Bolcom: Cabaret Songs; Schoenberg, etc / Brüggergosman

• Album Summary
• Notes & Reviews
• Also Purchased
• Works Details

Album Summary

Performers

• Measha Brueggergosman
• William Bolcom (Piano)

Conductor

• Robertson, David

Ensemble

• BBC Symphony Orchestra

Composers

• Erik Satie (Composer) (1866 - 1925)
• William Bolcom (Composer) (1938 - )
• Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951)

Notes & Reviews:

"[Brueggergosman's] lusty reading of Bolcom's little vignettes of everyday life is far superior to the arch treatments they are sometimes given. She may even find something in his songs that Bolcom himself did not put there, which is of course the mark of a great interpreter... It's hard to think of a listener, even among those not oriented toward vocal music, who would not enjoy this release, and the ability to go from Berlioz to Faure to Satie announces that Measha Brueggergosman has arrived, with attitude intact. Camera-friendly, a champion communicator in the concert hall, and already an unusually versatile performer, Brueggergosman seems limited at this point only by the imagination she and her handlers can muster in developing her career." -All Music Guide

Gramophone Classical Music Guide
William Bolcom's Cabaret Songs (there are 28 of them in all) were composed for his wife Joan Morris, who recorded them with the composer at the piano in the 1970s. For Measha Brueggergosman's first solo recording, Bolcom has orchestrated seven of them into a nifty little song - cycle. The mood is generally slightly sinister, from the opening 'Surprise!' ('When she tried to drink iodine from a paper cup'), through a worrying tale of crime and punishment, 'Amor!', to the best - known of the songs, the Weill - style 'Black Max'. This bears the subtitle 'As told by the de Kooning boys', and all the verses by Bolcom's long - time lyricist and librettist Arnold Weinstein have overtones of surrealism and world - weary irony, suitable for one who lived out his days in that seediest of grand hotels, The Chelsea.

It's a brave man who sets out to orchestrate Schoenberg, and Patrick Davin's reworkings of the Brettl-Lieder inevitably have a softening effect (just one, 'Der Nachtwandler', has Schoenberg's own orchestration). Brueggergosman deals with them in a straightforward way, without trying to overload them with charm or significance.

The voice is a full soprano, well focused, with a 'snarling' edge used to great effect in the Bolcom songs. In the Schoenberg she employs a more obviously operatic style, with a gentle vibrato. The BBC Symphony Orchestra under David Robertson play with considerable spirit, above all in Bolcom's really gorgeous orchestration of Satie's 'Je te veux'. This and the other chansons composed for Paulette Darty ('Tendrement' and 'La diva de l'empire') go well, but 'L'omnibus automobile' is taken too fast, so that much of the crazy humour of Vincent Hyspa's poem is lost. No matter, there is an enormous amount to enjoy here from a hugely talented singer.

Reviews

There are currently no reviews, be the first one!

Also Purchased

Works Details

Bolcom, William : Cabaret Songs (12), Vol 1 and 2 :: Surprise!

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Period Time: Contemporary
• Form: Vocal
• Written: 1977-1996

Bolcom, William : Cabaret Songs (12), Vol 1 and 2 :: The Actor

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 1 min. 30 sec.
• Period Time: Contemporary
• Form: Vocal
• Written: 1977-1996

Bolcom, William : Cabaret Songs (12), Vol 1 and 2 :: Song of Black Max

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 3 min. 19 sec.
• Period Time: Contemporary
• Form: Vocal
• Written: 1977-1996

Bolcom, William : Cabaret Songs (12), Vol 1 and 2 :: Amor

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 3 min. 8 sec.
• Period Time: Contemporary
• Form: Vocal
• Written: 1977-1996

Bolcom, William : Cabaret Songs (12), Vol 1 and 2 :: Toothbrush Time

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 3 min. 19 sec.
• Period Time: Contemporary
• Form: Vocal
• Written: 1977-1996

Bolcom, William : Cabaret Songs (12), Vol 1 and 2 :: The Total Stranger in the Garden

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 1 min. 53 sec.
• Period Time: Contemporary
• Form: Vocal
• Written: 1977-1996

Bolcom, William : Cabaret Songs (12), Vol 1 and 2 :: George

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 3 min. 30 sec.
• Period Time: Contemporary
• Form: Vocal
• Written: 1977-1996

Schoenberg, Arnold : Brettl-Lieder

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 24 min. 8 sec.
• Period Time: Post Romantic
• Written: 1901

Satie, Erik [Composer] : La diva de l'Empire, song for voice & piano

• Performers: Measha Brueggergosman; William Bolcom (Piano)
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 2 min. 39 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: 1904

Satie, Erik [Composer] : Tendrement, valse chantée for voice & piano

• Performers: Measha Brueggergosman; William Bolcom (Piano)
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 4 min. 12 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Form: Waltz
• Written: circa 1902

Satie, Erik [Composer] : L' Omnibus automobile, for voice & piano

• Performers: Measha Brueggergosman; William Bolcom (Piano)
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 2 min. 52 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: circa 1900-1906

Satie, Erik [Composer] : Mélodies (3) of 1916, for voice & piano :: Daphénéo

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 1 min. 27 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: 1916

Satie, Erik [Composer] : Je te veux (I Want You), café-concert song for voice & piano

• Performer: Measha Brueggergosman
• Conductor: David Robertson
• Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
• Running Time: 6 min. 13 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: 1897