My Native Land

My Native Land

My Native Land
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CD Details

Composer: Lora Aborn
Composer: Robert Abramson
Composer: Samuel Barber
Composer: Aaron Copland
Composer: John Woods Duke
Composer: Jake Heggie
Composer: Lee Hoiby
Composer: Richard Hundley
Composer: Charles Ives
Performer: Jennifer Larmore
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1997-11-11
Music Label: Elektra / Wea
Soundtracks:
  1. He's Gone Away
  2. The Little Horses
  3. Ching-a-Ring Chaw
  4. At The River
  5. Zion's Walls
  6. In The Fields
  7. Bessie Bobtail op 2, no 3
  8. I Hear an Army, op 10
  9. Sure on this Shining Night op.13, no 3
  10. Rain Has Fallen, op.10
  11. To Say Before Going To Sleep
  12. White in the Moon
  13. The Leather-Winged Bat
  14. Barb'ry Allen
  15. Sleep Now
  16. Winter Song
  17. Twentieth Century
  18. A Letter
  19. The Astronomers
  20. T'is Winter Now
  21. Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day
  22. Make Me An Instrument of Thy Peace
  23. Black is The Color of My True Love's Hair
  24. Soldier, Soldier
  25. Heart! We Will Forget Him!
  26. Richard Cory
  27. Fee Simple
  28. My Native Land
  29. The Things Our Fathers Loved
  30. Memories

Music reviews of My Native Land

Music Review: Terrific Songs, Great Artistry
Rating: 5 Stars

In an effort to promote American culture abroad, I purchased this CD as a gift for a European friend. After two weeks of previewing it in my home, I'm keeping it for myself! Simply put, I can't remember the last time I have enjoyed a disc of songs as much as this one. No one is more surprised than me, since in the past I haven't always warmed to Larmore's singing, live or on record. Even here there are times when her vocal idiosyncrasies get in the way of what she wants to do. The lower register often takes on a strangely occluded quality, while some of her high notes slice the air with piercing shrillness. It's a highly accomplished voice that, to my ears, lacks consistent beauty. But to be fair, for much of this disc she sounds perfectly fine: a handsome, pleasingly dark sound, notable for its flexibility and legato.

What earns her five stars, however, is her artistry. She brings an arrestingly broad range of responses to this music. Like the nation that produced them, American songs are highly diverse, drawing from folk, European, religious, and pop idioms, to name just a few. Larmore is in full command of this diversity and alters her tone and delivery to bring each number home. Furthermore, she seems really to have read and thought about the texts. Every word counts. When the music can handle it, she lays it on thick and "acts" her way through the song, such as in Copland's "Ching a Ring" or Heggie's "Barb'ry Allen." But she wisely knows when to to hold back and let the melody carry the point, as in Barber's famous "Sure on this Shining Night" or Ives's "My Native Land." (Many accomplished Lieder singers never learn this lesson.) Once or twice she's a little off target (the first track, unfortunately), but this disc gave me a new respect for her art.

It helps that she's chosen such a fascinating group of songs. The Copland and Barber are well known, and recently Heggie is on everyone's lips, but much of the rest rarely makes it to disc. I particularly liked the gorgeous Aborn numbers, with their wistful sentimentality, and the quirky Duke pieces. Hundley's "Astronomers" is a haunting, unforgettable piece. Her inclusion of three Ives songs reminds us that it's time singers of her caliber returned to his oeuvre. Many of her choices stress different kinds of longing, that most American of emotions, but there's enough of a variety to prevent sameness. She also shines in several "patter songs," delivered with lightning wit. Palloc performs his role admirably.

I enthusiastically recommend this disc. Brava Jennifer!

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