Notes and Editorial Reviews
HOIBY
Winter Song. The Doe. To an Isle in the Water. An Immortality. In the Wand of the Wind. Summer Song. She Tells Her Love. Where the Music Comes From. The Message. Autumn. Evening. 28 Young Men. Lady of the Harbor. always it’s spring. What if . . . . Jabberwocky. The Lamb. The Shepherd. The Serpent
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Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (sop); Maria Pérez-Goodman (pn)
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ALBANY TROY 1102 (50:01
Text and Translation)
Lee Hoiby (b. 1926) is one of a number of accomplished and
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insufficiently appreciated American composers—Dominick Argento and Scott Wheeler are others—who have specialized in writing vocal music in an accessible style that doesn’t shy away from dissonance but seems to revel in the joys of traditional harmony. Samuel Barber’s songs are the best-known examples of this very appealing style, and Hoiby’s songs bring to mind the flexible, colorful tonality of
Knoxville 1915.
“Appealing” is the word that kept coming to mind as I listened to this recording of 19 of Hoiby’s songs. Right away in the opening
Winter Song
one hears Hoiby’s ability to create a memorable vocal melody and his fondness for high, soaring lines. It’s easy to imagine this skill applied in his operas. Hoiby’s musical personality comes across as very positive and upbeat, nowhere more than in
Where the Music Comes From
, the only song here set to his own text. Composed in a simpler style than the others, it could easily be a hit number in a musical. The words are unabashedly joyous, verging on maudlin, and the tune is catchy, verging on corny, but in this performance at least, the song is simply a great pleasure. Several of the most enjoyable songs, such as
Jabberwocky
(Lewis Carroll) and
The Serpent
(Theodore Roethke), are set to humorous texts and show Hoiby’s ability to create clever, engaging music. He has sampled a veritable catalog of great British and American poems with one song apiece, set to texts by Donne, Coleridge, Pound, Yeats, Whitman, Wilfred Owen, and Robert Graves, among others. There is a considerable range of mood and sentiment.
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer has a warm, full sounding soprano voice with a particularly rich, pleasing upper register. There is an old-fashioned, Eleanor Steber-like quality to her singing that’s appropriate to Hoiby’s songs. In what is probably the most dramatic song,
Evening
, set to a Wallace Stevens text, she sounds less comfortable, due to the need to sing softly in her lower register, but that’s a small criticism within the context of performances that are technically strong and musically communicative. Hoiby’s interesting piano parts are full of variety and Maria Pérez-Goodman plays them with sensitivity and fine energy.
This is a most welcome release. Lee Hoiby song recitals aren’t exactly flooding the market and both musicians are persuasive advocates for a composer whose music should be better known. Albany has provided fine sound and a booklet with texts.
FANFARE: Paul Orgel
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Works on This Recording
1.
To an isle in the water by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1950
Length: 1 Minutes 42 Secs.
2.
An immortality by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1952; USA
Length: 1 Minutes 6 Secs.
3.
She tells her Love by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: USA
Length: 1 Minutes 39 Secs.
4.
Where the music comes from by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1973; USA
Length: 2 Minutes 46 Secs.
5.
Songs (3) "Three Women": no 2, Lady of the Harbor by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1985; USA
Length: 1 Minutes 52 Secs.
6.
always it's spring by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: USA
Length: 1 Minutes 48 Secs.
7.
What if... by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1986; USA
Length: 2 Minutes 30 Secs.
8.
Jabberwocky by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1986; USA
Length: 4 Minutes 9 Secs.
9.
Summer song by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 18 Secs.
10.
Twenty-eight Young Men by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Length: 3 Minutes 16 Secs.
11.
The Message by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano),
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Length: 3 Minutes 27 Secs.
12.
Songs (6) for Leontyne by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano),
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1985; USA
Length: 17 Minutes 2 Secs.
13.
Songs (2) of Innocence by Lee Hoiby
Performer:
Maria Perez-Goodman (Piano),
Ursula Kleinecke-Boyer (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Length: 5 Minutes 35 Secs.
Sound Samples
Songs for Leontyne: No. 4. Winter Song
Songs for Leontyne: No. 5. In the Wand of the Wind: Songs for Leontyne: No. 1. The Doe
Songs for Leontyne: No. 5. In the Wand of the Wind
Where the Music Comes From
Songs for Leontyne: No. 3. Autumn
Songs for Leontyne: No. 2. Evening
Three Women: No. 2. Lady of the Harbor
2 Songs of Innocence: No. 2. The Lamb
2 Songs of Innocence: No. 1. The Shephed
Songs for Leontyne: No. 6. The Serpent
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