Love, The Fair Day - Songs and Duets from the Second New England School

LOVE, THE FAIR DAY

SONGS AN DUETS FROM THE SECOND NEW ENGLAND SCHOOL.

ARTHUR FOOTE

Four Duets Opus 53

Rebecca Sherburn soprano

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Louise Thomas piano

GEORGE W. CHADWICK

Good Night

Tod Fitzpatrick baritone

Louise Thomas piano

Bedouin Love Song

Tod Fitzpatrick baritone

Louise Thomas piano

So Far Away

Tod Fitzpatrick baritone

Louise Thomas piano

AMY CHENEY BEACH

Songs of the Sea Opus 10

Rebecca Sherburn soprano

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Louise Thomas piano

Four Songs Opus 51, No. 3

Rebecca Sherburn soprano

Wei-Wei Le violin

Louise Thomas piano

HENRY K. HADLEY

A Ballade of June Roses, Opus 51

Rebecca Sherburn soprano

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Louise Thomas piano

ARTHUR FOOTE

Come Live With Me and Be My Love

Rebecca Sherburn soprano

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Louise Thomas piano

I'm wearin awa' to the land o' the leal, Opus 13, No. 2

Tod Fitzpatrick baritone

Wei-Wei Le violin

Louise Thomas piano

Sing, Maiden, Sing

Rebecca Sherburn soprano

Tod Fitzpatrick baritone

Louise Thomas piano

A Song from the Persian

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Louise Thomas piano

The Skylark

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Louise Thomas piano

EDWARD MACDOWELL

Three Songs Opus 60

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Louise Thomas piano

MABEL W. DANIELS

Love, the Fair Day, Opus 5, No. 1

Rebecca Sherburn soprano

Kimberly James mezzo-soprano

Louise Thomas piano

The American Art Song has not been fully appreciated; however, through recordings the art form has existed from the early days of recording and artists such as Johanna Gadski, John McCormack, Janet Spencer, Reed Miller, Charles W. Harrison, Frederick Wheeler and others performed these really delightful and tuneful American composers and song cycles. This new Albany release offers some of this unexplored song repertoire

The Program - Love, the Fair Day - Songs and Duets form the Second New England School - Tod Fitzpatrick, baritone - (TF); Kimberly James, mezzo-soprano - (KJ); Rebecca Sherburn, soprano - (RS); Louise Thomas, piano - (LT); Wei-Wei Le, violin - (WWL) - Albany - TT: 63:05 - Arthur Foote - (1853-1937) - Four Duets, Op. 53 - i. Love Has Turned His Face Away; ii. Summer Night; iii. I Fly Like a Bird; iv. The Voice of Spring - (RS,KJ,LT); George W. Chadwick - (1854-1931) - v. Good Night; vi. Bedouin Love Song; vii. So Far Away - (TF, LT); Amy Cheney Beach - (1867-1944) - Songs of the Sea, Op. 10 - viii. A Cahadia Boat Song - (RS,TF, LT); ix. The Night Sea; x. Sea Song - (RS, KJ, LT); Four Songs, Op. 51/3 - x. June - (RS, WWL, LT); Henry K. Hadley - (1871-1937) - xii. A Ballade of June Roses, Op. 51 -;xiii. Arthur Foote - Come Live with Me and Be My Love - (RS, KJ, LT); xiv. I'm warin'arva'to the land o'the leal, Op. 13/2 - (TF, WWL, LT); xv. Sing, Maiden, Sing - (RS, TF, LT); xvi. Song from the Persian; xvii. The Skylark - (KJ, TF, LT); Edward MacDowell - (1860-1908) - Three Songs, Op. 60 - xviii. Tyrant Love; xix. Fair Springtide; xx. To the Golden Rod - (KJ, LT); Mabel W. Daniels - (1877-1971) - xxi. Love, the Fair Day, Op. 51/1 - (RS, KJ, LT).

This recital is indeed a walk down memory lane. The best voice in this series is the baritone, Tod Fitpatrick. His diction is clear and the voice quality is pleasing in the few selections allotted to him in solos performances; however, the soprano and mezzo-soprano tend to have voices which have a rather obvious wide tremulant and as Thomas Alva Edison would have said, "too much tremolo." The voices are a bit hard and their respective blend tends to make the sound spread and especially as they attempt to hit the high notes of the respective songs found in this recital. Their sound furthermore reflects the "push and show' method of producing a loud sound. Too much singing very modern and difficult song repertoire as read in the program notes which supports this philosophy. Too bad that young and more beautiful voices were not selected for this recital.

Excellent program notes with texts of the respective song repertoire are included here as written by Dr. Jessica Sternfield.