Customer Reviews

American Dreamer: Songs of Stephen Foster

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Even now, in the 21st Century, I think we Americans tend to look down on Stephen Foster simply because he's so familiar. Now and again a performer comes along, treats Foster with the tenderness and respect he deserves, and whammo -- one realizes yet again that Foster is right up there with Schubert. This isn't the only fine Foster recital out there...but I can't think of any finer.

An opera guy singing songs written 150 years ago by a fellow from Pittsburgh who pretended to know something about the South...sound irresistable to you? Well, Tom Hampson is someone who can actually handle pop, folk and Broadway stuff in spite of his classical training. And the songwriter? Only the first real "pro" in our history. For accompaniment, Hampson and the folks at Angel Records hired Jay Unger and Molly Mason, famed for their work on the PBS/Ken Burns' "Civil War" series. So what happened? The result was a great CD of Foster's finest lyrics, lovingly presented to whoever is interested. I knew Hampson's singing a little, and of course, I knew a little about Ungar and Mason's pickin' and fiddlin', and I knew Foster's top six or seven songs. When I found this item at a bargain price, I couldn't resist, although I thought I might only listen to it once. You have to be in the right mood for this, and probably one needs a professional interest in Foster, or the history of American music, to fully enjoy it on a repeated basis. But as another reviewer has noted, there is a great version of "Hard Times Come Again No More" which seemingly was rediscovered about ten years ago by several folk/country artists. Also here are "Jeanie" and "Old Folks at Home" and "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Ring, Ring the Banjo" and "Oh Susanna" and "Camptown Races" and "Beautiful Dreamer." I also liked "Nelly Bly" and "Glendy Burk" and "Angelina Baker" (all three of which have been done more often than one might think by Americana performers) along with "Gentle Annie." Surprisingly, when I sat down to find this CD and do a review tonight, it did not show up in the list for Thomas Hampson under "popular music" or by its own title or in the list for "Stephen Foster." It only appeared when I looked for "Thomas Hampson" under "Classical Music." If Amazon and Angel want to sell some records, they should correct this. I like Stephen Foster, but he is "popular music" or I'm a fish.

I love Thomas Hampson. Not only does he have one of the most beautiful rich baritone voices that this world has to offer, but he captures text and paints it for the listener like few can. His research into his vocal projects is outstanding. The liner notes are so resourceful and interesting to read too. I have never been very crazy about opera music and often times opera singers drive me crazy. Not Thomas Hampson!!!!! Especially this album. He takes out the opera, but leaves all the technic in. He sounds American and sings beautiful English text. No overly emphasized vowels distorting a true American sound. I get butterflies when he sings "Ah, that the butterflies gilded wings" in "Ah, May the Red Rose Live Alway!" It's tops my list of favorite albums.

I didn't know Stephen Foster (I thought): wrong: Oh Susanna, etc, I knew, but had no idea who the composer was.

This CD is a revelation. The melodies are so beautiful, as are the poems, and Thomas Hampson just brings them to life as wonderfully as ever. I especially love "Beautiful Dreamer" - it gives me butterflies - and "My wife is a most knowing woman" - the way he makes the voices and the indignation is just brilliant. If one needed reminding what a brilliant singer Mr Hampson is - this disk does it.

This album was a revelation for me as I discovered Stephen Foster not just to be this figure in musical history, but a writer of songs with elegant lyrics and beautiful melodies. The strength here is with Foster's ballads, particularly "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" and "Hard Times Come Again No More". The latter is one of the greatest American songs ever written and Hampson's version is especially powerful. I have since heard this song sung by a number of singers (including Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Nancy Griffiths) and none capture the song's heartbreaking elegance as well as Hampson and his collaborators do here. Listening to this led me to purchase "The Stephen Foster Songbook" which I also recommend highly. Among Mr. Hampson's collaborators are Jay Ungar and Molly Mason (who performed "Ashokan Farewell" for Ken Burn's Civil War documentary.)

Simply one word, WOW!!!
Thomas Hampson's voice is simply fantasic. His voice is very different from regular operatic baritone voice, very sweet, and rich. I really cant believe an operatic baritone can sing folk song like THIS good, in my opinion he sounds even better than his opera works in this album. His voice and the background music matches perfectly, the outcome would move u to tears, and u can feel the origin of MUSIC. This album really shows what the word MUSIC means, and the songs simply just ALL beautiful. I like his "beautiful dreamer", "my life is well knowing woman", and "jeanie with the light brown hair" the most. When I listen the songs I would just imagine that I am in the world of past USA, and I can feel the life of the ppl in the past USA~ just like watching an old classic movie, it would touch ur heart and fall in love with this album.

Stephen Foster, who lived in Pennsylvania, wrote some of the most memorable songs about the American South in the times leading up to the Civil War. This recording by fine baritone Thomas Hampson celebrates most of Foster's well-known tunes. The accompaniment is "minimalist," consisting mostly of stringed instruments or piano, and contributes to the authentic feeling. Hampson is joined by other vocalists (including guest Garrison Keillor on a couple of cuts). Highly recommended for Stephen Foster fans, Civil War buffs, southerners, folk music enthusiasts, etc.

Ever since I was young, I have enjoyed and collected the songs of Stephen Foster and I was glad to find a clean, updated presentation, which while in places may have a sparse accompaniment, is at the same time dignified. I found that it appealed to others more than older recordings such as Richard Crooks and that the selections, while not including some of the more obscure Foster songs, were intelligently chosen. I was glad to find this because, realistically, how many artists, first rate or not, are actually recording Foster at this time?

Stephen Foster was the greatest American composer of sentimental parlor ballads--he so perfectly imitated folk songs that his music wound up turning into them. In an age of home music-making and later of families sitting around the radio, Foster's songs were a staple, often performed by crossover artists from opera like Lawrence Tibbett. Those were plump, ripe styles of singing, highly flavored by church hymns.

In this 1992 collection of 17 Foster favorites, plus a few rareties, Hampson drops the platform manner and goes straight for heartfelt sincerity. His tone is plain yet sweet, his expression intimate. He is accompanied by instruments redolent of the Victorian drawing room (guitar, fiddle, upright piano), and the mood they create brings tears and smiles of remembrance. This music is embedded in America's genes, and it's wonderful to realize that every note is still alive and throbbing with feeling.

This is a lovely CD. Hampson's baritone brings Foster's songs to life rather than overwhelms them (which could easily have happened), and the emotions are affecting rather than merely sentimental. True, some of the most famous songs appear only in instrumental medleys, but there are so many other Foster albums worth buying that any half-serious fan will own them sooner or later. I just wanted to add a footnote to one reviewer's praise for "Hard Times Come Again No More," which is one of Foster's, and this CD's, most extraordinary numbers. There's an amusing (if somewhat sophomoric--but so what) Civil War era parody of the song called "Song of the Hungry," sung by Union troops complaining about their rations ("Hard crackers come again no more") that appears on Songs of the Civil War by the Cumberland Three, a worthwhile collection. But to end with Foster: I think Mighty Joe Young would have been delighted by the version of Beautiful Dreamer here. Put him down, Joe!!