John Dalmas wrote:

>Has anyone listened to fellow list subscriber Danielle Woerner's new
>recording of songs by Otto Luening and Robert Starer (on Parnassus 202078)?
>FWIW, Joel Lazar has posted on the Opera L list a very positive "review" of
>Danielle Woerner's recording.  Perhaps we can cajole Joel into posting it
>hereabouts.

With pleasure, slightly abridged from its previous incarnation:

Browsing a few days ago at my favorite gourmet record shop in Baltimore,
Recordmasters (no financial or other interest), I came across a
recently-issued CD by listmember Danielle Woerner, who modestly identifies
herself on line only as a member of the Bard College music faculty.  She is
much more than that; she is a dedicated and expressive singer with a warm,
eloquent voice; the record is very much worth owning for anyone interested
in American music and American singers at their most congenial and
communicative.

Remembering an enthusiastic review in a recent FANFARE, and her own
perceptive on-line remarks (Opera-List) on a variety of subjects I bought
a copy.

It's a wonderful collection of songs by Otto Luening and Robert Starer,
album title "She Walks in Beauty" PARNASSUS PACD96-012.  Splendid singing,
impeccable diction (essential with texts of such high literary quality),
fine production values and excellent collaboration from a group of
instrumentalists from the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, pianists Sylvia
Buccelli and one of the composers, Robert Starer.

The music spans a period from 1923 (early Luening) to 1995 (recent Starer);
To begin with, the 31 songs are carefully chosen and arranged for both
musical and literary value and above all, variety.  They are based on texts
by Blake, Byron, Emily Dickinson and Gail Godwin.  This is not easy as it
sounds, since "American Songs 1920-2000" is such a dangerous repertoire;
most of us well know that so often when we listen to this music in recital
or on recordings, after about five or six songs, no matter whether they're
early Copland or late Rorem, early Barber, middle Hoiby, or late Previn,
they all blur together.

On the contrary, Danielle Woerner presents us both with a grouping and with
a series of performances which stress the individuality of these works.
Not an easy thing to do, it reveals her intellectual insights as well as
her vocal artistry.  Moreover, there is a major artistic/interpretative
achievement involved in finding a distinctive "voice" for each of those
pieces and projecting them with such devotion, intensity and conviction.
Minor changes in perspective or acoustic were a bit distracting at first as
they seemed to produce small changes in the the basic timbre of her rich,
flexible voice, but that's only because I listened straight through the CD.
On subsequent hearing, I found that these changes tended to enhance the
atmosphere and character of each song.  As I've always enjoyed vocal
chamber music (song with instruments) from Bach cantatas through "Le
marteau..".both as conductor and listener, I was particularly happy that
three significant works of this sort were included.  A generous,
well-illustrated booklet contains not only texts and performer biographies
but serious essays about and personal reminiscences of the composers.

All in all, this is a fine introduction both to the artist and to the music
of two highly respected but insufficiently known figures.

Joel Lazar
Conductor, Bethesda MD
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