Search - Milton Babbitt, Christopher Berg, Mel Powell :: Songs & Encores: Recital of American Song

The beloved American soprano, Judith Bettina is heard on this disc in a highly varied recital of recent American song. Accompanied by her husband, the distinguished pianist James Goldsworthy, the pair present numerous first recordings of songs composed for and dedicated to them. Indeed this disc is a tribute to Ms. Bettina s long relationships with a stylistically broad range of American composers. Referring to this stylistic breadth, annotator Hayes Biggs writes that it is possible to view the individual songs as points along a continuum, from those exhibiting a relatively diatonic harmonic language (Christopher Berg, Tobias Picker) to an idiom that at times refers more or less obliquely to tonality but is considerably more chromatic (Chester Biscardi, David Rakowski) to one that is completely chromatic and untethered from tonality (Milton Babbitt, Mel Powell). Despite their differences, however, all of these composers in their unique ways are at root emblematic of a great and continuing lyric tradition in American music. New York Magazine called Judith Bettina a sensationally accomplished soprano , and this disc offer ample evidence of her great gift.