Sunday, March 28, 2010

Soprano Measha Brueggergosman Records CD 'Night and Dreams' on Deutsche Grammophon


[Night and Dreams; Measha Brueggergosman, soprano; Justus Zeyen, piano; Deutsche Grammophon 477 8101 (2010) (65:29)]

Sergio Mims is an African American classical music radio host on WHPK 88.5 FM Chicago. We have published some of his interviews with musicians of African descent, including one for EbonyJet.com with the African Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman. Sergio says of her forthcoming CD Night and Dreams, “I already have it and it's GREAT!”

The album website features a 4-minute video excerpt from the performance:
http://www2.deutschegrammophon.com/special/?ID=measha-nightanddreams
Critical praise from Gramophone and The Toronto Globe and Mail is quoted at the site:

“The voice itself is fascinating, all shifting colours and contours, and she luxuriates in the sound here . . . this delicately attuned soprano and her ever-wakeful pianist drift wherever Morpheus calls most beguilingly. The lullabies, serenades, evocations of moonlight and invocations to sleep are sweetly voiced . . .
Record Review / John Steane, Gramophone (London) / 01 February 2010”

“Melodies from Mozart to Debussy unroll like bolts of velvet and silk, plush sound that transforms songs vastly different in style into variations on a theme called 'beauty.' Pianist Justus Zeyen's accompaniment lightly envelops the voice in a resonant haze that is richly pedalled, barely articulated. Brueggergosman, in turn, smoothes the songs' topographies, gentling the vocal inflections that quicken text, character and conflict, ensuring that Night and Dreams is the long and luscious lullaby its title promises.
Record Review / Elissa Poole, Globe and Mail / 08 February 2010

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