The great American baritone Thomas Hampson regularly sings in the world's top concert halls and opera houses.
Just a few days after singing at Covent Garden, Mr. Hampson boarded a plane for Minnesota, re-connected with longtime friend and collaborator pianist Craig Rutenberg, and made his way to the Mississippi river town of Winona, Minnesota.
There he kicked off a yearlong series of recitals around the country celebrating American song, an art form where he feels most passionately at home. The concert was a part of Winona's Minnesota Beethoven Festival.
Surprisingly, this part of the recital begins with a song in German, a song by Charles Griffes who studied serious art-song in Europe and was only just beginning to find his own unique American voice.
One work by a female composer graces this set by a woman who was better known in her lifetime by her husband's name, Mrs. H.H.A. Beach.
This Beautiful Land:
Charles Griffes - By a Lonely Forest Pathway
Amy Beach - Twilight
Aaron Copland - The Dodger
Vittorio Berger - Tell Me, Oh Blue Sky Jean Berger - Lonely People
Paul Bowles - Blue Mountain Ballads (Heavenly Grass, Lonesome Man, Cabin, Sugar in the Cane) ---
This recital was recorded by Cameron Wiley at Somsen Auditorium in Winona on July 9, 2009.
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