Program 12: The Return of Melody
Song: Mirror of the World Radio Series
Program 12: The Return of Melody
By the 1970s, there was a re-exploration of all the colors that melody could bring to the human voice and story. Prominent examples include Leonard Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles, William Bolcom’s Cabaret Songs, and cycles by Ned Rorem and Dominick Argento. While the focus of this program remains in the United States, it also expands to include composers from Latin America. Short interviews with five of the composers give perspective to their approaches.
Listen to the full program:
Host & Artistic Director:
Thomas Hampson
Co-Produced by the Hampsong Foundation and The WFMT Radio Network
Production Team:
Executive Producers: Thomas Hampson & Steve Robinson (The WFMT Radio Network)
Audio Producer: Carolyn Paulin (The WFMT Radio Network)
Coordinating Producer: Miriam Lewin
Project Manager: Christie Finn
Writer for The New World Order: Jeff Lunden, freelance arts reporter and producer for NPR
Song listings with composer / poet, performers, CD label, and CD number are listed below.
Late Victorians (2009)
Clip from Late Victorians (1994, revised 2007)
Composer: Mark Adamo (b. 1962)
Text: based on Richard Rodriguez’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated book Days of Obligation
Emily Pulley, soprano
Eclipse Chamber Orchestra
Naxos: 8559258
The Cloisters (1997)
“Fort Tryon Park: September,” from The Cloisters (1965)
Composer: John Corigliano (b. 1938)
Text: William M. Hoffman (b. 1939)
Henry Herford, baritone
Robin Bowman, piano
New World Records: 80327
Glenn Gould Plays Schoenberg (1965)
Clip from Fünf Klavierstücke, Op. 23, No. 5 (1923)
Composer: Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
Glenn Gould, piano
Sony: 52664
Bernstein: Arias & Barcarolles / Songs & Duets (1989)
“Love Duet,” from Arias & Barcarolles (1988)
Composer: Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Text: Leonard Bernstein
Judy Kaye, singer
William Sharp, baritone
Michael Barrett & Steven Blier, piano
Koch International Classics: 7771
Ned Rorem: War Scenes, et. al (1993)
“Inauguration Ball,” from War Scenes (1971)
Composer: Ned Rorem (b. 1923)
Text: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Donald Gramm, bass-baritone
Eugene Istomin, piano
Phoenix U.S.A. (PHCD): 116
Barber: The Complete Songs
“A Green Lowland of Pianos,” from Three Songs, Op. 45, No. 2 (1972)
Composer: Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Text: Jerzy Harasymowicz (1933-1999)
Translation from Polish to English by Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004)
Thomas Hampson, baritone | John Browning, piano
Deutsche Grammophon: 435 868
Dame Janet Baker: From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
“Anxiety,” from From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, Op. 45, No. 2 (1974)
Composer: Dominick Argento (b. 1927)
Text: Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
Dame Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano
Martin Issep, piano
Deutsche Grammophon: 435 868
Marilyn Horne: Divas in Song
“Amor,” from Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1 (1996)
Composer: William Bolcom (b. 1938)
Text: Arnold Weinstein (1927-2005)
Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano
Martin Katz, piano
RCA Victor
And If The Song Be Worth A Smile – Songs By American Composers
Clip from “Dodecaphonia” (1997)
Composer: John Corigliano (b. 1938)
Text: Mark Adamo (b. 1962)
Lisa Delan, soprano
Kristin Pankonin, piano
Pentatone: 5186099
The AIDS Quilt Songbook (1994)
“I Never Knew,” from The AIDS Quilt Songbook (1992)
Composer: Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956)
Text: Ricky Ian Gordon
Kurt Ollmann, baritone
Ricky Ian Gordon, piano
Harmonia: 907602
John Musto: Songs
“Social Note,” from Enough Rope (1987)
Composer: John Musto (b. 1954)
Text: Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)
Amy Burton, soprano
John Musto, piano
Bridge: 9286
The Faces of Love
“I Shall Not Live in Vain” (1995)
Composer: Jake Heggie (b. 1961)
Text: Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Renée Fleming, soprano
Jake Heggie, piano
RCA Victor Red Seal: 63484
Songs of Cifar and the Sweet Sea (2004)
Clip of “Me Diste ¡oh Dios! Un Hija,” from Songs of Cifar and the Sweet Sea (2004)
Composer: Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972)
Text: Pablo Antonio Cuadra (1912-2002)
Robert Gardner, baritone
Anna Polonsky, piano
Private Recording: Not available commercially
Ayre
Clip of I. Mañanita de San Juan, from Ayre (2004)
Composer: Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960)
Text: Sephardic traditional
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
The Andalucian Dogs
Deutsche Grammophon: 000478202
Winter Morning Walks
“Walking By Flashlight,” from Winter Morning Walks (2012)
Composer: Maria Schneider (b. 1960)
Text: Ted Kooser (b. 1939)
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Australian Chamber Orchestra
ArtistShare: AS0121
Clip from Aristotle (2013)
Composer: Mark Adamo (b. 1962)
Text: Billy Collins (b. 1941)
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Jupiter String Quartet
