(Curator: Andrew Garland) It’s all relative. In my first year of undergrad my voice teacher would have me over to his apartment to listen to opera recordings. I remember our first session vivdly: I had just decided to change my major to voice performance and was suddenly ready to listen to as much opera as […]
Read More(Curator: Andrew Garland) “Urlicht” From Symphony No. 2 Resurrection by Gustav Mahler Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado In 2007 I had the privilege of taking part in Marilyn Horne’s The Song Continues. I attended a masterclass where she coached Jamie Barton on Gustav Mahler’s Urlicht. Ms. Barton’s performance was, of course, unforgettable. Anyone in the […]
Read More(Curator: Andrew Garland) “Ich Habe Genug” Cantata BWV 82 Johann Sebastian Bach Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano, Emmanuel Music Orchestra, Craig Smith, conductor Lorraine Hunt Lieberson is my hero. Nay, she is my superhero. Much has been said about her, I cannot add to that. There is not much I can say about this selection either. Many […]
Read MoreThis week’s selections are coming to us from frequent NYFOS collaborator, Andrew Garland, a baritone of “commanding intensity” (The New York Times). Be sure to catch him in our December 8th program Schubert/Beatles, alongside soprano Sari Gruber and tenor Paul Appleby. Get your tickets today! “Burden in My Hand” Soundgarden Listen to this song, even just the […]
Read MorePhil Kline‘s final Song of the Day this week. Thanks, Phil! “Waterloo Sunset,” Ray Davies, The Kinks Of all the amazing songs that came with the creative expansion of rock and pop music in the late sixties, I can think of none that I love more than Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks. It’s not psychedelic or […]
Read More(Curator: Phil Kline) “Mysteries of the Macabre” – Gyorgi Ligeti – sung and conducted by Barbara Hannigan My ears perked up when this person I’d never heard of, Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan, did a sparkling turn in the song “Das Himmlische Leben” which concludes Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. I soon learned that she sang a lot […]
Read More(Curator: Phil Kline) “Al Atlal” (The Ruins) – poem Ibrahim Nagi, music Riad El-Sonbati – sung by Kalthoum When I was a kid I saw TV footage of four million people crowding the streets of Cairo for the funeral of Oum Kalthoum. I wondered who she was. When I first heard her voice I was […]
Read More(Curator: Phil Kline) “To Gratiana Dancing and Singing” – William Denis Browne, sung by Ian Bostridge, with Julius Drake, piano. This one always gets me. The poem is by Richard Lovelace and the song alludes to an anonymous allmayne in the Elizabeth Rogers Virginal Book. The composer, William Denis Browne (Denis Browne is his surname) […]
Read MoreWelcome to this week’s SOTD curator: composer Phil Kline! Phil’s music has been featured on NYFOS Mainstage programs and he curated the second ever program in our NYFOS Next series for new music. “The Kiss” Judee Sill Judee Sill was one of music’s sadder stories. She grew up in Oakland and spent much of her early […]
Read MoreSteven Blier’s last pick of the week: I am due to start my work on the Rachmaninoff project soon, and to give my mojo a jump-start I have been working on one of his final songs, “Son” (“Sleep”) from Opus 38. It’s one of those sublime pieces of music that needs to sound tranquil and […]
Read More