Leonard Bernstein: Songs

Roberta Alexander - soprano (Artist, Performer), Tan Crone - piano (Artist, Performer), Leonard Bernstein (Composer), None (Conductor) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Roberta Alexander - soprano, Tan Crone - piano
• Conductor: None
• Composer: Leonard Bernstein
• Audio CD (March 22, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Et'Cetera
• ASIN: B0000000NK
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220,870 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I hate music! - My name is Barbara

2. I hate music! - Jupiter Has Seven Moons

3. I hate music! - I Hate Music!

4. I hate music! - A Big Indian and a Little Indian

5. I hate music! - I'm a Person Too

6. La bonne cuisine - Plum Pudding

7. La bonne cuisine - Queues de Boeuf

8. La bonne cuisine - Tavouk Gueunksis

9. La bonne cuisine - Civet à Toute titesse

10. La bonne cuisine - Plum Pudding

11. La bonne cuisine - Ox-tails

12. La bonne cuisine - Tavouk Gueunksis

13. La bonne cuisine - Rabit at Top Speed

14. Two love songs - Extinguish My Eyes

15. Two love songs - When My Soul Touches Yours

16. So pretty

17. Piccola sere1nata

18. Silhouette

19. Mass - A SImple Song

20. Mass - I Go On

See all 27 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Review

Roberta Alexander, adapting her voice and style with remarkable ease to all the idioms, is particularly successful in alternating wit and sentiment Here is wit, whimsy and worship, sadness and élan, patriotism, pride and even love of food, cleverly expressed in words and music. Quite delightful and beautifully accompanied. --Gramophone

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only Roberta, December 2, 2003

By 

D. Wijngaarden (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leonard Bernstein: Songs (Audio CD)

Roberta Alexander is right on top of this recording. She has a beautiful and strong voice, but more importantly, she has perfect command of the music and idiom of these and Ives' songs. The emotional range of the songs is very wide, ranging from playful to thoughtful to sorrowful but she makes all of them sound very natural.

The Five Kid Songs express the imagination of a small child (Jupiter has seven moons, or is it nine? Saturn has a million billion trillion sixty-nine) and it would be very easy to perform them in a childish way, talking down as many adults do - the composer expressly stated that they should not be performed this way and in fact Alexander sings them with a perfectly natural innocence. La Bonne Cuisine is sung with a strong drive, and although it's hard to imagine what anyone should do with excerpts from a cooking book it's still compelling music. The other songs are also nice but not as memorable - as for the songs from Candide, they are beautiful but get the complete recording on Deutsche Grammophon, directed by Bernstein himself (there are two; I prefer the live version, ASIN B000001GD2).

Tan Crone does more than just provide a background; she adds her own interpretation on piano to add even more feeling to the music.

Bernstein's songs do not have the depth of Ives', but this is still a very nice collection. I will have to check out the Barber and Copland recordings on the same label as well.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great singing, February 28, 2006

By 

Luka J. deKelaita "Uncle Luka" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leonard Bernstein: Songs (Audio CD)

Roberta Alexander is stunning in these songs of Bernstein. Her voice simply shimmers. Really beautiful.