Ruth Ann Swenson - i carry your heart / Warren Jones

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Ruth Ann Swenson has progressed from being one of opera's great voices to one of its finest singing actresses. Unaccountably, her recording career has lagged behind. In this varied but oddly cohesive program that ranges from 17th- century Francesco Cavalli to 20th-century composers such as Reynaldo Hahn and John Duke, her robust lyric/coloratura voice rings out just a bit too operatically, though she beautifully captures the rapture of Hahn's L'heure exquise. Most of this repertoire will be unfamiliar even to the most educated music lovers, but there are major finds, such as Afred Bachelet's Chere nuit. --David Patrick Stearns

Tracks:

Speranze (Hopes)
Vaghe stelle (Wandering Stars)
Vaga luna che inargenti (Roaming moon that silvers...)
L'Invito (The Invitation)
La promessa (The Promise)
La seduzione (The Seducton)
Stornello (Refrain)
Almen se non poss'io (At least if I cannot...)
Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock)
Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock)
Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock)
Si mes vers avaient des ailes (If my poems had wings)
Con amores, la mi madre (With (tender) love, mother)
Del cabello mas sutil (Delicate Tresses)
L'heure exquise (The Exquisite Hour)
Chere nuit (Precious Night)
Little Elegy
Aubade
The Bird
I Carry Your Heart

Amazon.com

Ruth Ann Swenson has progressed from being one of opera's great voices to one of its finest singing actresses. Unaccountably, her recording career has lagged behind. In this varied but oddly cohesive program that ranges from 17th- century Francesco Cavalli to 20th-century composers such as Reynaldo Hahn and John Duke, her robust lyric/coloratura voice rings out just a bit too operatically, though she beautifully captures the rapture of Hahn's L'heure exquise. Most of this repertoire will be unfamiliar even to the most educated music lovers, but there are major finds, such as Afred Bachelet's Chere nuit. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews:

Lovely mezzo material by a lovely mezzo-soprano........2006-05-21

'i carry your heart' by mezzo-soprano Ruth Ann Swenson, accompanied by Warren Jones on piano is an excellent collection of amuse bouche for the ear, as Ms. Swenson covers material by eight different composers writing in four different languages (Italian, French, German, and English). So, this is not a disk you will get if you happen to be a big fan of Reynaldo Hahn or Franz Schubert.

Ms. Swenson's virtuosity throughout is as good or better than her contemporaries. I compared her renditions of her two Hahn songs to a recent release by soprano, Susan Graham, and could find absolutely nothing upon which to prefer one over the other, except for a preference for the soprano versus the mezzo-soprano range.

I was especially fond of her treatment of the Schubert 'Der Hirt auf dem Felsen', especially for the fine accompaniment by Charles Nedich' clarinet.

Recommended.

Ravishing vocalism; Ruth Ann Swenson makes magic........1998-09-26

This recital is splendid. Swenson has chosen a program that not only suits her voice perfectly, but that also has its own continuity.

In "Stornello," Swenson coveys a blend of coyness and blatant nonchalance. The Schubert cycle is beautifully done, intimate in tone and wholly appealing. Swenson does an especially lovely job on the Hahn selections: "Si mes vers avaient des ailes" and "L'heure exquise." This is a CD to listen to again and again. A disc to cherish.

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