The Old Blackthorn Stick, Old Simon the King, The Boys of Barr na Sraide and The Fair Maid of Barra, The Sporting Pitchfork and Scattery Island were recorded at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland from January 5-7, 2024. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Charlie Pilzer Producer and Editing Engineer - Dan Merceruio Producer and Music Director - Carolyn Surrick Hanneke Cassel recorded Gjendine's Bådlåt and Gjendine's Waltz, and added her incredible musical sense to The Boys of Barr na Sraide on May 6, 2024 at Tonal Park. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Charlie Pilzer Producer and Editing Engineer - Dan Merceruio Producer and Music Director - Carolyn Surrick Lament for Owen Roe O'Neill/Allen Water/ Licke-potjen, Fantasias no. 2 and 3, Life, Tweede Stuck, Galliard, Loftus Jones, Suzanna Galliard, Vierde Carileen, Oncques amour, Jesus in Thy Dying Woes, Zesde Petit Brande/Frere Frapar/La Perichone, and Love is the Cause of My Mourning/Miss Noble were recorded at Sono Luminus in Boyce, Virginia from June 6-9, 2024. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Robert Friedrich Producer and Editing Engineer - Erica Brenner Au joli bois, Beware Fair Maids, Flow My Teares, Go Crystall Teares, His Golden Lockes, and Venus Birds were recorded at Sono Luminus in Boyce, Virginia from August 4-6, 2024. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Robert Friedrich Producer and Editing Engineer - Erica Brenner Hewlett and As I Roved Out were recorded on December 16, 2024 at Tonal Park. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Charlie Pilzer Producer and Editing Engineer - Dan Merceruio Producer and Music Director - Carolyn Surrick Lindsey R. Nelson, Executive Producer. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Robert Friedrich, Five/Four Productions, LLC.® Produced by Dan Merceruio. Collin J. Rae, Executive Producer Joshua Frey, Layout Carolyn Surrick, Liner Notes Photography: Bernard McWilliams Cover Art: Amy Fenton-Shine
TIPPETT: A MIDSUMMER MARRIAGE
LPO
CD
$38.99
Sep 23, 2022
This is the first commercially available recording of Tippett's first opera in over 50 years, recorded in a landmark performance conducted by Tippett enthusiast Edward Gardner. Performed at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, this performance was a thrilling start to Edward Gardner's tenure as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Misty
SteepleChase
CD
$22.99
Aug 08, 2004
In the summer of 1965 Dexter Gordon spent most of his evenings performing at Jazzhus Montmartre packed with his loyal fans. Five of these evenings were broadcasted by the Danish Radio and SteepleChase is making them all available for the first time.
This CD captures high-spirited Dexter on the third night.
This CD captures high-spirited Dexter on the third night.
Ice & Fire / The Bowed Piano Ensemble
Navona
CD
$18.99
Nov 19, 2013
S. SCOTT Afternoon of a Fire 1. New York Drones. Vocalise on “In a Silent Way” 2. Aurora Ficta. “La Guitarra” 2. Baltic Sketches • Bowed Piano Ens; 1 Saraiya Ruano (native American fl); 2 Victoria Hansen (sop) • NAVONA 5937 (51:30)
Sad to say, this may be the final recording released by the Colorado-based Bowed Piano Ensemble, as Stephen Scott, its founder, director, and in-house composer, will be retiring this year, and no one is in line waiting to fill his shoes. A performance by this ensemble looks something like a team of doctors performing open heart surgery on a grand piano. Up to 10 musicians simultaneously brush, pluck, or strike its strings (or other parts of the piano), or bow its strings using nylon filaments or other implements. In fact, the only way in which the piano is not played is by means of its 88 keys! This is not a stunt, however. The results are musically viable, thanks to Scott’s strengths as a composer—he has been influenced both by Steve Reich and by jazz—and to the nearly orchestral range of sounds the Ensemble produces. Electric and acoustic guitars, harpsichords, violins, violas, cellos, double basses, percussion instruments, synthesizer-like effects, even eerie approximations of the human voice all live within the Ensemble’s piano. The Ensemble was founded in 1977.
This CD, which goes by the title Fire & Ice , in an excellent introduction to the Ensemble’s work, even as it brings its output to a close. The most recent work, Afternoon of a Fire , was inspired by a devastating fire that occurred in Waldo Canyon, just outside of Colorado Springs, in the summer of 2012. Scott’s eight-minute composition is, to a degree, illustrative, but it is more a reaction to the fire than a description of it. Three passages for native American flute complement the music, and are an allusion to Ute Indian tribe, which had been associated with the area. There are several passages that are reminiscent of Reich (who is specifically honored in New York Drones , the following work on the CD). The oldest work, Baltic Sketches , is a continuous set of five short pieces that Scott composed for Estonian and Lithuanian musicians in 1997. Much of Scott’s music for the Bowed Piano Ensemble tends to unfold slowly, perhaps because of his interest in jazz, but the Baltic Sketches are precise and immediately effective.
Two of the works include Scott’s wife, soprano Victoria Hansen. In Vocalise on “In a Silent Way,” she sings several wordless phrases from the Weather Report composition to the Ensemble’s accompaniment, before the Ensemble itself takes up the melody. In “La Guitarra,” she adopts a flamenco-like singing style to produce an earthier effect. These works demonstrate how well the Ensemble can play both starring and supporting roles.
Aurora Ficta is the “false dawn,” an astronomical phenomenon also known as zodiacal light, in which light from the sun reflects off dust particles, and a dim triangle of light rises above the horizon, although it is still night. Scott reserves some of his strangest and most interesting sounds for this work, which is a true and uncanny tone poem.
It’s sad to think that there will be no more releases from the Bowed Piano Ensemble, but perhaps someone will step into Scott’s position after all, or perhaps a similar ensemble will be founded somewhere else. Fire & Ice makes an excellent case for the worth of what Scott and his Ensemble have been doing for almost four decades. One might approach their work with skepticism, but one responds to it with amazement.
FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle
MOMENT OF TRUTH: ELLA AT THE COLISEUM
VERVE
Vinyl
$29.99
Feb 28, 2025
Vinyl LP pressing. Ella Fitzgerald virtually invented the live album. Her performances were so consistently great that almost any live show was special enough to release as a record. For Ella Fitzgerald, every night was The Moment of Truth. In the summer of 1967, Ella Fitzgerald was in the middle of a three-year touring and recording collaboration with Duke Ellington and was incorporating hit pop songs of the late-60s into her concert repertoire - two of which are presented here for the first time on record.
Langgaard: Complete Works for Violin and Piano, Vol. 3
Dacapo Classical
CD
$17.99
Mar 05, 2021
The last stop on a long journey, here is the third and final installment of a warmly received Langgaard cycle undertaken by violinist Gunvor Sihm and pianist Berit Johansen Tange. The present volume includes the violin sonatas Nos. 2 and 3 - highly accomplished works with strong individual features - and two single-movement pieces composed by Langgaard the precocious teenager: the charming Aubade written on a summer holiday with his parents, and the dark-colored Night Watchman's Song. Gunvor Sihm trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, from where she graduated in 2014 under Professor Serguei Azizian. Before that Gunvor studied 2 years at San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Ian Swensen. Gunvor Sihm has won several prizes, among others the prestigious Van Hauen's Music Prize 2011, the Eigil Harby Foundation's scholarship in 2015 and Gladsaxe Music Prize 2018. From 2011-15 Gunvor played in the 1st violins of Copenhagen Phil, until she won the position as 2nd Concertmaster for the 2nd violins of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Gunvor was a soloist with among others Odense Symphony Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Tivoli Copenhagen Phil, Danish National Chamber Orchestra and, on several occasions, Copenhagen Phil. With Nightingale String Quartet Gunvor Sihm has recorded the complete string quartets by Rued Langgaard for Dacapo.
Fauré: Requiem, Etc / Summerly, Beckley, Gedge, Et Al
Naxos
CD
$9.99
$19.99
Save 50%
Apr 29, 1994
The appearance of Fauré's Requiem in the 1880s, a decade during which the composer's most successful compositions were songs and piano pieces, can on I y be explained by the fine choral music which preceded it. The Messe basse represents Fauré at his most practical. Written in conjunction with the French composer and organist André Messager (also at one time assistant to Widor at St Sulpice) during a holiday in Normandy in 1881, the Messe basse was composed for the modest forces of a local church. A setting of the motet O salutaris hostia and the Kyrie were Messager's contribution; the remaining movements of the Ordinary, without the Credo, were set by Fauré. When revising the score in 1906 Fauré adapted the violin and harmonium accompaniment for organ, at the same time excising the Gloria and replacing Messager's Kyrie with one of his own. The final version of the Messe basse is one of the few existing settings of the mass for female voices and organ. The youthful Cantique de Jean Racine dates from 1865 when Fauré was studying with Saint-Saëns at the Ecole Niedermeyer in Paris. The Cantique earned Fauré a premier prix in composition and is a testament to the young composer's melodic genius and to his penchant for rich textures. This recording is an attempt to move Fauré's liturgical music from the concert hall to the church. In particular, the reconstruction of nineteenth-century French ecclesiastical pronunciation and the restoration of Fauré's preferred phrasing are just two of the most useful elements in the search for the composer's intentions. To those familiar with the more expansive versions of Fauré's Requiem there will inevitably be unfamiliar textures in this performance. However, few of Fauré's romantic gestures are lost in the chamber version, and moreover, the reserved translucence of the instrumentation emphasizes the fact that the Requiem -and indeed all the choral music recorded here - was originally designed for liturgical performance.
King Neptune
SteepleChase
CD
$22.99
Jan 01, 1990
Dexter In Radioland vol. 3
“Those were the nights in the summer of 64, sitting home in your pad turning the dial on the radio, and suddenly the mighty Dexter Gordon is on the air. You are in Radioland with one of the godfathers of bebop...”(Ib Skovgaard - from the linernotes.)
“....an impressive document of the time.” (Barry McRae, Jazz Journal International November 1990)
Mozart, W.A.: Requiem in D Minor
Naxos
CD
$19.99
Apr 15, 1989
Constanze Mozart was later to claim that her husband had a premonition that the Requiem was an omen of his own coming death, a suggestion to which one may attach little credence, however attractive the story may appear to the romantic imagination. Mozart seemed, in the summer of 1791, very much more cheerful than he had been, since his fortunes had taken an obvious turn for the better. In November, however, he was taken ill and within a fortnight he was dead, his death ascribed by his doctor to military fever, but the subject of much subsequent speculation. On 4th December he felt well enough to sing with his friends parts of the Requiem, which was still incomplete. Benedikt Schack, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, sang the soprano part in falsetto, Mozart sang alto, the violinist Hofer, husband of Constanze's sister Josefa, Queen of the Night, sang tenor and Franz Gerl, whose wife played Papagena, while he took the part of Sarastro, sang bass. It is said that Mozart burst into tears and could go no further when it came to the Lacrimosa, of which, incidentally, he had written on I y the first eight bars. This was in the afternoon. In the evening his condition worsened and he died at five minutes to one on the morning of 5th December, to be buried a day or so later in an unmarked grave. Mozart had completed the composition and scoring of the Introit and Kyrie, used by Süssmayer for the final Communion, Lux aeterna. The great Sequence, the Dies Irae, was sketched fairly fully up to the verse Lacrimosa, dies illa, a point at which Eybler too gave up his tentative work on the score. Süssmayer continued the Lacrimosa for a further 22 bars, completing it. Mozart had written the voice parts and bass of the Offertory, as he had for much of the Dies Irae, and this Süssmayer completed. Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei are the work of Süssmayer. The Czech conductor Zdenek Kosler studied under Karel Ancerl at the Prague Academy of Arts, and distinguished himself early in his career at the Besançon Conductors' Competition and in the Dimitri Mitropoulos Competition in New York. The first prize in the second of these enabled him to work as assistant-conductor with Leonard Bernstein for one year.
Do You Believe in Heather?: Chamber Music by Stale Kleiberg
2L
SACD
$32.99
May 17, 2019
"Some of the most beautifully played and appealing contemporary chamber and piano pieces you're likely to hear", said American Record Guide about the album Mezzotints – Chamber Music by Ståle Kleiberg. And now there is a follow-up: a new string quartet, two trio constellations and the song cycle ‘Do You Believe in Heather?’, which has given the album its title. Ståle Kleiberg is often called a "modern romantic", and for good reason. We encounter a distinctive and highly individual alloy of modern and romantic elements in his music, whether it is characterized by a still, meditative lyricism or an energizing vitality. His String Quartet no. 3 encompasses this entire range of expression. The music speaks of summer. It is imbued with joie de vivre, and was composed with a full command of the genre and with considerable virtuosity. The flute-viola-harp ensemble is less common, but by no means unknown. Following Debussy's Sonata, several trios have been composed for this ensemble, and Kleiberg's ‘Trio Luna’ is a fine and most welcome addition. The work's three movements capture the mood of three dissimilar outer and inner landscapes, all of them bathed in moonlight, albeit at different times of day and night. ‘The Light Smith’ is also a trio; it is a song cycle for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and piano, and is chamber music on a very high level of inspiration. Both ‘The Light Smith’ and ‘Do You Believe in Heather?’ are settings of poetry by the distinguished Norwegian poet Helge Torvund. These poems engage with such archetypal themes as light, quietude, love, death and nature, but they treat these themes as real, everyday experiences, rather than abstract concepts. While the theme of ‘The Light Smith’ centers on the beginnings, growth and culmination of life, it is autumn and winter we meet in ‘Do You Believe in Heather?’
The Great Poets: Matthew Arnold
Naxos AudioBooks
CD
$17.98
Aug 11, 2017
Considered the bridge between romanticism and modernism, Matthew Arnold wrote verse that is simple, unadorned and straightforward. From the hypnotic and beautiful lines of Dover Beach to the pastoral narrative of The Scholar Gipsy, Arnold cast a gaze at the main intellectual issues of the nineteenth century while giving a timeless insight into man and nature. This collection covers his major poetic works, including the narrative poems, sonnets and elegiac poems, illuminating the lyricism and serenity of Arnold’s best poetry. The collection includes: Dover Beach, Desire, Longing, A Summer Night, Consolation, Philomela, A Dream, The Scholar Gipsy, East London, West London, Thyrsis, Immortality, Growing Old, A Wish, Bacchanalia; Or, The New Age, A Modern Sappho, The Hayswater Boat, The River, Human Life, The Buried Life, Austerity of Poetry, A Farewell, Requiescat
LIVE IN 1947 AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL!
GOOD TIME
CD
$13.99
Jan 24, 2025
In the summer of 1947, Duke Ellington and his orchestra took the stage at the Hollywood Bowl, delivering a performance that embodied the genius and evolution of one of jazz's greatest innovators. By this point, Ellington was more than a composer and bandleader-he was a visionary, reshaping jazz and solidifying his legacy as one of America's most influential musicians. This album captures that electrifying night, showcasing Ellington's big band during a pivotal moment of transformation in jazz.
Dunas - Live in Copenhagen
Storyville Records
Vinyl
$39.99
Nov 21, 2025
Rosa Passos is considered one of the most important and loved Brazilian singers. Many music fans view her as the queen of modern bossa nova and samba, and she's equally loved in South America, Japan, USA and Europe. Whether she's playing with Kenny Barron or Yo Yo Ma she easily sells out Carnegie Hall in New York. She also enjoys touring with her quartet at jazz festivals and jazz clubs around Europe. Rosa Passos is part of the golden generation of Brazilian musicians that includes Joao Bosco, Joyce Moreno, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Maria Bethania, Milton Nascimento, Ivan Lins and many other great artists. Rosa Passos is especially loved for her elegance and soft touch. Her musicality is an inspiration to singers all over the world. Her music speaks to everyone, you don't need to know about jazz or music to understand and enjoy - there is something universal to her vocal and approach that instantly makes the listener go along on the journey Rosa sets out for. It's always beautiful and if you close your eyes you can feel the Brasilian soul and see the beaches for your inner eyes. On July 7th, 2001 Rosa Passos played two sets at the famous Copenhagen Jazzhouse, one of the best jazz clubs in Europe for more than 25 years. The concerts took place as part of a bigger summer tour of Europe, with Rosa Passos playing all the important jazz festivals. In 2001 she was still unknown to the audience in Copenhagen, but Steen Rasmussen, a Danish pianist who was there, remembers: "Her playing was flawless and sophisticated - and it swung like crazy. It was already the best music I'd ever heard. Then she began to sing - and I was almost in a trance. That voice, that phrasing, that swing, that empathy, that way she accompanied herself - and that low volume. I could tell everyone present felt the same. Rosa Passos had changed all our lives forever" The experience speaks to the impact Rosa Passos has on people when they have the honor of experiencing her talent first-hand. She's intimate and powerful at the same time, and the tunes she plays, a mixture of her own compositions and Bossa Nova-classics, support her means of expression in the best way possible. This recording from Jazzhouse presents her and her band at her best. The sound is crisp, and the presence allows for the pure expression to shine through, and makes you wish that you had been there to experience this very special night in Copenhagen. "Imagine you are rocking a baby to sleep. For me, that's Bossa Nova" - Rosa Passos
Weiser: in a dark blue night
Cantaloupe Music
CD
$21.99
May 03, 2024
Alex Weiser's latest recording, the follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-nominated and all the days were purple, is a love letter to New York City. Featuring acclaimed singer Annie Rosen with a seven-piece chamber ensemble, the album comprises two song cycles that explore the city from complementary perspectives. The first cycle, in a dark blue night, features five settings of Yiddish poetry written by newly arrived immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These poems reflect on the city at night — glowing, quiet, majestic.
It's followed by Coney Island Days, told through the recorded memories of Weiser's late grandmother. It features vivid, buoyant adventures about childhood in the bustling immigrant world of Coney Island in the 1930s and 40s — days at the beach, at the family's knish store, at the Russian baths and much more. "My grandmother grew up in Brooklyn spending summers in Coney Island, living with her family in a single room behind their knish store," Weiser says. "Hers was a multilingual world where she was taught English at school, but where her Yiddish-speaking parents could barely understand the language of their new land."
Together the two cycles celebrate the marvel and multiplicity of New York City, through a look at a little-explored chapter of its history.
The Most Happy Fella: 1992 Broadway Cast
Sony Masterworks
CD
$11.98
Jun 09, 1992
A chamber version of the big bustling 1956 folk opera by Frank Loesser, this revival of The Most Happy Fella opened on February 13, 1992 at the Booth Theatre, on Broadway. In spite of stellar performances by its cast – led by Spiro Malas as big-hearted Napa Valley vintner Tony; Sophie Hayden as Rosabella, his mail-order bride; Charles Pistone as Joe, the foreman whose picture Tony has sent instead of his own to lure Rosabella; and Liz Larsen as Cleo, Rosabella’s friend – and enthusiastic reviews, the show failed to find an audience and closed after playing 229 performances. Loesser’s robust score survives in this well nigh perfect recording, the first in stereo.
Music and lyrics written by Frank Loesser.
Principal cast includes: Spiro Malas (Tony); Sophie Hayden (Rosabella); Claudia Catania (Marie); Buddy Crutchfield (Ciccio); Tad Ingram (Postman); Liz Larsen (Cleo); Mark Lotito (Pasquale); Bill Nabel (Giuseppe); Charles Pistone (Joe); Scott Waara (Herman).
Recorded at BMG Studio A, New York, New York on March 23, 1992.
Tracklist:
1. Prelude 1:13
2. Ooh, My Feet 2:15
3. I Know How It Is 4:33
4. Somebody, Somewhere 2:12
5. The Most Happy Fella 3:52
6. Standing on the Corner 2:40
7. A Long Time Ago 1:56
8. Joey, Joey, Joey 3:38
9. Rosabella 2:38
10. Abbondanza 1:39
11. Sposalizio 2:41
12. Benvenuta 3:04
13. Aren't You Glad 2:46
14. Don't Cry 3:25
15. Fresno Beauties 3:13
16. Love and Kindness 2:10
17. Happy to Make Your Acquaintance 3:56
18. Big 'D' 5:01
19. How Beautiful the Days 3:09
20. Warm All Over 2:15
21. I Like Everybody 1:46
22. My Heart Is So Full of You 3:11
23. Mama, Mama 2:49
24. Song of a Summer Night 2:54
25. Please Let Me Tell You 1:27
26. I Made a Fist 1:05
27. Finale 2:15
Music and lyrics written by Frank Loesser.
Principal cast includes: Spiro Malas (Tony); Sophie Hayden (Rosabella); Claudia Catania (Marie); Buddy Crutchfield (Ciccio); Tad Ingram (Postman); Liz Larsen (Cleo); Mark Lotito (Pasquale); Bill Nabel (Giuseppe); Charles Pistone (Joe); Scott Waara (Herman).
Recorded at BMG Studio A, New York, New York on March 23, 1992.
Tracklist:
1. Prelude 1:13
2. Ooh, My Feet 2:15
3. I Know How It Is 4:33
4. Somebody, Somewhere 2:12
5. The Most Happy Fella 3:52
6. Standing on the Corner 2:40
7. A Long Time Ago 1:56
8. Joey, Joey, Joey 3:38
9. Rosabella 2:38
10. Abbondanza 1:39
11. Sposalizio 2:41
12. Benvenuta 3:04
13. Aren't You Glad 2:46
14. Don't Cry 3:25
15. Fresno Beauties 3:13
16. Love and Kindness 2:10
17. Happy to Make Your Acquaintance 3:56
18. Big 'D' 5:01
19. How Beautiful the Days 3:09
20. Warm All Over 2:15
21. I Like Everybody 1:46
22. My Heart Is So Full of You 3:11
23. Mama, Mama 2:49
24. Song of a Summer Night 2:54
25. Please Let Me Tell You 1:27
26. I Made a Fist 1:05
27. Finale 2:15
MIDSUMMER ODYSSEY - THE MUSIC OF LARS GULLIN
SUNNYSIDE
CD
$16.63
Jul 15, 2022
Alto saxophonist Randal Despommier offers with A Midsummer Odyssey, a captivating duo session with guitarist extraordinaire Ben Monder. The central focus is the highly accessible yet always enigmatic music of Swedish baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin (1928-1976). // It was a chance encounter with "Danny's Dream," a lithe and melodic piece played for Despommier by his friend Olof Lovmo in Italy in 2005, that sparked the altoist's deep and longstanding interest in Gullin. Despommier describes the tune as "a mix between a Norse folk-song arrangement by Edvard Grieg and a Billy Strayhorn ballad." Having triggered the process that would ultimately lead to A Midsummer Odyssey, Lovmo fittingly took on the role of assistant producer.
Stopford: Sacred Choral Music / Jeremy Summerly
Naxos
CD
$9.99
$19.99
Save 50%
Jan 12, 2024
Philip Stopford is a British composer admired in Britain and America for his beautifully crafted music, rooted in the Anglican tradition. This programme of all-world premiere recordings includes the substantial Missa Deus nobiscum. All works are conducted by Jeremy Summerly, with the Choir of St. Luke’s, Chelsea and the Chelsea Camerata.
FANTASIAS BARCELONICAS - TRIBUTE TO PAQUITO D'RIV
SUNNYSIDE
CD
$16.63
Jun 10, 2022
From my very first visit in the summer of 1980, the city of Barcelona fascinated me in all it's senses, from Montjuic, Las Ramblas and the monumental cathedral of La Sagrada Familia to the Palau de la M sica, La Boquer a market and Plaza de Espa a. This must have influenced positively in my relationship with the members of the "Barcelona Clarinet Players," which was love at first sight that began in 2018 during my conversation with the outstanding Cuban-Spanish pianist Pepe Rivero at the AIE headquarters in Barcelona. That afternoon they told me about the arrangement they had made of my "Afro" for a music program for children, so when I got back home I started sending them pieces of mine adapted from versions for previous formats, such as "Cuban Sharks", "A Farewell Mambo", "The Elephant and the Clown", "La Fleur de Cayenne","Kites over Havana" or "Wapango". All of this until one fine day the restless Barcelona Clarinetists got excited at commissioned me an original work for this very special musical ensemble. "Fantas as Barcel nicas" was born, moved by three emblematic Catalan artists whom I have admired for years: The inspired novelist Carlos Ruiz Zaf n, who narrated the mysteries of the night in Barcelona, the charismatic pianist Tete Montoliu, whose sense of swing and jazz improvisation are an indispensable part of the soundtrack of the city where Mir and Caball were born; and finally the brilliant architect Antoni Gaud , who with his amazing and luminous style, fills the streets of his native land with unrepeatable architectural gems. The fact that this extraordinary group of fellow clarinetists decided on recording a CD with works of my own honors me by offering me the opportunity to sing publicly my love for this magical city and my devotion to some of his most beloved children. -Paquito D'Rivera, December 2021
Mahler: Symphony No. 7
Alpha
CD
$20.99
Apr 10, 2026
Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich continue their complete cycle of Mahler symphonies with the Seventh, considered one of his most complex and challenging symphonies: "The Mahler we encounter in Symphony No. 7 is more complex, darker, and more philosophical than the Mahler we know from his previous works," says Paavo Järvi. Mahler, who was extremely busy in his role as director of the Vienna Opera, composed this symphony on the shores of Lake Wörthersee in Austria during the summers of 1904 and 1905. Also known as Song of the Night, this symphony is characterized by rich instrumentation (including a guitar and mandolin in the fourth movement) and spectacular orchestral effects: "Here, nature roars," Mahler said of the tenor horn solo at the beginning of the work.
Adams: Doctor Atomic / Finley, Rivera, Renes
Opus Arte
DVD
$39.99
Sep 30, 2008
Also available on Blu-ray
3243540.zz80_ADAMS_Doctor_Atomic.html
ADAMS Doctor Atomic & • Lawrence Renes, cond; Gerald Finley ( Oppenheimer ); Jessica Rivera ( Kitty ); Eric Owens ( General Groves ); Richard Paul Fink ( Teller ); James Maddalena ( Hubbard ); Thomas Glenn ( Wilson ); Ellen Rabiner ( Pasqualita ); Netherlands PO & Op Ch • BBC/OPUS ARTE 998 (2 DVDs: 168:09)
& Illustrated synopsis; documentaries on opera, cast, composer, and director; interview with director
John Adams has already analyzed Nixon as he visited China and scrutinized terrorists and cruise ship passengers in extremis. Now, Doctor Atomic focuses on the final days of the Manhattan Project as J. Robert Oppenheimer and his colleagues struggle to produce the first atomic bomb. The moral dilemmas presented by that weapon drive the conflict, but though the effects of its future use are made starkly obvious and are central to the purpose of the creators, no conclusion is imposed. Rather, Doctor Atomic is an exploration of the extraordinarily gifted people who, for the cause of good, created a diabolical device that irrevocably changed them and the world that summer of 1945.
Long-time Adams collaborator Peter Sellars fashioned the libretto. Using historical sources throughout, he gives the work a strongly documentary flavor, allowing the viewer to piece together the events, personalities, and conflicts. However, it is Sellars’s use of poetry that is the most striking. Oppenheimer makes love to his wife Kitty with Baudelaire’s sensual verse, and quotes him again as the final countdown stretches time agonizingly. Kitty voices Muriel Rukeyser’s vision of peace in a world facing inescapable death. Pasqualita sings evocative Native American verse as a lullaby; and the atomic blast is anticipated with quotes from the Bhagavad Gita . In the finale to act I—a stunning piece of theater—Oppenheimer cries out his personal agony in the words of John Donne’s sonnet “Batter my heart,” as the enemy, the “Gadget,” hangs shrouded Ark-like behind him. That many of these poems and poets were significant to Oppenheimer—the Donne sonnet inspired the project’s code name “Trinity,” and he learned Sanskrit in order to read the Bhagavad Gita —adds yet another layer to this strikingly profound work.
The role of the intense and driven Oppenheimer was created by Gerald Finley, a singer who inhabits every part with his superb acting and his tightly focused, richly expressive baritone. Other excellent artists from the San Francisco Opera premiere include sonorous bass Richard Paul Fink, a Mephistophelian Edward Teller, cynical and provocative; lyric tenor Thomas Glenn, whose sensitively performed Robert Wilson is uneasy but likeable; baritone Eric Owens, a physically and vocally imposing General Leslie Groves, the no-nonsense military commander of the project; and baritone James Maddalena—Nixon in Adams’s earlier opera—a long-suffering meteorologist Jack Hubbard. New to this production are mezzo-soprano Jessica Rivera and contralto Ellen Rabiner. Rivera’s Cassandra-like Kitty Oppenheimer, the conscience of the work, is vocally vivid, though some of the acting seems posed. Pasqualita, the Oppenheimer’s Tewa Indian housekeeper, is the only fictional character. Rabiner sings her role with a rich, if not always steady, voice, balancing Kitty’s intensity with quiet compassion. The fine Netherlands Opera Chorus, playing scientists and project personnel, serves as Greek chorus, intoning the opening scientific credo, chanting the targets, crying out in fright at the vision of Vishnu and staring into the blast in stunned silence at the culminating moment.
Edgard Varèse and 1950s science-fiction movie scores are John Adams’s acknowledged inspirations, and the combination is winning. The ostinatos of traditional minimalism are used sparingly and are often disjointed and irregular, creating an undercurrent of disequilibrium. More often, Adams employs extended chords, late Romantic in their chromatic richness, punctuated with bells, shrieks of brass, snatches of melody, and electronic roars and rumbles. Above this, Adams’s lyrical vocal lines wheel, often fraught with tension. This compelling score is by far the richest and most complex Adams has created.
Not all is perfect. Well as it recreates the anxiety of the night of the test, with its portentous storm, the second act occasionally makes repetitious dramatic points and is in need of some tightening. More troubling, there are a number of visual distractions, especially the rather silly choreography, expressing heaven knows what, and the frenzied video editing with its constant cutting, panning, and zooming, and continual, often shaky, tight close-ups. The editing seems to highlight the mechanics of vocal production as much as the acting and often leaves one with no sense of what is happening on the stage as a whole. Peter Sellars was both stage and video director, so I have to assume these were important parts of his conception. There is much to admire in that vision, but sometimes less is more.
By this time, many interested readers will either have seen the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of this work in the movie theater or heard it on the radio. Despite the similarities in casting and the typically small audience for modern operas, I hope it appears on DVD. This powerful opera deserves the documentation of both directorial visions. This Netherlands Opera production, in any case, should not be overlooked. It presents Sellars’s original concept, more abstract than the Met’s, well sung, conducted, and played, and with several fine performances not reprised in the Met production. Give it a try.
FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames
CAST:
J. Robert Oppenheimer – Gerald Finley
Kitty Oppenheimer – Jessica Rivera
General Leslie Groves – Eric Owens
Edward Teller – Richard Paul Fink
Jack Hubbard – James Maddalena
Robert Wilson – Thomas Glenn
Captain James Nolan – Jay Hunter Morris
Pasqualita – Ellen Rabiner
Bonus:
- Interview with Peter Sellars
- Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: Dolby Digital 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (All Regions)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch
Running time: 228 mins
Number of DVDs: 2
ADAMS Doctor Atomic & • Lawrence Renes, cond; Gerald Finley ( Oppenheimer ); Jessica Rivera ( Kitty ); Eric Owens ( General Groves ); Richard Paul Fink ( Teller ); James Maddalena ( Hubbard ); Thomas Glenn ( Wilson ); Ellen Rabiner ( Pasqualita ); Netherlands PO & Op Ch • BBC/OPUS ARTE 998 (2 DVDs: 168:09)
& Illustrated synopsis; documentaries on opera, cast, composer, and director; interview with director
John Adams has already analyzed Nixon as he visited China and scrutinized terrorists and cruise ship passengers in extremis. Now, Doctor Atomic focuses on the final days of the Manhattan Project as J. Robert Oppenheimer and his colleagues struggle to produce the first atomic bomb. The moral dilemmas presented by that weapon drive the conflict, but though the effects of its future use are made starkly obvious and are central to the purpose of the creators, no conclusion is imposed. Rather, Doctor Atomic is an exploration of the extraordinarily gifted people who, for the cause of good, created a diabolical device that irrevocably changed them and the world that summer of 1945.
Long-time Adams collaborator Peter Sellars fashioned the libretto. Using historical sources throughout, he gives the work a strongly documentary flavor, allowing the viewer to piece together the events, personalities, and conflicts. However, it is Sellars’s use of poetry that is the most striking. Oppenheimer makes love to his wife Kitty with Baudelaire’s sensual verse, and quotes him again as the final countdown stretches time agonizingly. Kitty voices Muriel Rukeyser’s vision of peace in a world facing inescapable death. Pasqualita sings evocative Native American verse as a lullaby; and the atomic blast is anticipated with quotes from the Bhagavad Gita . In the finale to act I—a stunning piece of theater—Oppenheimer cries out his personal agony in the words of John Donne’s sonnet “Batter my heart,” as the enemy, the “Gadget,” hangs shrouded Ark-like behind him. That many of these poems and poets were significant to Oppenheimer—the Donne sonnet inspired the project’s code name “Trinity,” and he learned Sanskrit in order to read the Bhagavad Gita —adds yet another layer to this strikingly profound work.
The role of the intense and driven Oppenheimer was created by Gerald Finley, a singer who inhabits every part with his superb acting and his tightly focused, richly expressive baritone. Other excellent artists from the San Francisco Opera premiere include sonorous bass Richard Paul Fink, a Mephistophelian Edward Teller, cynical and provocative; lyric tenor Thomas Glenn, whose sensitively performed Robert Wilson is uneasy but likeable; baritone Eric Owens, a physically and vocally imposing General Leslie Groves, the no-nonsense military commander of the project; and baritone James Maddalena—Nixon in Adams’s earlier opera—a long-suffering meteorologist Jack Hubbard. New to this production are mezzo-soprano Jessica Rivera and contralto Ellen Rabiner. Rivera’s Cassandra-like Kitty Oppenheimer, the conscience of the work, is vocally vivid, though some of the acting seems posed. Pasqualita, the Oppenheimer’s Tewa Indian housekeeper, is the only fictional character. Rabiner sings her role with a rich, if not always steady, voice, balancing Kitty’s intensity with quiet compassion. The fine Netherlands Opera Chorus, playing scientists and project personnel, serves as Greek chorus, intoning the opening scientific credo, chanting the targets, crying out in fright at the vision of Vishnu and staring into the blast in stunned silence at the culminating moment.
Edgard Varèse and 1950s science-fiction movie scores are John Adams’s acknowledged inspirations, and the combination is winning. The ostinatos of traditional minimalism are used sparingly and are often disjointed and irregular, creating an undercurrent of disequilibrium. More often, Adams employs extended chords, late Romantic in their chromatic richness, punctuated with bells, shrieks of brass, snatches of melody, and electronic roars and rumbles. Above this, Adams’s lyrical vocal lines wheel, often fraught with tension. This compelling score is by far the richest and most complex Adams has created.
Not all is perfect. Well as it recreates the anxiety of the night of the test, with its portentous storm, the second act occasionally makes repetitious dramatic points and is in need of some tightening. More troubling, there are a number of visual distractions, especially the rather silly choreography, expressing heaven knows what, and the frenzied video editing with its constant cutting, panning, and zooming, and continual, often shaky, tight close-ups. The editing seems to highlight the mechanics of vocal production as much as the acting and often leaves one with no sense of what is happening on the stage as a whole. Peter Sellars was both stage and video director, so I have to assume these were important parts of his conception. There is much to admire in that vision, but sometimes less is more.
By this time, many interested readers will either have seen the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of this work in the movie theater or heard it on the radio. Despite the similarities in casting and the typically small audience for modern operas, I hope it appears on DVD. This powerful opera deserves the documentation of both directorial visions. This Netherlands Opera production, in any case, should not be overlooked. It presents Sellars’s original concept, more abstract than the Met’s, well sung, conducted, and played, and with several fine performances not reprised in the Met production. Give it a try.
FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames
CAST:
J. Robert Oppenheimer – Gerald Finley
Kitty Oppenheimer – Jessica Rivera
General Leslie Groves – Eric Owens
Edward Teller – Richard Paul Fink
Jack Hubbard – James Maddalena
Robert Wilson – Thomas Glenn
Captain James Nolan – Jay Hunter Morris
Pasqualita – Ellen Rabiner
Bonus:
- Interview with Peter Sellars
- Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: Dolby Digital 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (All Regions)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch
Running time: 228 mins
Number of DVDs: 2
