Search - Aaron Copland, John [Composer] Adams, Leonard Bernstein :: The World So Wide

Please control the swooping, Dawn

03/30/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Upshaw is a real favorite with many aficionados of twentieth-century music because of her adventurousness in tackling the modern repertoire and for her sensitivity in interpretation. In recent years, however, she's veered from the tact and discipline that informed her beautiful rendition of Barber's "Knoxville" and has instead given way to some incredibly irritating affectations, including a bizarrely distorting overenunciation of consonants and swooping when she reaches certain notes. Unfortunately these tendencies mar her performance on the disc of what should be a signature piece for her, Adams's exquisite aria for Pat Nixon, "This is prophetic!" On the recording of NIXON IN CHINA, Carolann Page gives a far more tactful and heartbreaking rendition of this aria than Upshaw, who whoops and swoops through it to oddly overstated effect.Upshaw is far more successful on this disc on the more theatrical pieces: she handles the Willow Song from BALLAD OF BABY DOE admirably, giving it the drama it needs, and she's pretty funny in her rendition of Bernstein's showstopping "What a movie!" from TROUBLE IN TAHITI (though again here the overenunciation of consonants makes her sound at times like Julie Andrews). Her decision to record Weill's "Lonely Town," a song for tenors, is a bit strange, but she handles it very movingly."

Signature Upshaw

07/01/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great album. No one but Dawn Upshaw is so original and fresh. She tackles these amazingly difficult pieces and always does a great job. Unfortunately, the Amazon people listed the tracks incorrectly. Here are the real tracks:1. Laurie's Song ... 2. This is Prophetic ... 3. What a Movie ... 4. Oh Yemanja (Mother's Prayer) ... 5. Willow Song ... 6. Lonely House ... 7. Give Me Some Music ... 8. Ain't it a Pretty Night"

Another adventurous collection from the wonderful Ms. Upshaw

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 08/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On reflection, it's amazing that Dawn Upshaw has made a major career for herself without recording a note of Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, or Strauss. She's far from being a bread-and-butter soprano, as this marvelous colleciton of mostly obscure arias from mostly obscure American operas displays. The title aria form copland's The Tender Land sets the overall tone of rapt, romatnic charm. Her voice is too light to sing Barber's Celopatra onstage, but it works well in the studio, and the more popsy numbers, such as Delilah's big song from Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, call on Upshaw's excellent crossover skills. Another revelation is how good Joh Adams's Nixon in China music sounds when performed expressively by a major artist.



Renee Fleming released a similar collection on Decca ("I Want Magic"), but the two CDs couldn't be more different. Upshaw is touching, informal, spontaneous, and charming. Fleming tires for the big effects, boosting the music (not too successfully) into the ralms of grand opera.



In all, I'm deeply grateful for every unusual program Upshaw delivers. Now that there are more than a dozen of them, we can see how beautifully she has managed a career devoted to music that few other major stars come close to trying."