Susan Graham sings Ned Rorem

Ned Rorem:

Songs

Susan Graham, mezzosoprano, Malcolm Martineau, piano

Ensemble Oriol - Christiane Plath, violin, Sebastian Gottschick, viola, Friedeman Ludwig, cello

2000. Erato 8573-80222-2 (fullprice)

I just discovered that I have no reviews of American music on the site. I see few if any discs I'd rather amend this fact by than this superb collection of the songs of Ned Rorem. The composer, an active and visible figure on the scene of American arts for decades - is one to have added significantly to American music in the 20th century. Through no fault of his own his works are regretably underrecorded, or atleast so it seems to me. Perhaps American recording labels have been less neglecting than European, but nevertheless I have a really hard time finding recorded music by Rorem. Perhaps this is one reason for my unreserved approval of this thoroughly enjoyable songbook.

American mezzo Susan Graham have appeared numerous times on record in operatic settings or in recitals. Her fine account of Reynaldo Hahn's songs along with her Berlioz recordings have attracted welldeserved laurels from critics around the world. This collection of Ned Rorem's songs certainly has collected no fewer words of praise than Graham's earlier recordings, and it confirms her great versatility as a recitalist. Her ability to blend the words in with the music, animates these songs vividly in our minds. Her vocal abilities appears seemless and flexible, and this paired with an acute sense of the inner life of these songs, their structure and musicality, makes for listening of the most rewarding kind.

The great variety within this songbook, is a tribute to a composer whose diverse dwellings into the song constitutes a wonderfully versatile universe, from which we are offered some real treats. Rorem's collection Santa Fe songs; written for voice and a pianoquartet, are represented by four of the total twelve songs in the collection. Opus 101 (Santa Fe song no.2) is one of the highlights of this disc, superbly performed by Graham, her pianoaccompanist Malcolm Martineau and the Ensemble Oriol. The etheric strings floating on top of the insisting pianorythm creates a hauntingingly beautiful background for Graham's profound reading. There is some of the mystical dark beauty one finds in Maurice Ravel's Nahandove, from his Chansons Madécasses; some of my personal favorites of the entire song genre. The textual matter is not too different either, with Witter Bynner's condensed lyrical voice, reminding us of the universes of Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams.

The light and wondeful setting of longing in Stephen Foster's Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, is another highlight. A vision as dreamy as it is bittersweet, captured to perfection by Rorem's light elegant summerlike harmonies. There are not many songwriters in this age with such utter sensitivity to the written word. There are settings of the vast country and of the minute observation, but also of the city, as in Paul Goodman's The Lordly Hudson. Graham's flexible voice renders Rorem's subtle yet grand vision of the stillfloating vein of New York. To those of you who, like me, have a longlasting loveaffair with the poetry of William Butler Yeats, Rorem's visions of two of his tiny gems, are a delight to hear, revealing as they are in Susan Graham's sensitive rendering. There is also a musical setting of Robert Frost's beloved Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, surprisingly light in mood perhaps, but not at all out of touch with the words. A worthy rendering it is of this national icon in American literature.

The songs of Ned Rorem are treasures worthy of close attention, and this recording provides not just a glimpse, but a good look into a musical world of unusual riches. The poetry itself, ranging from Bynner, Yeats and Gertrude Stein to Frost, Whitman and Tennyson, makes for endless fascination, the musical settings invariably enriching them. This is topped by a realization of the profound and acutely sensitive kind. Susan Graham owns these performances, and can proudly add this recital to her previous successes. My last words of praise however go to one of the finest songcomposers of our time, Ned Rorem. I demand more recordings of this remarkable music!

- The images are taken from the Erato CD-booklet