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Editorial Reviews
2009 album from one of the most distinctive and emotionally rewarding bands in American music. This summer, Hem joined forces with The Public Theater's Shakespeare In The Park (one of NYC's most celebrated annual offerings) to compose the score for their production of Twelfth Night. The production was directed by Daniel Sullivan, and starred Anne Hathaway, Audra McDonald, Raul Esparza, Jon Patrick Walker, and David Pittu, along with a host of other actors and musicians. The songs on the album, Twelfth Night, are more lush and clear than possible in an outdoor theater, and also included are bonus songs not in the show. These additional tracks are thematically relevant to the Twelfth Night characters but have roots in other Shakespearean plays. In particular, the song 'Where Is Fancy Bred?' (from The Merchant of Venice) sung by Orsino (Ra£l Esparza) is spectacular, with a melody and orchestration that creates a goosebump extravaganza that made jaws drop each time the song rang through the studio.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Backup Band to the Bard,
This review is from: Twelfth Night (Audio CD)
With the release of fifth album Twelfth Night, Brooklyn-based folk band Hem can add playing backup band to the Bard to their résumé. When Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan and the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park program brought the much beloved romantic comedy to Central Park's Delacorte Theater this past summer, Hem brought the soundtrack.
It's the band's most lively and varied work by a country mile, but to call Twelfth Night a proper Hem album is a bit misleading. Sure, the evocative, familiar songcraft of Gary Maurer and Steve Curtis are all over the album, along with Dan Messé's lush string arrangements. The atmosphere and melody of "Come Away Death" echoes "We'll Meet Along the Way" from Hem's last album, Funnel Cloud, and stirring interlude "Not Too Fast! Soft Soft!" could be an outtake from 2004's Eveningland. But instead of Hem's lead vocalist Sally Ellyson, it's the voices of the Twelfth Night cast members at the fore, including Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada, The Princess Diaries), and Broadway veterans Raúl Esparza and David Pittu. As Twelfth Night's fool Feste, Pittu's buoyant vocals carry "Mistress Mine" and "Hey Robin, Jolly Robin". Hathaway's efforts on the album are serviceable, but her only dazzler is a duet with Audra McDonald on "Full Phathom Five", a bonus track written by Messé and inspired by another Shakespeare classic, The Tempest. Esparza brings a passionate flair to his tunes, particularly the all-too-short "Where is Fancy Bred?" Rather than providing the usual backing to Hem's acoustic folk-based originals, two full-bodied orchestras actually drive the songs of Twelfth Night. The Gowanus Radio Orchestra, which formed as Hem's touring band in 2006, and the Illyrian Marching Band (pseudonym for a rotating collection of Hem band members and classically trained musicians-for-hire) are co-credited on individual tracks. Even removed from the Twelfth Night folio, the album's breadth of arrangements, from simple voice and guitar to full-blown orchestral reels, makes for a transporting listen, a stunning tableau of the mystical, fanciful, and intimate. Messé's combination of polkas, reels and aires hopscotches across European musical traditions, evoking a cosmopolitan air without being too crass or obvious. 28 tracks may seem like a lot to absorb, but many clock in less than a minute, and several are reinventions or variations on the same theme. Recommended for literary-minded fans of Hem, Over the Rhine, and the Decemberists.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AWESOME!,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Twelfth Night (Audio CD)
This c.d. was awesome! The music is beautiful and goes so good with the play. My Shakespeare group is performing Twelfth Night and we will definitely use some of the songs from this for music between the scenes. It's too bad the songs aren't very long.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely!,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Twelfth Night (Audio CD)
If you like Twelfth Night, this is a very fun cd to have. The feel of the music is spot on and the singers are all womderful.
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SoundUnwound - the personal music encyclopedia
Twelfth Night is one of Hem's 10 releases.
Dawn Landes, Daniel Messé, Steve Curtis, Sally Ellyson, Gary Maurer and four other artists have been a member of Hem.
Dawn Landes, Daniel Messé, Steve Curtis, Sally Ellyson, Gary Maurer and four other artists have been a member of Hem.
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With 5 releases, okscarfone is a fan of Hem
Their library contains 1149 releases from artists including John Coltrane and Miles Davis
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