To the Soul-Thomas Hampson sings the poetry of Walt Whitman
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Michael Tilson Thomas, Paul Hindemith, Frank Bridge, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Charles Villiers Stanford, Kurt (Julian) Weill, Elinor Remick Warren, Ned Rorem, Philip Dalmas, Craig Urquhart, Charles Ives, Leonard Bernstein, William H. Neidlinger, Henry Thacker Burleigh, Gerald Busby, Ernst Bacon, Robert Strassburg, Charles Naginski
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 10/1997
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 67
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 555028-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| As Adam early in the morning |
Ned Rorem, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Ned Rorem, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| (The) Last Invocation |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Frank Bridge, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| (6) Songs of Faith, Movement: No. 4, To the Soul (wds. Whitman) |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Craig Rutenberg, Piano Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| (3) Poems by Walt Whitman, Movement: No. 2, A clear midnight |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| (3) Poems by Walt Whitman, Movement: No. 3, Joy, shipmate, joy! |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| Prayer of Columbus |
Robert Strassburg, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Robert Strassburg, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| One thought ever at the fore |
Ernst Bacon, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Ernst Bacon, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| As I watch'd the ploughman ploughing |
Philip Dalmas, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Philip Dalmas, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| Sing on there in the Swamp |
Paul Hindemith, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Paul Hindemith, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| Look down fair moon |
Charles Naginski, Composer
Charles Naginski, Composer Craig Rutenberg, Piano Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| Memories of Lincoln |
William H. Neidlinger, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Thomas Hampson, Baritone William H. Neidlinger, Composer |
| Ethiopia saluting the colours |
Henry Thacker Burleigh, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Henry Thacker Burleigh, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| (4) Walt Whitman Songs, Movement: Dirge for Two Veterans (orch & pf vers: 1942-47) |
Kurt (Julian) Weill, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Kurt (Julian) Weill, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| Walt Whitman |
Charles Ives, Composer
Charles Ives, Composer Craig Rutenberg, Piano Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| Behold this swarthy face |
Gerald Busby, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Gerald Busby, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| We two |
Elinor Remick Warren, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Elinor Remick Warren, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| Among the multitude |
Craig Urquhart, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Craig Urquhart, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| Sometimes with one I love |
Ned Rorem, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Ned Rorem, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| We two boys together clinging |
Michael Tilson Thomas, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Michael Tilson Thomas, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| That shadow, my likeness |
Ned Rorem, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Ned Rorem, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
| Songfest, Movement: Solo: To what you said... (wds. W. Whitman) |
Leonard Bernstein, Composer
Craig Rutenberg, Piano Leonard Bernstein, Composer Thomas Hampson, Baritone |
Author: Michael Oliver
For a song recital to be devoted to settings of a single poet he must preferably be capable of inspiring music of widely differing types. This splendidly planned collection certainly demonstrates that to be true of Whitman, indeed it is proved by the two Vaughan Williams items. A clear midnight is a serene and visionary epigram; Joy, shipmate, joy!, though shorter still, is robustly vigorous, a big song lasting no more than 1'22''. A glance through the names of the other composers represented reveals so many obscure figures (of one of them, Philip Dalmas, not even his date of birth is known) that you might unworthily suspect that Hampson’s enthusiasm for Whitman has tempted him into barrel-scraping. Not a bit of it: apparently he has traced no fewer than 400 Whitman settings for voice and piano, and all his choices are at least interesting; some are real discoveries – Dalmas, for example, who takes the huge risk of setting four sombre lines from Whispers of Heavenly Death over a tolling monotone, like a passing bell, but succeeds most strikingly.
Before hearing Henry Thacker Burleigh’s setting of Ethiopia saluting the colours I was regretful that Hampson had not chosen Charles Wood’s moving song on this text, but quite apart from the appropriateness of selecting for this of all poems the first African-American to receive professional training as a composer (Dvorak was Burleigh’s first teacher), his use of jazzy syncopation (in 1915!) and Ives-like quotation of Civil War melodies is vividly original. Speaking of Ives, it is he who most succinctly sketches a portrait of Whitman: in 46 seconds he looms before us, grand as Rodin’s Balzac.
Elsewhere Stanford demonstrates that Whitman is accessible to Brahmsian gravity and eloquence while Ernst Bacon, with moving simplicity, sets three lines on human brotherhood to a melody like a chapel hymn. Kurt Weill effectively treats the Dirge for Two Veterans in his Broadway manner and in “Sing on there in the Swamp” Hindemith beautifully evokes the falling star of Memories of Lincoln with two coolly shining chords that generate a lyrical counterpoint to the vocal line. Ned Rorem, surely the most consistently fine living composer of concert songs, is represented by four, all characteristically subtle and refined. Two of them, and four or five others here, choose lines in which Whitman’s homosexuality is overtly expressed. They are none of them ‘gay anthems’, but Leonard Bernstein’s “To what you said” (his transcription of one number from Songfest) is among his finest songs, serious, moving and beautiful, while Michael Tilson Thomas’s We two boys together clinging begins with a catchy swing and builds finely to its proud concluding gestures. Indeed, there is not a weak song here; even William H. Neidlinger’s cavalier extraction of a few isolated lines from Memories of Lincoln, setting the result as something between a parlour ballad and one of Henry Clay Work’s narrative songs (he who wroteMy Grandfather’s Clock and Who shall rule this American nation?) is oddly affecting.
The performances throughout are exceptionally fine, intimately and subtly expressive but opening out nobly to expressions of passionate idealism. Hampson’s readings are just that: they are pleasingly unhistrionic, not in the least bit acted, but they effectively frame the songs with his obvious commitment to Whitman. A most enterprising, absorbing and magnificently sung recital.'
Before hearing Henry Thacker Burleigh’s setting of Ethiopia saluting the colours I was regretful that Hampson had not chosen Charles Wood’s moving song on this text, but quite apart from the appropriateness of selecting for this of all poems the first African-American to receive professional training as a composer (Dvorak was Burleigh’s first teacher), his use of jazzy syncopation (in 1915!) and Ives-like quotation of Civil War melodies is vividly original. Speaking of Ives, it is he who most succinctly sketches a portrait of Whitman: in 46 seconds he looms before us, grand as Rodin’s Balzac.
Elsewhere Stanford demonstrates that Whitman is accessible to Brahmsian gravity and eloquence while Ernst Bacon, with moving simplicity, sets three lines on human brotherhood to a melody like a chapel hymn. Kurt Weill effectively treats the Dirge for Two Veterans in his Broadway manner and in “Sing on there in the Swamp” Hindemith beautifully evokes the falling star of Memories of Lincoln with two coolly shining chords that generate a lyrical counterpoint to the vocal line. Ned Rorem, surely the most consistently fine living composer of concert songs, is represented by four, all characteristically subtle and refined. Two of them, and four or five others here, choose lines in which Whitman’s homosexuality is overtly expressed. They are none of them ‘gay anthems’, but Leonard Bernstein’s “To what you said” (his transcription of one number from Songfest) is among his finest songs, serious, moving and beautiful, while Michael Tilson Thomas’s We two boys together clinging begins with a catchy swing and builds finely to its proud concluding gestures. Indeed, there is not a weak song here; even William H. Neidlinger’s cavalier extraction of a few isolated lines from Memories of Lincoln, setting the result as something between a parlour ballad and one of Henry Clay Work’s narrative songs (he who wrote
The performances throughout are exceptionally fine, intimately and subtly expressive but opening out nobly to expressions of passionate idealism. Hampson’s readings are just that: they are pleasingly unhistrionic, not in the least bit acted, but they effectively frame the songs with his obvious commitment to Whitman. A most enterprising, absorbing and magnificently sung recital.'
To the Soul-Thomas Hampson sings the poetry of Walt Whitman
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