Two New Delos Releases!
LOVE IS EVERYWHERE: Songs of Margaret Ruthven Lang, Vol. 1
Donald George, tenor
Lucy Mauro, piano
DE 3407
Songs of Love Gained and Lost: Love is Everywhere • Ojalá • A Poet Gazes on the Moon • Irish Love Song • Deserted • Betrayed
Songs for Lovers of Children: Morning • The Sky Ship • The Jade Flute • Ghosts • The Sandman • Evening
Nonsense Rhymes and Pictures, Opp. 42 and 43, (Edward Lear): There was an old man with a beard • There was a young lady of Lucca • There once was a person of Skye • There was an old man with a gong • There was an old lady of France • There was an old man in a tree • There was an old person of Cassel
Parting Words and Songs: Snowflakes • A Song of the Spanish Gypsies • Summer Noon • My Lady Jacqueminot • A Song of the Lilac • Chimes
Listen to multiple samples and learn more about Margaret Ruthven Lang in this video:
Today the new Delos CD, “Love is Everywhere: Songs of Margaret Ruthven Lang, Volume 1” (DE 3407) has been released! This is the first-ever CD devoted to Lang’s songs. Performed by tenor Donald George and pianist Lucy Mauro, the CD is a rediscovery of a significant body of songs by a noted American composer.
The special CD package includes a CD-ROM Companion Disc containing printable files of the sheet music for all of the songs in both Volume 1 and in the upcoming Volume 2. (Volume 2 is scheduled for release in Fall 2011.) The CD-ROM will have enormous value for those interested in singing, since most of Lang’s music is out of print. The package also includes a list of the songs categorized by degree of difficulty —a valuable resource for singers, teachers and students.
Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867-1972) was a fascinating figure in American music. She was the first female composer to have a work performed by a major American orchestra, beginning with the Boston Symphony under Nikisch. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, her music was performed around the world. She was a significant part of the musical life of Boston, associated with the Second New England School of composers. Her father was the prominent musician B.J. Lang, a member of the Harvard Musical Association, who started such venerable Boston music organizations as the Cecilia Society (still active today), and the Apollo Club, and helped with the formation of the Boston Symphony. The Lang family frequently hosted prominent musicians of the time, including Dvořák and Paderewski. B. J. Lang was also a friend of Franz Liszt and his daughter Cosima, Hans von Bülow and Richard Wagner (their children were playmates). He conducted the premiere of the famous Tchaikovsky piano concerto and later performed it on the piano.
While Margaret Lang lived to be 105, she stopped composing in 1919 and destroyed most of her works. Her songs, an American treasure, can be found in libraries and collections throughout the US. Lang’s songs were performed by many of the famous singers of her time, including Ernestine Schuman-Heink, Dan Beddoe, Alma Gluck, and John McCormack. For texts, she chose such noted female writers as Alice Meynell, George Eliot, Lizette Woodworth Reese, Harriet Fairchild Blodgett, Judith Gautier, and Julie Lippman.
“Love is Everywhere” shows the remarkable freshness and originality of Lang’s music, and a wide range of styles and influences, including the German romantic tradition, Impressionism and Eastern music. She had studied in Munich with prominent teachers of the time, and in the U.S. with such figures as Chadwick, Paine and MacDowell. Songs such as Summer Noon, Snowflakes, Irish Love Song, Ojala, A Song of the Lilac, and Chimes were some of Lang’s most popular and, in particular, show her fine craftsmanship and variety of compositional styles.
Margaret Lang also has the distinction of being the longest consecutive subscriber to the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1967, the orchestra performed a concert in honor of her 100th birthday and installed a small plaque on her seat, first balcony right, B1.
Donald George and Lucy Mauro are currently performing these songs internationally, and have already recorded Vol. 2, to be released in Fall 2011.
Donald George has sung at the Paris Opera, La Scala , Royal Opera of Brussels, Kennedy Center, the State Operas of Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna, the Festivals of Salzburg, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Blossom USA. He has sung with Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur, Yehudi Menuhin, Jeffry Tate and recorded Elijah, Verdi Requiem, Rossini’s Aureliano in Palmira and Le Nozze di Teti e Peleo (the world premiere recording), Die Schöne Müllerin. Donald is in demand as a voice teacher in the US, Germany and China, and will be giving master classes on the songs of Margaret Lang in both the US and Germany.
Companion Data Disc:
Printable PDFs of all song scores contained in Volumes 1 and 2
Printable texts for all songs contained in Volumes 1 and 2
A list of the songs categorized by degree of difficulty
PDFs of selected original manuscripts
CD & Mp3 Downloads available from ClassicsOnline.com!
Purchase the CD from Amazon.com!
Brazilian Guitar Quartet Plays Villa-Lobos
Brazilian Guitar Quartet
DE 3409
Suite Floral: I. Idilio na Rede • II. Uma Camponeza Cantadeira • III. Alegria na Horta
6 Cirandas: A canoa virou (The Canoe Capsized) • A Condessa (The Countess) • Terezinha de Jesus (the Little Teresa of Jesus) • A procura de uma agulha (Searching for a Needle) • Senhora Dona Sancha (Madame Dona Sancha) • Que lindos olhos! (What Beautiful Eyes!)
String Quartet No. 5: I. Pouco Andantino • II. Vivo e energico • III. Andantino • IV. Allegro
Danças Características Africanas No. 1 Farrapos • No. 2 Kankukus • No. 3 Kankikis
String Quartet No. 12: I. Allegro • II. Andante • III. Allegretto • IV. Allegro ben ritmato
All arrangements by Tadeu do Amaral
Praised by the Washington Post for their “seductive beauty” and “virtuosic gusto,” the Brazilian Guitar Quartet has established itself as one of world’s leading guitar ensembles. This is their first album devoted entirely to the most beloved of Brazilian composers, in all-new arrangements by the BGQ.
In the album notes, Villa-Lobos authority Gil Jardim points out that “exuberance and simplicity” are hallmarks, both of Villa-Lobos’ music itself, and of this beautiful collection of arrangements for guitar quartet. “I am amazed by the superb quality of the Brazilian Guitar Quartet… This recording is an authentic reflection of the Villa-Lobos way of making music… [and] provides the opportunity to enjoy the way in which the guitar’s multiple timbres sensitively reveal every nuance of musical experience.”
The Brazilian Guitar Quartet has produced a number of favorites in the Delos catalog. Earlier Delos BGQ albums have been universally acclaimed (Classical “Critics Choice,” Billboard’s “Best of the Year,” Audiophile Audition). Two of the albums, “Essencia do Brasil” and “Encantamento,” offer a range of Brazilian music. The third presents the BGQ’s splendid arrangement of the Bach Four Suites for Orchestra. The most recent album, Albeniz “Iberia,” was hailed as “historic” in Brazil. Allmusic called it “as warm and transcendentally evocative as Albeniz could have wished for.”
In more than a decade of activity, the BGQ has performed over 300 concerts in the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia, often receiving ecstatic audience responses, garnering rave reviews, and meeting sold-out halls.
CD & Mp3 Downloads available from ClassicsOnline.com!
Purchase the CD from Amazon.com!