Fleming Archive
Fleming – Distant Light = Music by BARBER, HILLBORGS and BJORK – Renee Fleming – sop./ Royal Stockholm Sym. Orch./ Sakari Oramo – Decca
Fleming – Distant Light = Music by BARBER, HILLBORGS and BJORK – Renee Fleming – sop./ Royal Stockholm Sym. Orch./ Sakari Oramo – Decca 4830415, 53:00 (1/6/17) ****: This new release is a long-awaited collection from soprano Renee Fleming, containing Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. The other tracks are from Scandinavian composers, with works especially written for the soprano. I think the highlight here for most will be the Barber. It’s a lovely work for orchestra based on a prose piece by James Agee. It was first premiered in 1948. Although originally conceived for a male voice, it has been successfully performed by several sopranos. Ms. Fleming gives us a terrific and emotional performance, and the Decca engineers have given us a very nice sounding CD. Some may complain that Ms. Fleming seems a bit distant in the recording, but I think the production decisions here give a very ‘live’ and satisfying sound. Next, we have Anders Hillborgs’ The Strand Settings. Hillborg is very popular in Swedish classical music circles. This work is contemporary in sound, at times unsettling, and Ms. Fleming does well with this difficult and atmospheric piece. The Hillborgs is a world premier recording. Finally, we have […]
*********** MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH ***********
A long overdue issue of an important and wonderfully lyrical operatic experience. * CARLISLE FLOYD: Wuthering Heights (complete opera) – Georgia Jarman (Catherine)/ Kelly Markgraf (Heathcliff)/ Susanne Mentzer (Nelly)/ Vale Rideout (Edgar Linton)/ Heather Buck (Isabela Lint)/ Chad Shelton (Hindley Earnsh)/ Matthew Burns (Mr. Earnshaw)/ Frank Kelley (Joseph)/ Aaron Short (Lockwood)/ Florentine Opera Chorus/ Milwaukee Sym. Orch./ Joseph Mechavich – Reference Recordings multichannel SACD FR-721 (2 discs), 69:51, 69:32 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: Carlisle Floyd, despite being among the foremost opera composers America has ever produced, still doesn’t get the due that a more civilized age might bestow upon him. His work is essential to any overview of American music, and though opera remains a bit of a specialized field for most listeners, there is certainly nothing in his music that would offend even the most generic of modern listeners. Whether caught up in the modern maze of popular music madness or the most devoted Wagnerphile, Floyd will, if you give him a chance, win you over. The Virgin Classics issue of Susannah (with Renee Fleming) some years ago was a smash hit, as well as being a seminal recording of Floyd’s first opera. Wuthering Heights is his second, premiered […]
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