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Joan Sutherland is indisputably one of the greatest opera singers to have ever lived. Her performances of the coloratura repertoire set the standard for all who have followed, and are the gold standard in living memory. I do not know the exact circumstances of the...
This famous live recording of Nina Simone performing "Stars" at the Montreux Jazz Festival is one of my absolute favorites. Simone is in her full glory, at the height of her musical and communicative powers. And this Queen, I say that with no irony, is the...
Odetta Holmes, known simply as Odetta, is a national treasure. I first encountered her incredible voice as I was working my way through The Best of Broadside 1962-1988. Broadside was an underground magazine where many of the most well known protest songs of the...
I know that Kindertotenlieder is technically 5 songs, but no single piece from it can measure up to the sum of its whole. It is a piece, like this recording, that must be taken all together, both for the incredible sweep of Mahler’s score and the devastating journey...
Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist Leslie Feist has 5 solo albums to her credit, of which my personal favorites are Let it Die and The Reminder. Released in 2004 and 2007, respectively, they both deal with the mixed emotions and emotional echos that exist after...