Wolpe: Wild Roses

Stefan Wolpe (Composer), Emilie Berendsen (Performer), David Bloch (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Emilie Berendsen, David Bloch
• Composer: Stefan Wolpe
• Audio CD (July 21, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Symposium
• ASIN: B000009NHR
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,095,756 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Funf Lieder: Die Halfte Des Lebens

2. Funf Lieder: An Diotima

3. Funf Lieder: Die Spaziergang

4. Funf Lieder: Diotima

5. Funf Lieder: Zufriedenheit

6. Onder Dem Kinds Wiegele

7. Ballad Of The Unkown Soldier: Es Kimt Gefloigen Di Gilderne Pawe

8. Sim Shalom

9. Vier Lieder, Op.29: Rechot

10. Vier Lieder, Op.29: Mazkeret

11. Songs Of Songs/Arrangements Of Palestinian And Yemenite Folksongs

12. Lo Nelech Mi Po

13. Saleinu Al K'tefeinu

14. Tel-Aviv

15. Apollo And Artemis

16. The Hour Glass

17. The Angel

18. Music

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Look for another performance, March 20, 2008

By 

Personne (Rocky Mountain West) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wolpe: Wild Roses (Audio CD)

This will be a short review, because it's not a fun review to write. Wolpe was a fine composer and is unfortunately under-represented on CD. Performers willing to take on this repertory should be commended. Still, this is one of the most monochromatic lieder performances I've ever heard.

Good songs are stories, and good lieder singers are story tellers. They may take the role of lover, herald, enemy, confidant or jokester, switching personae in an instant. The singer and accompanist use all of their tools--timbre, enunciation, dynamics--in service of the story.

While the English-language songs on this CD show some minor effort in this direction, the overall effort is forgettable. The singer's vibrato appears to have one setting and it's always on. Tone is unvarying and the accompanist seems to make little attempt to push the singer to greater expressive effort. Technically, it's all fine. Perfectly in tune and all that. But nothing more.

Perhaps I'm hearing it all wrong, but I've given this disk several listenings over the months I've had it. Perhaps another duo will rise to the challenge. I hope so.