by Bright Sheng | Feb 15, 2019 | Song of the Day
This song is full of desperation, and is most expressive in the piano part and harmonic changes. Yet, it is so beautiful. I recommend this recording by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau & Hermann Reutter.
by Bright Sheng | Feb 14, 2019 | Song of the Day
Bartók once said that a simple folk melody can accommodate more complicated harmony. And here is a case in point. This descending Dorian tune repeats itself while the text changes, but the piano accompaniment changes quite bit along with the text, from consonance at...
by Bright Sheng | Feb 13, 2019 | Song of the Day
I love this popular song because of the simplicity and charm it brings out from the moving eighth notes on both the voice and piano. Sometimes the least pretentious can be most rewarding. Leontyne Price with Barber at the piano Marilyn Horne with Martin...
by Bright Sheng | Feb 12, 2019 | Song of the Day
This three-song set is equivalent to three scenes from an opera. It paints the actions of the text both in reality and in abstraction, but in its most effective way, it depicts an unyielding longing for something unfathomable or unobtainable. Ravel’s Shéhérazade...
by Bright Sheng | Feb 11, 2019 | Song of the Day
I was Lenny’s assistant with Michael when we prepared the premiere of this set of eight songs for mezzo-soprano, baritone and piano four-hands. “Nachspiel” is the last one which has no text and all singers (and pianists, and perhaps the audience) humming...
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