Black Is the White Color

Black Is the White Color

Track Listings

1. Because a Motherfucker Said So

2. Cast in Tears

3. 8? (Do Not Ask)

4. Enough of White

5. Seven Is Enough?

6. Salt Penetration

7. Fuck Them

8. I Am in Hate With an Alien

9. Wish You Were Dead

10. Love It or Hate Me

11. Useless Chair Occupator [*]

Tracks:

Because a Motherfucker Said So
Cast in Tears
8? (Do Not Ask)
Enough of White
Seven Is Enough?
Salt Penetration
Fuck Them
I Am in Hate With an Alien
Wish You Were Dead
Love It or Hate Me
Useless Chair Occupator [*]

My Native Land: A Collection of American Songs

Average customer rating:

Very Good Intro to American Art Songs
Excellent recording, lots of photos, partial texts.
Terrific Songs, Great Artistry

My Native Land: A Collection of American Songs

Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Larmore, Jennifer | Divas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

The Faces of Love ~ The Songs of Jake Heggie / Fleming, McNair, Larmore, von Stade, Forand, Cao, Clayton, Vaness, Asawa
But Yesterday Is Not Today-The American Art Song 1927-1972
A Month In The Country
All My Heart: Deborah Voigt Sings American Songs
Stefano Donaudy: Amor mi fa cantare

ASIN: B000000S9V
Release Date: 1997-11-11

Tracks:

He's Gone Away
The Little Horses
Ching-a-Ring Chaw
At The River
Zion's Walls
In The Fields
Bessie Bobtail op 2, no 3
I Hear an Army, op 10
Sure on this Shining Night op.13, no 3
Rain Has Fallen, op.10
To Say Before Going To Sleep
White in the Moon
The Leather-Winged Bat
Barb'ry Allen
Sleep Now
Winter Song
Twentieth Century
A Letter
The Astronomers
T'is Winter Now
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day
Make Me An Instrument of Thy Peace
Black is The Color of My True Love's Hair
Soldier, Soldier
Heart! We Will Forget Him!
Richard Cory
Fee Simple
My Native Land
The Things Our Fathers Loved
Memories

Customer Reviews:

Very Good Intro to American Art Songs.......2006-04-02

'My Native Land', a collection of 30 pieces sung by mezzo soprano Jennifer Larmore, accompanied on piano by Antoine Palloc is an excellent tutorial in the American art song. As the introduction states, the art song is as much or more at home in America than any other form of 'classical' music. This became quite clear to me the moment I realized that Stephen Foster's songs were as much of the style of Shubert as they were of native American gospel songs.

This makes it especially odd that there are no Stephen Foster songs on this album. I take this to be an effort on the part of the artist and her producers to focus on less familiar material and thereby educate us about Jake Heggie, Lee Hoiby, John Duke, Richard Hundley, Lora Aborn, John Jacob Niles, Robert Abramson and Charles Naginski and thereby concentrating on 20th century composers joining the better known Charles Ives, Samuel Barber, and Aaron Copeland.

Larmone is not my favorite mezzo and, like another reviewer, have found her doing things I did not totally enjoy, but it seems as if the material in this album fits her to a Tee. It makes me wish she would do a Stephen Foster album.

Recommended.

Excellent recording, lots of photos, partial texts........2005-06-09

I defer to the excellent review below, and to that in the December 1997 Gramophone 12/1997. Just a brief note for purchasers that, for reasons not totally justified by copyright concerns, only nine of the thirty sung texts are reproduced in the original Teldec release booklet - and none at all in the Elatus reissue. Generous total timing 74'58.

Terrific Songs, Great Artistry.......2000-09-25

In an effort to promote American culture abroad, I purchased this CD as a gift for a European friend. After two weeks of previewing it in my home, I'm keeping it for myself! Simply put, I can't remember the last time I have enjoyed a disc of songs as much as this one. No one is more surprised than me, since in the past I haven't always warmed to Larmore's singing, live or on record. Even here there are times when her vocal idiosyncrasies get in the way of what she wants to do. The lower register often takes on a strangely occluded quality, while some of her high notes slice the air with piercing shrillness. It's a highly accomplished voice that, to my ears, lacks consistent beauty. But to be fair, for much of this disc she sounds perfectly fine: a handsome, pleasingly dark sound, notable for its flexibility and legato.

What earns her five stars, however, is her artistry. She brings an arrestingly broad range of responses to this music. Like the nation that produced them, American songs are highly diverse, drawing from folk, European, religious, and pop idioms, to name just a few. Larmore is in full command of this diversity and alters her tone and delivery to bring each number home. Furthermore, she seems really to have read and thought about the texts. Every word counts. When the music can handle it, she lays it on thick and "acts" her way through the song, such as in Copland's "Ching a Ring" or Heggie's "Barb'ry Allen." But she wisely knows when to to hold back and let the melody carry the point, as in Barber's famous "Sure on this Shining Night" or Ives's "My Native Land." (Many accomplished Lieder singers never learn this lesson.) Once or twice she's a little off target (the first track, unfortunately), but this disc gave me a new respect for her art.

It helps that she's chosen such a fascinating group of songs. The Copland and Barber are well known, and recently Heggie is on everyone's lips, but much of the rest rarely makes it to disc. I particularly liked the gorgeous Aborn numbers, with their wistful sentimentality, and the quirky Duke pieces. Hundley's "Astronomers" is a haunting, unforgettable piece. Her inclusion of three Ives songs reminds us that it's time singers of her caliber returned to his oeuvre. Many of her choices stress different kinds of longing, that most American of emotions, but there's enough of a variety to prevent sameness. She also shines in several "patter songs," delivered with lightning wit. Palloc performs his role admirably.

I enthusiastically recommend this disc. Brava Jennifer!

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