For the finale, back to harmony and counterpoint. This is the final trio from Der Rosenkavalier, by my all-time favorite cast of Renee Fleming, Susan Graham, and Christine Schaefer. In 2000 a friend and I saw the Fleming-Graham-Schaefer trio in Rosenkavalier at the Met Opera and it was glorious.
Read MoreBorn to Run can be considered Bruce Springsteen’s anthem. It is also the song that may have saved his career. Up until that moment, Springsteen’s two albums were not selling well. He had a fan base in New Jersey, Manhattan clubs and, for some reason, Arizona. There were executives at Columbia Records who wanted to turn him loose, but his supporters, who were the company publicists and promoters, plus John Hammond, who signed him, convinced everyone to keep him on the label. Third time was the charm.
Read MoreHere’s to the Eagles, despised by many critics who didn’t think their music was tough enough for rock and roll, but loved by their many fans who made their Greatest Hits the best selling album of all time (29 million copies thus far). I loved them best in concert and “Seven Bridges Road” was a particular knockout—the band standing together, doing what sounded to me like flawless 5 part harmony.
Read More“Sing for Your Supper”, a Rodgers and Hart trio from The Boys from Syracuse is irresistibly goofy, especially when it’s done so enthusiastically by world class singers. I couldn’t decide who did it better—the Broadway stars Rebecca Luker, Audra McDonald and Mary Testa or the opera legends Frederica von Stade, Marilyn Horne and Renee Fleming.
Read MoreLet’s start with Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. To know their music is to love it. They wrote a string of classic songs without ever managing to write a hit Broadway show. “Come Rain or Come Shine” was written for St. Louis Woman that lasted 103 performances in spite of its gorgeous score. Eileen Farrell, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein, performs it here.
Read More