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“Cathartic, uplifting and humanizing” wrote the Houston Chronicle, reporting on this Houston Grand Opera production of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen Prejean, who becomes a counsellor to murderer on death row in Louisiana, shares the stage with her idol, veteran mezzo Frederica von Stade, here making her farewell to opera. “Joyce DiDonato returns to her New York City Opera role as Sister Helen and her life-changing portrayal proves an absolute revelation,” wrote the Houston Chronicle when the American mezzo soprano assumed the role of the nun Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s opera Dead Man Walking, premiered in 2000 in San Francisco and staged with DiDonato at Houston Grand Opera in late 2010. Like Tim Robbins’ Oscar-winning 1995 movie of the same name, which starred Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, the opera draws on Sister Helen’s real-life memoirs: a leading advocate for abolition of the death penalty in the USA, she acted as a counsellor to a prisoner on death row in Louisiana. “However great an operatic and theatrical experience,” continued the Houston Chronicle, “Dead Man Walking makes its greatest impact as a purely human one.” As Joyce DiDonato told the New York Times: “I first did Sister Helen at New York City Opera in 2002. It was extraordinary as a young American to be involved in something that so directly reflects things our society is going through. Dead Man Walking poses questions directly applicable to our society today … I’ve never felt a piece hit an audience so hard. There was an electricity in the theatre.” Quite apart from the power of the opera itself, the production had a special personal significance for DiDonato. Her career was launched in the late 1990s with her three years on Houston Grand Opera’s young artists programme, and in this production she was sharing a stage with her idol, fellow mezzo soprano Frederica von Stade. Playing Mrs de Rocher, the mother of the convicted murderer, von Stade made her farewell to the operatic stage with this production. “The rafters [shook] …” wrote Opera magazine, “thanks to the ovations for Joyce DiDonato, Philip Cutlip [playing the convicted Joseph De Rocher], the music director Patrick Summers and perhaps especially for Frederica von Stade, whose recreation of the role of the convicted murderer’s grieving mother in this run ended this beloved artist’s 41-year operatic career … DiDonato sang luminously, affectingly conveying the altruistic nun’s conflicting emotions … Von Stade was dramatically and musically heartbreaking in a role written for her, Measha Brueggergosman’s glowing soprano and spunky acting enriched her portrayal of Sister Rose … Summers … was in total sync with Heggie’s churning, throbbing, colourful score … Leonard Foglia’s staging was … chillingly effective.” To return to the words of the Houston Chronicle: “Absolute in its skill and devastating in its power, Houston Grand Opera’s Dead Man Walking more than lives up to the reputation that this uncompromising and thoroughly engrossing work has acquired since its world premiere at San Francisco Opera a decade ago… Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally have stared unflinchingly into the dark heart of its difficult subject matter. Despite the fact that much of the action is unbearably painful, they find light and transcendence amid that darkness, thanks largely to the ennobling influence of their protagonist. Dead Man Walking wipes you out, yet its final impact is cathartic, uplifting and humanizing. … Heggie and McNally have written the most deeply and genuinely spiritual new work to inhabit either opera or theatre stages in many years.” “If the opera seemed good before, it's rather better now...DiDonato [comes to the vocal lines almost as heightened speech...[and] leaves no question that she'll get a confession out of the killer. DiDonato also makes the nun and murderer soul mates...As the killer, Philip Cutler is prickly and vocally imposing in his early scenes. But later on he becomes rhetorically understated in ways that make his ultimate confession even more devastating.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2012 “The work is an immense affirmation of opera's potential to deal with the most pressing contemporary issues...The recording...is sensational...In one of her most subtly characterised performances to date, Joyce DiDonato plays Prejean...Frederica von Stade is devastating as De Rocher's desperate mother, while Patrick Summers' conducting is exceptional in its passion and commitment.” The Guardian, 10th May 2012 **** “Less of an opera than a piece of post-Sondheim musical theatre, the piece nevertheless receives a committed performance here, with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato oozing sincerity in the role of Sister Helen, and baritone Philip Cutlip's rugged Joe ranging from nonchalance to desperation. Mezzo Frederica von Stade is movingly sympathetic as Joe's mother” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 *** “Heggie made a few minor changes to the score after the premiere and these can be heard only on this new release. In many ways, then, this is an excellent and desirable second recording...it captures all of this opera's emotions, and then some.” International Record Review, September 2012 “The cast fielded in Houston is quite simply superb, certainly matching that given to Heggie by San Francisco at the world première. Joyce DiDonato is magnificent in the leading role, quite a match for Susan Graham in the earlier recording.” MusicWeb International, June 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Libretto by Bertolt BrechtSung in English
Jane Henschel (Leocadia Begbick), Donald Kaasch (Fatty the Bookkeeper), Willard White (Trinity Moses), Measha Brueggergosman (Jenny Smith), Michael König (Jim Maclntyre), John Easterlin (Jack O’Brien / Toby Higgins), Otto Katzameier (Bank-Account Bill) & Steven Humes (Alaska-Wolf Joe) Orquesta y Coro del Teatro Real, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid & Coro Intermezzo, Pablo Heras-Casado Stage direction Alex Ollé, Carlus Padrissa – La Fura dels Baus Scenography Alfons Flores, Costumes Lluc Castells, Lighting Urs Schönebaum High Definition recording : Teatro Real - Madrid: 09/2010 Bel Air present the hard-hitting new production of Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Catalan collective, La Fura dels Baus, from the Teatro Real de Madrid. Composed in the 1930s by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, this is a mordant satire on capitalism in a society in which the ultimate crime is not having money. In 20 scenes the authors tell the story of a city lost in the middle of a desert and run by three thugs; in Mahagonny food, sex, gambling and violence rule supreme. The production, by Alex Ollé and Carlus Padrissa of La Fura dels Baus, combines enormous inventiveness, joy and energy with awe-inspiring ferocity. Perfect casting brings together a group of singers – Measha Brueggergosman, Michael König, Jane Henschel and Willard White – who are also marvellous actors. The Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus are directed by young Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, who received the “El Ojo Crítico” prize in 2010, awarded annually to Spain’s most outstanding artists. La Fura was founded in 1979 as a Catalan street theatre group. Key features of the ‘Furan’ language were already apparent: interaction with the audience, the use of unusual spaces and the adaptation of the show to the characteristics of each space. Their work for the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Mediterráneo, mar olímpico brought La Fura dels Baus to an audience of billions throughout the world. Their first foray into opera was with La Atlántida, with frequent collaborator Jaume Plensa, and has developed as far as Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Boris Godunov, a daring reflection on the problem of terrorism, its limits and the manipulation it generates. Stunning images and more information on www.lafura.com 16/9, NTSC, PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Total timing : 138 minutes Subtitles : Fr, Eng, Ger, Spa “Brueggergosman's Jenny is stunning to behold...[Henschel] has precisely the right dramatic-mezzo instrument for this role, and she can sing sensuously when required...[Easterlin] offers tone and diction as clear as a bell, along with a delightfully boyish characterization...[Heras-Casado] has the measure of the piece, as does the Madrid orchestra, which has reached the point where it makes playing a work such as this seem like falling off a log.” International Record Review, January 2012 “Superbly filmed by Andy Sommer, it makes for uncomfortable viewing, particularly during the current economic crisis. You might, however, find it musically less convincing. There's exceptional conducting from Pablo Heras-Casado, but the singing is variable.” The Guardian, 8th December 2011 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Libretto by Bertolt BrechtSung in English
Jane Henschel (Leocadia Begbick), Donald Kaasch (Fatty the Bookkeeper), Willard White (Trinity Moses), Measha Brueggergosman (Jenny Smith), Michael König (Jim Maclntyre), John Easterlin (Jack O’Brien / Toby Higgins), Otto Katzameier (Bank-Account Bill) & Steven Humes (Alaska-Wolf Joe) Orquesta y Coro del Teatro Real, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid & Coro Intermezzo,, Pablo Heras-Casado Stage direction Alex Ollé, Carlus Padrissa – La Fura dels Baus Scenography Alfons Flores, Costumes Lluc Castells, Lighting Urs Schönebaum High Definition recording : Teatro Real - Madrid: 09/2010 Bel Air present the hard-hitting new production of Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Catalan collective, La Fura dels Baus, from the Teatro Real de Madrid. Composed in the 1930s by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, this is a mordant satire on capitalism in a society in which the ultimate crime is not having money. In 20 scenes the authors tell the story of a city lost in the middle of a desert and run by three thugs; in Mahagonny food, sex, gambling and violence rule supreme. The production, by Alex Ollé and Carlus Padrissa of La Fura dels Baus, combines enormous inventiveness, joy and energy with awe-inspiring ferocity. Perfect casting brings together a group of singers – Measha Brueggergosman, Michael König, Jane Henschel and Willard White – who are also marvellous actors. The Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus are directed by young Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, who received the “El Ojo Crítico” prize in 2010, awarded annually to Spain’s most outstanding artists. La Fura was founded in 1979 as a Catalan street theatre group. Key features of the ‘Furan’ language were already apparent: interaction with the audience, the use of unusual spaces and the adaptation of the show to the characteristics of each space. Their work for the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Mediterráneo, mar olímpico brought La Fura dels Baus to an audience of billions throughout the world. Their first foray into opera was with La Atlántida, with frequent collaborator Jaume Plensa, and has developed as far as Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Boris Godunov, a daring reflection on the problem of terrorism, its limits and the manipulation it generates. Stunning images and more information on www.lafura.com 1080i HD, 16:9, PCM Stereo, 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio Total timing : 138 minutes Subtitles : Fr, Eng, Ger, Spa “Brueggergosman's Jenny is stunning to behold...[Henschel] has precisely the right dramatic-mezzo instrument for this role, and she can sing sensuously when required...[Easterlin] offers tone and diction as clear as a bell, along with a delightfully boyish characterization...[Heras-Casado] has the measure of the piece, as does the Madrid orchestra, which has reached the point where it makes playing a work such as this seem like falling off a log.” International Record Review, January 2012 “Superbly filmed by Andy Sommer, it makes for uncomfortable viewing, particularly during the current economic crisis. You might, however, find it musically less convincing. There's exceptional conducting from Pablo Heras-Casado, but the singing is variable.” The Guardian, 8th December 2011 **** | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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| |  | Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder & Orchestral Music
Deutsche Grammophon continues its successful relationship with the acclaimed Cleveland Orchestra and its chief conductor Franz Welser-Möst with this thrilling all-Wagner album. The release of this album will tie in with Franz Welser-Möst picking up the baton as General Music Director of the Vienna State Opera. The Clevelanders deliver Lohengrin Prelude (Act I and Act III), The Ride of the Valkyries, the Rienzi and Meistersinger Overture, and the orchestral version of opera’s non plus ultra of love’s power to transfigure, the Liebestod, from Tristan und Isolde The impact of soprano Measha Brueggergosman’s Wesendonck Lieder, was, said The Plain Dealer “. . . as if she’d penned them herself . . . Tracking Brueggergosman’s every move from fierce declamation down to the faintest whisper, Welser-Möst and crew nudge the singer’s performance into the musical heavens.” “...things are magnificent, from the refined, very pervy performance of the Prelude and Liebestod...to the gossipy counterpoint of the Meistersinger Overture, via an astonishingly sensual Prelude to Act One of Lohengrin. The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the greatest in the world – the playing is perfection.” The Guardian, 8th July 2010 **** “...the sound delivers the orchestra's sumptous colours with all the resplendent richness that present-day techniques allow...Measha Brueggergosman is dramatic, even operatic, in the Wesendonck-Lieder.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2010 “...conducted with crisp authority by Franz Welser-Möst. The overture to Rienzi is a particular delight. Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman gives a sensitively inflected performance of the Wesendonck Lieder.” The Telegraph, 6th August 2010 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Measha Brueggergosman - Night and Dreams
Brahms: | Ständchen, Op. 106 No. 1 | Chausson: | Le temps des lilas | Debussy: | Beau Soir | Duparc: | Chanson triste Phidylé | Falla: | Nana (No. 5 from Siete canciones populares españolas) | Fauré: | Notre amour Op. 23 No. 2 Clair de Lune, Op. 46 No. 2 | Hahn, R: | L'heure exquise | Hime, F: | Anoiteceu | Liszt: | O quand je dors (Hugo), S282 | Montsalvatge: | Canción negra No. 4, Cancion de cuna para dormir a un negrito | Mozart: | Abendempfindung an Laura, K523 | Schubert: | An den Mond, D193 | Strauss, R: | Die Nacht, Op. 10 No. 3 Wiegenlied, Op. 41 No. 1 Ständchen, Op. 17 No. 2 | Warlock: | Sleep | Wolf, H: | In dem Schatten meiner Locken (No. 2 from Spanisches Liederbuch: Weltliche Lieder) |
Measha Brueggergosman and pianist Justus Zeyen interpret well- and little-known songs of Duparc, de Falla, Hahn, Liszt, Schubert, and others chosen for their soulful depth, variety, and beauty. Measha Brueggergosman about Night and Dreams: “We wanted something that was languid, sexy, romantic, different. Also, it’s repertoire that gives me the chance to really let go.” She projects drama, passion, comedy, or charm as needed in any of the languages she speaks, essential for a Lieder and chanson singer who must make words come alive with meaning, color, and esprit as well as vocal quality The fervent response to her “triumphant DG debut recital” (Gramophone) makes this follow-up album a must for fans of this rising star. “In a programme that moves, as in dreams, from land to land without seeming to notice, this delicately attuned soprano and her ever-wakeful pianist drift wherever Morpheus calls most beguilingly. The lullabies, serenades, evocations of moonlight and invocations to sleep are sweetly voiced and extended to include the tender observations of a lover's repose or (in Fauré's "Notre amour") the lively appreciation of love itself. The "exquisite hour" is not so drowsy as to become merely soporific, and the expressive range is perhaps surprisingly wide.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2010 “This is a recital to treasure, one that I’ve been playing repeatedly...Everything she sings is radiated by an instinctive musicality, breadth of phrasing and generosity of spirit: here is someone evidently singing for love not money and she has the gift of making the music glow.” The Telegraph, 23rd April 2010 ***** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Measha Brueggergosman - SurpriseCabaret Songs
“The voice is a full soprano, well focused, with a "snarling" edge used to great effect in the Bolcom songs. In the Schoenberg she employs a more obviously operatic style, with a gentle vibrato. …there is an enormous amount to enjoy here from a hugely talented singer.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2008 “A triumphant DG debut recital for the Yellow Label’s new signing. Measha Brueggergosman (remember that name – no easy feat, granted) is expressive and at times deliciously wicked. The voice isn’t entirely even yet, but it’s already
a gorgeous, fascinating sound.” Gramophone Magazine “William Bolcom's Cabaret Songs (there are 28 of them in all) were composed for his wife Joan Morris, who recorded them with the composer at the piano in the 1970s. For Measha Brueggergosman's first solo recording, Bolcom has orchestrated seven of them into a nifty little song–cycle. The mood is generally slightly sinister, from the opening 'Surprise!' ('When she tried to drink iodine from a paper cup'), through a worrying tale of crime and punishment, 'Amor!', to the best–known of the songs, the Weill–style 'Black Max'. This bears the subtitle 'As told by the de Kooning boys', and all the verses by Bolcom's long–time lyricist and librettist Arnold Weinstein have overtones of surrealism and world–weary irony, suitable for one who lived out his days in that seediest of grand hotels, The Chelsea.
It's a brave man who sets out to orchestrate Schoenberg, and Patrick Davin's reworkings of the Brettl-Lieder inevitably have a softening effect (just one, 'Der Nachtwandler', has Schoenberg's own orchestration). Brueggergosman deals with them in a straightforward way, without trying to overload them with charm or significance.
The voice is a full soprano, well focused, with a 'snarling' edge used to great effect in the Bolcom songs. In the Schoenberg she employs a more obviously operatic style, with a gentle vibrato. The BBC Symphony Orchestra under David Robertson play with considerable spirit, above all in Bolcom's really gorgeous orchestration of Satie's 'Je te veux'. This and the other chansons composed for Paulette Darty ('Tendrement' and 'La diva de l'empire') go well, but 'L'omnibus automobile' is taken too fast, so that much of the crazy humour of Vincent Hyspa's poem is lost. No matter, there is an enormous amount to enjoy here from a hugely talented singer.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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“The slow movement is particularly impressive, its relaxed tempo allowing the music's expansive lyricism adequate space to breathe, without ever sentimentalising it.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 **** “The well drilled first movement has a certain air of menace… the Scherzo neatly played and fairly light-footed… The Adagio flows by very nicely, with minimal tempo variation and a warm sheen to the overall sound picture. Welser-Möst offers us a strong, cogently conceived finale, with some fine singing, particularly from the chorus and the bass, René Pape.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2007 | | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
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| |  | Hammer & Bow
| | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | American Classics - William Bolcom
Measha Brueggergosman, Ilona Davidson (soprano), Joan Morris (mezzo-soprano), Nathan Lee Graham (baritone), Thomas Young (tenor), Tommy Morgan (harmonica), Peter Ruth (harmonica, vocals) University of Michigan School of Music Symphony Orchestra & Musical Society, Leonard Slatkin “This is a magnum opus that occupied Bolcom for 25 years, starting as early as 1956. He's drawn on a wide range of musical styles to parallel Blake's method of moving from sophisticated to almost folk idioms. In some features – diatonic writing, English text and children's voices – Britten's Spring Symphony is in the background, but Bolcom is defined by the styles he juxtaposes with carefully calculated transitions in between.
Some of the most memorable moments involve popular idioms, evoking his ragtime performances or the songs he recorded so vividly with his wife Joan Morris. The word-setting is straightforward, reflecting the strophic poems, and refreshingly free from elaboration. The Songs of Innocence are charming and pastoral but in the Songs of Experience there's real anger at the human predicament.
This recording is based on a live performance with massive forces comprising 10 soloists, three choirs totalling almost 350 singers and a full symphony orchestra plus a harmonica and various extra electronic players and percussion.
Nathan Lee Graham is an actor-singer who can project his catchy tunes and spoken poems; Joan Morris exercises all her magic in a range of styles, but Thomas Young seems too consistently declamatory. Christine Brewer is magisterial in numbers that reflect the modernistic side of Bolcom, and Carmen Pelton has a rare purity of sound.
This unique Blake spectacular makes a cumulative impact that represents Bolcom's wide stylistic embrace at its most ambitious.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | (also available to download from $12.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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Gramophone Magazine
