Taminophile goes on about Andrew Garland!

FEB 17 Do not eat that which rips your heart with joy Barihunk Andrew Garland is a fine singer, mighty fine to look at, and also has a fine new CD, released quite recently. This handsome young lad has won hearts with his singing, acting, intelligent musicianship, and good looks on opera and concert stages all over this country. This quote from his web site tells it all: Garland is best known for his highly communicative style of singing. Equally at home in opera, concert and recital, he brings to each genre a powerful voice and extremely sensitive delivery. On Mr. Garland’s presentation of Lee Hoiby’s I Was There, the composer commented: “I have performed these same songs with several professional baritones of stature, and none has brought more depth of musical understanding than did Andrew Garland. Quite apart from the special beauty of his voice is his distinctive feeling for the musical line. He pulls the listener irresistibly into the music. In my judgment, he is a rare talent, and I expect him to enjoy an important career.” Mr. Garland's intelligent singing is evident everywhere on this CD, in songs by current American composers Jake Heggie, Lori Laitman, Stephen Paulus and Tom Cipullo. I found great fun in some of these songs. Ms. Laitman's set of four settings of poems by Thomas Lux, Men With Small Heads, gives us a view of the wonder and mystery of childhood. Relishing the optical illusion created when looking at people at a distance juxtaposed to your own hand very close ("Men With Small Heads"), or wondering what in the world those exotic looking, impossibly red maraschino cherries were doing in a refrigerator full of a perfectly boring food ("Refrigerator 1957", whence comes the title of this post), Mr. Garland created a picture with his voice and his skillful interpretation of the lyrics, just as Ms. Laitman's musical style for these proved wonderfully illustrative of either a child's attention span or his wonder or his fear. I heard Jake Heggie's wonderful writing in the CD by Talise Trevigne of which I wrote so fondly last year. He does not disappoint with his settings of Vachel Lindsay poems entitled The Moon is a Mirror. All the songs are about different impressions of the moon--a miner, a child, an old horse. In "The Strength of the Lonely (What the Mendicant Said)", the moon is compared to monks, "...who all life’s flames defy", and having given up the world, in the end leave "...only the arching blue" behind. In "What the Forrester Said" the moon stands watch over children as an ever-present, unwavering candle flame, "Grandmothers guarding trundle beds/Good shepherds guarding sheep." This song in particular has a lyric, lullaby-like feel to it, which Mr. Garland brings out lovingly. Of course I can't write about every song, but suffice it to say Mr. Garland sings them all with the same intelligence and beauty as in the few I describe. This CD belongs in the players and iTunes playlists of anyone who loves fin singing; new music, particularly songwriting; or handsome ginger singers. After all, everyone knows us redheads are the best singers!

Operaobsessions rave for Castronovo

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013 Nostalgia with grit: Charles Castronovo's Neapolitan Songs Even the cover art of Charles Castronovo's "Dolce Napoli" album sets it apart from the sun-flooded, pizza parlor kitsch that threatens to swamp such undertakings. If there is nostalgia here, it is anchored in historical specificity, and in performance, Castronovo honors the songs as living artifacts, rather than treating them like so many aural postcards. He is aided by Sweet Nectar, a band whose members' sensibilities are, like Castronovo's, influenced both by classical training and an upbringing shaped by the experience and music of family immigration. Alongside a few standards (Malafemmena, Core 'ngrato, Santa Lucia) are many less familiar songs, and Castronovo and Sweet Nectar prove adept at drawing out the emotional specificity in pieces relying on a limited number of tropes. As Castronovo observes in his liner notes (both informative and charming) the text of the songs is often ironically undercut by their melodies. The bemoaning of one's own suffering or the imploring of an unresponsive lover can be cheerfully mocked by accordion and guitar. Castronovo is attentive to these nuances, coloring his voice and the text accordingly. For me, this not only makes the disc a more interesting listen than it might have been, but pleasingly complicates the recurrent image of the Cruel Woman. An interesting, if indirect, commentary on this image is found in Glen Roven's translation of "Malafemmena," which replaces the apostrophe "Femmena" variously with "Salome," "sorceress," etc. Roven translates (freely) several of the songs; the stated objective is to make them more accessible, revisiting the common practice of the mid-century when the genre enjoyed a renewed vogue. To me, though, the disc's main attraction is Castronovo's distinctive voice, sweet, but also with a darkness belied by his boyish good looks. If interested in obtaining the CD for yourself, a friend, a lover, or your sweet Italian landlady (mine's getting one,) "Dolce Napoli" is available here and here.

The most amazing Review for Pat

Patricia Racette: Diva on Detour The world-renowned opera singer upends all expectations in her sizzling cabaret show at 54 Below. By Brian Scott Lipton Google+ Profile for Brian Scott Lipton • Jan 30, 2013 • New York City Patricia Racette will return to 54 Below this March. Patricia Racette will return to 54 Below this March. © Courtesy of 54 Below On paper, the idea of a world-famous opera singer taking to the stage at the intimate 54 Below to perform musical theater and jazz standards might seem like the thoughts of a woman flirting with madness. But even if Patricia Racette has portrayed a few of grand opera's looniest ladies, her decision to present Diva on Detour (based on her just-released album of the same name) isn't just an act of sanity, it's a demonstration of artistic brilliance. Racette is far from your stereotypical opera diva. In fact, there wasn't really a high C to be heard as she showed off a gorgeously modulated chest voice with an impressive belt – one that made you wonder why she even bothered to a use a microphone. More importantly, she's deeply funny (even a bit bawdy) and down-to-earth, treating the audience at 54 Below like old friends hanging out in her Santa Fe living room. (Then again, many people in her opening night crowd appeared to actually be her friends.) And her impersonation of her raspy-voiced Italian mother Jackie, who clearly disapproved of her daughter's career choice, was just as uproarious as Judy Gold or Jackie Hoffman's portrayals of the women who raised them. Racette's gift for acting was even more evident in her interpretation of lyrics, as she dug into the heart of her selections. Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin's "The Man Who Got Away," Matt Dennis and Earl Brent's jazzy "Angel Eyes," and, most especially, Murray Grand and Elisse Boyd's "Guess Who I Saw Today," paired with Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Johnny Mandel's "Where Do You Start" were practically one-act plays about love, loss and heartbreak that practically brought me to tears. While the show was full of ballads, Racette wisely lightened the mood here and there, with aptly humorous takes on Stephen Sondheim's "I'm Calm" and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "To Keep My Love Alive." (She even opted to perform the "happy" version of Sondheim's "Not a Day Goes By" as her encore.) And even when I expected to be dazzled by a traditional soprano, such as when Racette tackled Cole Porter's fiery "So in Love," she defied expectations by sticking to her strong, sure lower register. She was also willing to take some well-known songs in unexpected directions: another Rodgers & Hart standard, "Where or When," was done with a light jazz-inspired lilt, while her pianist, Craig Terry, underscored Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's "Come Rain or Come Shine" with an inspired touch of Bach. Throughout the evening, it was clear that Racette was happy to have "detoured" from her usual repertoire. And cabaret goers will be just as happy if they momentarily take a turn from their tried-and-true "divas" to experience this extraordinary singer. http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/01-2013/patricia-racette-diva-on-detour_64251.html