VOICES OF OUR TIME
DAWN UPSHAW
With Gilbert Kalish (piano)

William Bolcom: Amor; Ruth Crawford Seeger: Five
Songs; John Harbison: Mirabai Songs; Kaija Saariaho: Lonh; Laura Elise Schwendinger: In Just-spring; Osvaldo Golijov: Lúa descolorida; George Crumb: The Sleeper; Olivier Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi; Chants de Terre et de Ciel; Charles Ives: Memories; The Circus Band

Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Format: LPCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.0, DTS 5.0
Running Time: 91 Mins
Region Code: PAL All
Booklet Languages: GB, F, D
Recording Date: 26th January 2000
Cat no.: DV-VTDU-EUR


"Dawn Upshaw is one of today's most uncompromising singers, determined to redefine the formal parameters of the solo recital and to bring a comparatively unfamiliar repertory to her audiences."The Guardian

American soprano Dawn Upshaw is featured this month in our continuing Voices of our Time series, spotlighting some of today's legendary names. The song recital documented on this DVD took place on 26 January 2000 in the Théâtre de Châtelet in Paris. The two halves of its programme reflect the two worlds of 20th century French and American music to which Dawn Upshaw feels particularly attached. Their appeal lies in their broad stylistic range, which gives a clear indication of the soprano's versatility.

The DVD includes interviews with Upshaw providing a fascinating and informative commentary on the - relatively unknown - songs performed here, and also features an interview with Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, whose Lonh song cycle for soprano and electronics is included in this recital.

"It is a rare delight when world-class artists at their peak devote appearances to unusual repertoire. Dawn Upshaw, making singing sound so easy, was with her regular partner Gilbert Kalish, one of the best song recital pianists before the public. This perfectly attuned American duo temporarily eclipsed memories of even the best British song accompanists regularly heard on the same platform." MusicWeb on the May 2002 recital at Wigmore Hall

"The songs explore the thin line between faith and fanaticism, and Upshaw delivered them with a fiery ecstasy, sometimes throwing her arms wide in a cruciform position like one transfigured." The Guardian on a March 2004 performance of John Harbison's Mirabai Songs at the Barbican