On September 25, 2012 AfriClassical posted “Baritone Leon Williams onNaxos CD of Music of Delius, With The Florida Orchestra, ReleasedSeptember 25, 2012.” Recording has been a regular part of the singer's career. Prior titles are Handfuls (2005), The Art of Leon Williams (2007), In The Garden (2009) and Leon Sings Noel (2010). He brings charisma and complete credibility to his role. It is easy to see how he was matched to the part.
New
York born American baritone Leon
Williams
has earned a fine reputation on several continents for his warm, rich
baritone voice, his charismatic personality and his impassioned
interpretation of works ranging from cantatas of Bach to hits of
Broadway. He has performed in Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center and
the White House. An alumnus of the Harlem Boys Choir and a graduate
of the Juilliard School of Music, he toured for almost two years
across the country in the national touring company of "Ragtime."
Passionately devoted to the art of the song, Mr.Williams has
performed Brahms’ Vier ernste Gesänge with Sarah Rothenberg and
the Da Camera Society of Houston (to which he returned for a special
program of the music of Charles Wuorinen); an "Art of the
Spiritual" program at San Francisco's Herbst Theater; an
all-American program at Japan's Tochigi Music Festival and Maine's
Arcady Music Festival; and given recitals in Hartford, Pittsburgh,
Princeton and throughout his native New York City, including
Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall (the songs of Richard
Hundley) and the 92nd Street Y (a much-acclaimed all-Poulenc program
with Michel Sénéchal and Dalton Baldwin).
He recently added two new roles to his operatic repertoire:
Anthony in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (Toledo Opera) and Papageno in
Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (Hawaii Opera Theatre), both meeting with
unanimous critical and public acclaim. A much-in-demand Porgy and
Bess principal, he sang Porgy in with Yuri Temirkanov conducting the
performance in St. Petersburg, Russia; Sportin' Life with Markand
Thakar and the Duluth-Superior Symphony and Jake in the Dallas Opera
production. Mr. Williams has won top prizes in the Naumburg,
Joy-in-Singing, and Lola Wilson Hayes Competitions.
The New York Times reviewed Leon Williams' performance in the
"Three Villon Balades" — "Leon Williams was
outstanding — light but decisive, witty, expressive and adept with
the words." The Honolulu Star-Bulletin offered "Leon
Williams with his vibrant baritone and strong acting made a
delightful Papgeno, stealing the focus in virtually every scene” on
William’s performance in 'The Magic Flute.'"
The
composer Frederick
Delius was born 150 years ago; the sesquicentennial year of 2012 has
spawned a huge number of recordings. Some, including the Naxos CD of
Appalachia
and
Sea Drift,
have been supported in part by The Delius Trust. The joint website
of The Delius Trust and the Delius Society, http://www.delius.org.uk/,
summarizes the composer's life succinctly:
Born
in England 1862
Lived & worked in Florida, Germany, Norway &
France
Died in France 1934
Buried in England 1935
The
Delius website discusses this recording:
Both works were
recorded 'live and in concert' during this past season's Tampa Bay
Times Masterworks program Celebrate
Delius
at the two performances at the Progress Energy Centre for the Arts
Mahaffey Theatre on January 6th and 7th 2012.
Delius lived
briefly in Florida, along the St. John's River some 35 miles south of
Jacksonville in an area called Solano Grove. It was there that he
first heard American plantation songs, which both inspired him as a
composer and left such a unique musical signature on many of his
works.
Orchestra
President and CEO Michael Pastreich said, "In past seasons, our
orchestra has performed highlights from Delius' Irmelin and The
Florida Suite, and we have performed such miniatures of his as On
Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and The Walk to the Paradise
Garden on various occasions. However, this was the first time The
Florida Orchestra had performed and then recorded these more
significant works of Sea Drift and Appalachia. We hope these
initiatives on our part help to raise the awareness and enjoyment of
Delius' music, in particularly his major works, which are so rich in
musical and emotional nuances."
Naxos.com
relates:
“Appalachia
(a
native American word for North America) is a set of variations based
on a slave song about the tragedy of the cotton planters ‘being
sold down the river’. Delius heard the song when teaching the
violin in Virginia, but the primary inspiration was his formative
experience of the semi-tropical beauty of Florida’s Solano Grove
where he had managed an orange plantation. In Sea
Drift Delius
absorbed a further American influence in the nature mysticism of Walt
Whitman. The symphonic poem, one of his greatest works, is a song of
love and death in which the baritone soloist is both a participant in
the drama and offers a commentary upon it.”
The
liner notes include the complete lyrics of both Appalachia
and Sea
Drift.
The Florida Orchestra is conducted by Stefan Sanderling. Baritone
Leon Williams alternates with The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay,
directed by James K. Bass. In Appalachia, The Florida Orchestra performs an exquisite instrumental introduction of several
minutes before Leon Williams and the chorus make their appearances.
Those who are new to the composer's music will have good reason to explore some of the many other recordings of Frederick Delius which are now available. Newcomers to the singing of Leon Williams can take advantage of his frequent appearances and his four earlier recordings.
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