Volume III: MUSIQUE FRANÇAISE AND RADIO NETHERLANDS
1983 - 1984

Francis Poulenc

Tel jour telle nuit

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Tel jour telle nuit is "the blue album", an LP of Poulenc songs that Gérard Souzay and Dalton Baldwin recorded for RCA in the mid-1960s. It is a favorite Souzay recording of mine and the richness and sensuality of this romantic cycle is perfectly captured. I sang this cycle on my degree recital while studying with Wayne Ťonner at Peabody Conservatory, on a recital in Florence, Italy while touring with students from Curtis Institute and at my New York recital debut at Town Hall from which this performance comes from.

I followed Souzay's choice of keys rather than transpose the entire cycle one whole step. I remember when I first started learning this work, I wrote out the entire cycle by hand; after losing it, wrote it out again; then discovered that it had been published at one time in a medium key.

01 I. Bonne journée
02 II. Une ruine coquille vide
03 III. Le front comme un drapeau perdu
04 IV. Une roulotte couverte en tuiles
05 V. A toutes brides
06 VI. Une herbe pauvre
07 VII. Je n'ai envie que de t'aimer
08 VIII. Figure de force brûlante et farouche
09 IX. Nous avons fait la nuit


Henri Duparc

Songs for Voice and Orchestra

Through a grant from the Astral Foundation in Philadelphia, the summer of 1984 was spent traveling to Europe for competitions in Paris, Munich, s'Hertogenbosch and Toulouse plus studies at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. It was a beautiful and fruitful summer there - I sang the role of Dr. Malatesta in their production of Don Pasquale, coached the role of Debussy's Pelléas with Martial Singher, and I was one of 10 winners of the Concerto Competition , the prize of which was singing these three Duparc songs with the Festival orchestra. under the baton of Richard Buckley. This performance dates from August 4, 1984.

10 Chanson triste
11 L'invitation au Voyage
12 Phidylé


Radio Netherlands Recital

During the 1984 s'Hertogenbosch International Singing Competition (pronounced "ztair-togen-boss", I garnered the Janine Micheau Prize for Excellence in French Music. One of the audience members was Menno Feenstra, a radio producer who asked me to sing a recital for Hilversum Radio.

My accompanist in this recital, as well as the competition was Gérard van Blerk We chose to offer a song sampling of varied styles and composers. A few of the songs, such as the Arne and Hahn, I had never performed before. The beautiful aria from Die tote Stadt sent me sailing through rounds of auditions and competitions throughout my career

13 En sourdine (Gabriel Fauré)
14 Adelaide (Ludwig van Beethoven)
15 Fussreise (Hugo Wolf)
16 Where the bee sucks (Thomas Arne)
17 Chanson triste (Henri Duparc)
18 Les cygnes (Reynaldo Hahn)
19 Abschied (Franz Schubert)
20 Nacht und TrŠume (Franz Schubert)
21 Die tote Stadt: Pierrot's Tanzlied (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)