Topic: BRIDGE Releases
The Art of Elaine Bonazzi Monteverdi: Songs from Scherzi Musicali (1632): Io ch’armato sin hor; Eri gia tutta mia; Maledetto sia l’aspetto; Messenger Scene from L’Orfeo; Britten: A Charm of Lullabies, Op. 41 (1947); Brahms: Gestillte Sehnsucht, Op. 91, No. 1; Geistliches Wiegenlied, Op. 91, No. 2; Ravel: Chansons Madecasses (1926) Elaine Bonazzi, mezzo-soprano; with Ellen Mack, piano; Timothy Day, flute; Karen Tuttle, viola; Steven Kates, cello BRIDGE 9176 DDD Total Time: 52:40
Bridge is pleased to release this superb vocal recital by the great mezzo-soprano, Elaine Bonazzi. Recorded at the Peabody Conservatory in 1985, this studio recording was never released, and is being issued in a new re-mastering by engineer Adam Abeshouse.
The career of mezzo soprano Elaine Bonazzi has been an extraordinary one. Called “a fantastically gifted actress and singer” by The Washington Post, Bonazzi earned a singular reputation for her vivid and memorable portrayals on the opera stage. As an oratorio and orchestral soloist, she was one of the leading mezzos of her generation and was equally at home on the recital and concert stage. Bonazzi made her debut in Santa Fe in 1958 in the role of Meg Page in Falstaff. In Santa Fe, over the next 35 years, she sang everything from the title roles in Carmen, Regina, and The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, to important roles in the American premieres of Berg’s Lulu, and Hindemith’s News of the Day (with Hindemith conducting). It was at Santa Fe that she began her long association with Igor Stravinsky, when she played Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress in a production supervised by the composer. She was subsequently chosen by Stravinsky for a number of premieres, including The Requiem Canticles, which she recorded, and Le Rossignol at The Washington Opera, which she also recorded. At New York City Opera, Bonazzi made her debut in Ned Rorem’s Miss Julie, and she was cast by Stephen Sondheim as Mrs. Lovett in his Sweeney Todd, and Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music. Other American companies with which Bonazzi appeared included the Metropolitan Opera at the Forum, and the companies of Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Houston, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Wolf Trap, Seattle, Dallas, Houston. In 1985, the year this recording was made, Byron Belt, writing for Newhouse Newspapers, summed up what composers, audiences, and critics alike had felt about this unique singer: “Elaine Bonazzi is the rarest of artists—a superb performer who is admired deeply…as a singer and woman who is sensitive, gifted and able to communicate music and the meaning of words as few stars of the stage can achieve so consistently.”
Music of Mario Davidovsky, Volume 3 Synchronisms No. 5 (1969) for five percussion players and electronic sounds, The Manhattan School of Music Percussion Ensemble, Jeffrey Milarsky, conductor; Duo Capriccioso, for violin and piano (2003) (premiere recording), Curtis Macomber, violin, Aleck Karis, piano; Synchronisms No. 6 (1970) for piano and electronic sounds, Aleck Karis, piano; Quartetto (1987) for flute, violin, viola and violoncello, Speculum Musicae: Susan Palma Nidel, flute, Curtis Macomber, violin, Maureen Gallagher, viola, Eric Bartlett, violoncello, Synchronisms No. 9 (1988) for violin and electronic sounds, Curtis Macomber, violin; Chacona (1971) for violin, violoncello and piano, Speculum Musicae: Curtis Macomber, violin, Eric Bartlett, violoncello, Aleck Karis, piano
BRIDGE 9171 DDD Total Time: 55:05
This CD presents six new recordings of Mario Davidovsky compositions spanning a period of nearly thirty-five years, performed by some of his leading champions. Featured are three of Davidovsky’s “Synchronisms” pieces for instruments and electronic sounds. This series of path-breaking works (including the Pulitzer Prize-winning No. 6 for piano and electronics) incorporates some of the Argentine-born Davidovsky’s best known compositions. The Synchronisms series presents the listener with brilliantly imagined ‘sonic-spaces’ that combine extreme instrumental virtuosity with an accompanying pre-recorded track that utilizes both electronic and concrete sounds. The music that Davidovsky offers is notable for its highly musical interweaving of materials from radically differing sound sources. In addition to the Synchronisms pieces, three chamber works round out this collection. Duo Capriccioso, heard in its first recording, is a whimsical dialogue between violin and piano. Quartetto contrasts delicate unison writing with ferociously biting tuttis; and Chacona is a granitic masterpiece of heroic virtuosity. CD annotator Eric Chasalow writes that “Davidovsky was already a composer of great accomplishment when Aaron Copland brought him from Argentina to Tanglewood in 1959. There, Milton Babbitt recognized the young composer’s potential and made the crucial suggestion that he travel to New York City.” Davidovsky eventually became director of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, where he came into contact with Edgard Varese and many other leading musicians of the day. Chasalow calls Davidovsky “one of the truly original musical voices to have emerged from post war America....with this music we are drawn into a world that is highly coherent, elegant and compelling.”
These Mario Davidovsky recordings are also available on Bridge:
Volume One: Flashbacks (1995); Festino (1994); Romancero (1983); Quartetto No. 2 (1996); Synchronisms No. 10 (1992); String Trio (1982)
BRIDGE 9097
Volume Two: Shulamit's Dream (1993); Scenes from Shir ha-Shirim (1975); Biblical Songs (1990)
BRIDGE 9112
Updated: Thursday, 1 September 2005 8:26 PM EDT