[11/27/2011] Does Verdi's Jago really believe he's evil because he was created by an evil God? (continued)

DON'T YOU THINK IT'S TIME WE HEARD
A DECENT PERFORMANCE OF THE "CREDO"?

Ernest Blanc (1923-2010)

Ernest Blanc, baritone; Paris Conservatory Orchestra, Georges Prêtre, cond. EMI, recorded September 1961 [audio link]


OKAY, I SAID WE WOULD HEAR THE WHOLE
OPENING SCENE OF ACT II, SO LET'S DO THAT

The recorded Jagos are, alas, a generally underwhelming lot, which makes the outstanding performance of Apollo Granforte (1886-1975) in the 1931-32 HMV set that much more valuable.

VERDI: Otello: Act II, Orchestral introduction; Jago, "Non ti crucciar" ("Do not fret") . . . "Vanne" ("Go then") . . . "Credo in un Dio crudel" ("I believe in a cruel God")

A ground-floor apartment in the castle. Through a window a large garden is seen. A balcony. JAGO on this side of the balcony, CASSIO on the garden side.

JAGO: Do not fret.
If you trust in me, you will soon enjoy again
the flighty favors of Mistress Bianca,
proud captain, with your hilt of gold
and figured baldric.
CASSIO: Do not flatter me . . .
JAGO: Attend to what I say.
You just know that Desdemona is
the leader of our leader,
he lives for her alone.
Beg that generous soul to intercede for you
and your pardon is sure.
CASSIO: But how shall I speak with her?
JAGO: 'Tis her custom to stroll in the shade
of those trees with my wife.
Wait for her there.
Now the way of salvation is open to you;
go then.
[CASSIO moves away. JAGO alone.]
JAGO [gazing after CASSIO]: Go then;
I see your end already.
Your evil genius drives you on,
and I am your evil genius.
And my drags me on, implacable God
in whom I believe.
[Moving away from the balcony, no longer looking at CASSIO, who disappears through the trees.]
I believe in a cruel God who has created me
in his image and whom, in hate, I call upon.
me like himself; cruel and vile he made me.
From some vile germ or base atom
was I born.
I am evil
because I am a man;
and I feel the primeval slime in me.
Yes! This is my creed!
I believe with a firm heart,
just as does the young widow in church,
that the evil I think and which from me proceeds
was decreed for me by fate.
I believe that the honest man is a mocking buffoon,
and in his face and in his heart,
everything in him is a lie:
tears, kisses, glances,
sacrifice and honor.
And I believe man to be
the sport of a wicked fate,
from the germ of the cradle
to the worm of the grave.
And after this derision comes Death.
And then? And then?
Death is nothingness.
Heaven is an old wives' tale.

-- translation by Gwyn Morris
(stage directions swiped from Andrew Porter)

Apollo Granforte (b), Jago; Piero Girardi (t), Cassio; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Carlo Sabajno, cond. HMV, recorded 1931-32 [audio link]
Gabriel Bacquier (b), Jago; Peter Dvorský (t), Cassio; Vienna Philharmonic, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca recorded September 1977 [audio link]


NOW WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO IS BREAK
THE "CREDO" DOWN INTO SECTIONS

We've actually got six pretty good performances here, and an interesting variety. We're going to hear them all in their entirety (and in fact a number of the singers do some of their best work in sections other than those I've assigned them, but hey, we needed coverage of the whole piece. I think we'll identify the performers when we hear their whole performances.

You'll note, by the way, that I've overlapped the sections a little to provide some sense of continuity. I originally expected that I would offer some pithy, possibly illuminating comments on each section. But the more time I've spent breaking breaking the "Credo" down, the less pithful I've felt. It's all there in the words and music -- that is, as long as performers don't turn it into cartoon words and music.

[A] "Vanne; la tua meta già vedo"

JAGO [gazing after CASSIO]: Go then;
I see your end already.
Your evil genius drives you on,
and I am your evil genius.
And my drags me on, implacable God
in whom I believe.
[Moving away from the balcony, no longer looking at CASSIO, who disappears through the trees.]

[audio link]

[B] "Credo in un Dio crudel, che m'ha creato simile a sè"

I believe in a cruel God who has created me
in his image and whom, in hate, I call upon.
me like himself; cruel and vile he made me.

[audio link]

[C] "Dalla viltà d'un germe"

From some vile germ or base atom
was I born.
I am evil
because I am a man;
and I feel the primeval slime in me.
Yes! This is my creed!

[audio link]

[D] "Credo con fermo cuor, siccome la vedovella al tempio"

[Yes! This is my creed!]
I believe with a firm heart,
just as does the young widow in church,
that the evil I think and which from me proceeds
was decreed for me by fate.

[audio link]

[E] "Credo che il giusto è un istrion buffardo"

I believe that the honest man is a mocking buffoon,
and in his face and in his heart,
everything in him is a lie:
tears, kisses, glances,
sacrifice and honor.
And I believe man to be
the sport of a wicked fate,
from the germ of the cradle
to the worm of the grave.

[audio link]

[F] "Vien dopo tanta irision la Morte"

[. . . from the germ of the cradle
to the worm of the grave.]
And after this derision comes Death.
And then? And then?
Death is nothingness.
Heaven is an old wives' tale.

[audio link]


BEFORE WE HEAR THE COMPLETE PERFORMANCES,
LET ME SUGGEST WHAT I THINK JAGO IS UP TO HERE

Rationalizing, self-justifying, self-deluding, intellectual obfuscating and tap-dancing. Smart-alecking a little, maybe.

Oh yes, and most obviously, but not unimportantly, venting. His inner self is so wholly closed off to everyone around him -- with the likely exception of his wife, Emilia (who's reduced to a really minor role in the opera, but we can still guess that she's familiar with both his dishonesty and his destructiveness) -- and so masterful at disguising his true feelings and intentions that at this crucial moment in his scheming it's hardly surprising that what comes out of him in this totally private moment is so intense, even violent.

But also dishonest. There's a tendency to think, but he's alone, speaking to himself, so why would he lie? For many of the same reason(s) we all lie to ourselves, and maybe some that are his own special province. See the partial list above.

I have keen memories of a moment from the last watchable season of MTV's Real World, ironically (or maybe not so ironically) the season in which the producers made the fateful turn from showing us how different people often are from the way we first perceive them to wallowing in alcohol and sexual titillation. It was a confessional moment from the very young, innocent-looking fellow from Boston who had (the viewer had come to realize) apparently intentionally been provoking behavior among some of his castmates which was horribly damaging both to themselves and to each other.

In that confessional moment he confessed to the camera that yes, he was lying and intentionally causing all that mayhem to his castmates and he was doing it because it gave him pleasure. For me, in an important sense this "explained" the fellow's behavior in a way that simply hadn't occurred to me. (Okay, I'd led a sheltered life.)

In reality, of course, it didn't "explain" anything about why it gave him pleasure to make people around him miserable, but it suggested where to begin rummaging around in his psyche. I should mention, for example, that the fellow was gay, which may matter not because of easily ascribable cause and effect but because of a likely link among behaviors that have to do with harshly imposed outsiderness and isolation from the "general population." (Remember, this was a lot of years ago, and those years have produced some then-unimaginable changes in the way we think about these things. I would guess, though, that this process of social isolating is far from extinct.)

And Boito, in the text for Jago's "Credo," has given us ample ground for speculation about what's going on inside.

For one thing, like that young Real World fellow, Jago is smart -- we might say scary-smart, both smarter than the people around him and smarter than they realize. For another thing, all that supposedly self-exculpatory stuff about his evil and primordial slimefulness is regurgitated more or less directly from this dear old nurturing Mother Church. He's done at least two things with the fundamental concept of "original sin," normally used by the Church to enslave its worshippers:

* raise the stakes by blaming it, not on that goddamned bitch Eve, but on the much more obvious culprit, her creator, and --

* turned it upside down, so that instead of its driving him on a fruitless quest for salvation it makes the very idea laughable.

One more thing we learn about Jago, as the monologue casts off bravado and quietly digs deeper into what makes him tick, he's wise to his smartypants Church's gamesmanship with regard to death. Oh, nearly all religions do it: Given their inability to do much about the here-and-now, they lay it off on the hereafter -- sometimes pleasingly, sometimes scarifyingly, and sometimes, if they dare try to get the balance right (it's the old carrot-and-stick principle), both. But Jago, as we see and especially hear in the final section of the "Credo," refuses to play this game. Or, rather, insists on playing it by more honest rules.


NOW LET'S HEAR THE COMPLETE "CREDO"S,
IN THE ORDER WE HEARD THE EXCERPTS

[A] Robert Merrill (1917-2004)
studio recording, 1963
New Symphony Orchestra of London, Edward Downes, cond. Decca, recorded September 1963 [audio link]

[B] Giuseppe Taddei (1916-2010)
studio recording, 1951 (not from the 1955 complete Otello)
RAI (Turin) Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Basile, cond. Cetra, recorded 1951 [audio link]

[C] Anselmo Colzani (1918-2006)
live performance, 1964
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Nello Santi, cond. Live performance, Feb. 15, 1964 [audio link]

[D] Robert Weede (1903-1972)
studio recording, 1953
Concert Arts Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno, cond. Capitol/Preiser, recorded 1953 [audio link]

[E] Leonard Warren (1911-1960)
live performance, 1946
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, George, cond. RCA, recorded Feb. 23, 1946 [audio link]

[F] Lawrence Tibbett (1896-1960)
studio recording, 1939
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Wilfred Pelletier, cond. RCA, studio recording, May 3, 1959 [audio link]


GET YER "CREDO" VALUE-ADDED BONUSES

Originally there was going to be a gallery of historical "Credo" recordings in this spot. I can't tell you how many hours I spent compiling them, but in the end I've exiled them to a separate "bonus" location, along with a curious coupling of performances featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Jago. Partly the idea was to break up this run of Fischer-Dieskau idolatry I seem to have stumbled into, first with his recording of Wolfram in Wagner's Tannhäuser (the first one, mind you, the 1960 EMI one, not the later one for DG) and then with his c1960 recording with Jörg Demus of Schumann's "Widmung." In reality my feelings about him as a performer are wildly mixed.


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Sunday Classics bonus: Some "Credo" value-addeds

This clip doesn't really add much value. It's just the other video "Credo" clip I found that was marginally less horrible than the rest. And, oh yes, it's got subtitles.


FOR AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT THIS MATERIAL IS
AND WHAT IT'S DOING HERE, SEE TODAY'S MAIN POST

As explained there, we've got two leftover orders of business: (1) a mostly uncommentated sequence of "Credo" recordings, and (2) a juxtaposition of two additional performances featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Jago, first singing in German and then singing as if he were singing in German -- though you'll note that the two German-sung performances we hear in the "gallery," by Michael Bohnen and Heinrich Schlusnus, aren't like this at all.


A GALLERY OF "CREDO"S


Here's a vibrant 1908 recording by the outstanding baritone Antonio Magini-Coletti (1855-1912). You might also check out the great Pasquale Amato's 1911 recording.

The "Credo' has been a staple since the dawn of recordings, serving as a standard showpiece for baritones. I don't say that these are the "best" recordings. They're some that I happen to have (mostly in LPs that are hardly the last word technically) which I was able to lay hands on relatively quickly and which seem to me worth hearing, for a variety of reasons.

Eugenio Giraldoni will be known forever as the original Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, and he must have been formidable. (He did record a nice chunk of the Act II monologue, which we should probably hear sometime.) This was clearly a big, full, wide-ranging voice. Antonio Scotti had an enormous career (he sang at the Met from 1899 to 1933), and as a result is often remembered for singing that wasn't as strong as in his prime years, when he made his famous recordings with his frequent stage partner Enrico Caruso.

"Cannon-voiced" is the description that leaps to mind for Ruffo, for reasons that should be obvious from his "Credo," but it's far from an insensitive piece of singing. The thunderous Gino Bechi for obvious reasons recalled Ruffo. We've already heard him rage as Renato in Verdi's Masked Ball and Gérard in Giordano's Andrea Chénier; it's hardly surprising that he enjoys cutting loose in the "Credo."

The two Germans are both special singers. Most bass-baritones sort of fall between the bass and baritone ranges, but Michael Bohnen's voice had all the depth and fullness of a true bass and the ringing upper-range freedom of a great baritone. Heinrich Schlusnus will be familiar to Sunday Classics readers from our series of Tannhäuser posts. He sang a great deal of Verdi (usually, but not always, in German), but Jago seems to have disappeared from his repertory early on. At least this acoustical recording is the only "Credo" of his I have. (In fact, the only other Otello excerpt I have is the great "Si, pel ciel" duet with tenor Robert Hutt.)

Eugenio Giraldoni (1871-1924), recorded December 1905
[audio link]
Antonio Scotti (1866-1936), recorded March 9, 1906
[audio link]
Mario Sammarco (1868-1930), recorded 1908
[audio link]
Titta Ruffo (1877-1953), recorded Jan. 7, 1914
[audio link]
Michael Bohnen (1887-1965), in German, recorded 1916
[audio link]
Heinrich Schlusnus (1888-1952), in German, recorded 1921
[audio link]
Cesare Formichi (1883-1949), recorded c1927
[audio link]
Gino Bechi (1913-1993), recorded c1942
Milan Symphony Orchestra, Argeo Quadri, cond. EMI, recorded c1942 [audio link]


FINALLY, THE TROUBLING CASE OF
DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU AND JAGO

The German-language performance is from a DG highlights ("Querschnitten," the Germans call them) LP with Wolfgang Windgassen as Otello and Teresa Stratas as Desdemona. The Italian-language complete performance of the opening scene of Act II is from a complete Otello conducted by Sir John Barbirolli (quite beautifully in this scene, I think), with James McCracken in the title role and Gwyneth Jones still in radiant voice as Desdemona -- an oddly frustrating recording, among whose frustrations there's perhaps none greater than Fischer-Dieskau's demented Jago.

VERDI: Otello: "Vanne" . . . "Credo in un Dio crudel" (in German)

[in German] Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Jago; Bavarian State Orchestra, Otto Gerdes, cond. DG, recorded c 1966 [audio link]

VERDI: Otello: Act II, Orchestral introduction; Jago, "Non ti crucciar" ("Do not fret") . . . "Vanne" ("Go then") . . . "Credo in un Dio crudel" ("I believe in a cruel God")

A ground-floor apartment in the castle. Through a window a large garden is seen. A balcony. JAGO on this side of the balcony, CASSIO on the garden side.

JAGO: Do not fret.
If you trust in me, you will soon enjoy again
the flighty favors of Mistress Bianca,
proud captain, with your hilt of gold
and figured baldric.
CASSIO: Do not flatter me . . .
JAGO: Attend to what I say.
You just know that Desdemona is
the leader of our leader,
he lives for her alone.
Beg that generous soul to intercede for you
and your pardon is sure.
CASSIO: But how shall I speak with her?
JAGO: 'Tis her custom to stroll in the shade
of those trees with my wife.
Wait for her there.
Now the way of salvation is open to you;
go then.
[CASSIO moves away. JAGO alone.]
JAGO [gazing after CASSIO]: Go then;
I see your end already.
Your evil genius drives you on,
and I am your evil genius.
And my drags me on, implacable God
in whom I believe.
[Moving away from the balcony, no longer looking at CASSIO, who disappears through the trees.]
I believe in a cruel God who has created me
in his image and whom, in hate, I call upon.
me like himself; cruel and vile he made me.
From some vile germ or base atom
was I born.
I am evil
because I am a man;
and I feel the primeval slime in me.
Yes! This is my creed!
I believe with a firm heart,
just as does the young widow in church,
that the evil I think and which from me proceeds
was decreed for me by fate.
I believe that the honest man is a mocking buffoon,
and in his face and in his heart,
everything in him is a lie:
tears, kisses, glances,
sacrifice and honor.
And I believe man to be
the sport of a wicked fate,
from the germ of the cradle
to the worm of the grave.
And after this derision comes Death.
And then? And then?
Death is nothingness.
Heaven is an old wives' tale.

-- translation by Gwyn Morris
(stage directions swiped from Andrew Porter)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Jago; Piero de Palma (t), Cassio; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli, cond. EMI, recorded Oct.-Nov. 1968 [audio link]


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[11/25/2011] Preview: Verdi's Jago -- "I believe in a cruel God who created me in his image" (continued)

VERDI: Otello (in English): Act II, Orchestral introduction; Iago, "Don't give up hope" . . . "Take it" . . . "Yes, I believe in a God who has created me like himself, cruel"

A ground-floor apartment in the castle. Through a window a large garden is seen. A balcony. IAGO on this side of the balcony, CASSIO on the garden side.

IAGO: Don't give up hope. But trust in me, and soon
we shall see you return to win the flighty favors
of Monna Bianca, once more a gallant captain,
wearing your golden-hilted sword beside you.
CASSIO: Do not deceive me . . .
IAGO: Attend to what I tell you.
Surely you know that Desdemona commands our
noble commander, she's the sun he lives by.
All you must do is beg that generous lady
to plead for Cassio, then you will soon be pardoned.
CASSIO: But how can I approach her?
IAGO: It is her wont to
walk every afternoon under that arbor
with my good wife Emilia. So there await her.
Now I've shown you the way to your salvation;
take it.
[CASSIO moves away. IAGO alone.]
IAGO [gazing after CASSIO]: Take it; take the path to your ruin.
Your evil genius drives you, your evil genius Iago,
and I am driven onward by that relentless cruel
God I believe in.
[Moving away from the balcony, no longer looking at CASSIO, who disappears through the trees.]
Yes, I believe in a God who has created
me like himself; cruel and vile he made me.
Born from some spawn of nature or from an atom,
born into vileness.
So I am evil
because I'm human;
primeval slime has left its vileness in me.
Yes! This is my belief!
Yes, for I believe, just as the credulous
widow in church believes in God,
that all the evil that I do is destined,
fate alone directs me.
Man says he's honest, he is a clowning actor
in his face and his heart;
for all he does is falsehood:
charity, kissing, kindness,
and his striving's in vain.
Yes, I believe man is the fool of fortune;
the cradle holds an infant
who's born to feed the worm.
Then, after life's deluded course, comes Death.
And then? And then, there's nothing.
And Heaven's a foolish tale.

-- singing translation by Andrew Porter

Neil Howlett (b), Iago; Bonaventura Bottone (t), Cassio; English National Opera Orchestra, Mark Elder, cond. EMI/Chandos, recorded live, January 1983 [audio link]


AS JAGO DRAWS CASSIO MORE TIGHTLY INTO HIS
SCHEME TO DESTROY HIS COMMANDER, OTELLO . . .

Earlier, you'll recall (from either Shakespeare or Verdi-Boito), Jago has gotten Otello's second-in-command, Cassio, liquored up during the celebration of the great naval triumph over the Turks, then prodded him into making a drunken fool of himself, leading to his summary demotion in Jago's favor. Poor Cassio, though, is just a pawn in Jago's scheme to destroy Otello.

During the '50s and early '60s Tito Gobbi sang Jago all over the damned place. I like the performance from the Japanese video soundtrack, but as a late addition, for its superior sound, I decided to double up with the Rome studio recording made the following year.

VERDI: Otello: Act II, Orchestral introduction; Jago, "Non ti crucciar" . . . "Vanne" . . . "Credo in un Dio crudel"
[for English texts, see Andrew Porter's singing translation above]
Tito Gobbi (b), Jago; Mariano Caruso (t), Cassio; NHK Symphony Orchestra, Alberto Erede, cond. Telecast performance, recorded live, Feb. 4, 1959 [audio link]
Tito Gobbi (b), Jago; Florindo Andreolli (t), Cassio; Rome Opera Orchestra, Tullio Serafin, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded July-Aug. 1960 [audio link]


IN SUNDAY'S MAIN POST . . .

Surprise! We're going to take a closer look at the "Credo."


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[11/23/2011] Happy Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much, and if you're traveling, travel safely! (continued)

I was going to make audio files of Sam Ramey's rather gorgeous 1990 recordings of the piano-accompanied versions of the Copland arrangements of "At the River" and "Simple Gifts," but I couldn't find my copy of that Argo Copland-Ives CD, so we'll have to make do with this YouTube posting of all ten songs! Here's Set 1: the minstrel song "The Boatmen's Song," the campaign song "The Dodger" (3:07), the ballad "Long Time Ago" (5:10), the Shaker song "Simple Gifts" (8:14), and the children's song "I Bought Me a Cat" (10:07). (You'll find Set 2 below.) The pianist is Warren Jones.

CHARLES IVES (1874-1954)
Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day (1904)

In the interest of sheer laziness, I'm recycling the two performances of Ives's Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day that I have on CD, which we've already heard. Maybe next year I'll be feeling ambitious enough to dub the performances by Leonard Bernstein and Donald Johanos, which I only have on LP.

Forefathers' Day, by the way, according to Wikipedia,

is a holiday celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 22 . It is a commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 21, 1620. It was introduced in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1769. In adjusting the date to the Gregorian calendar, the anniversary was erroneously established on December 22 instead of December 21.

Forefathers' Day is a well known and well celebrated holiday in Plymouth.

IVES: Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day
(No. 4 of A Symphony: New England Holidays)

O God, beneath thy guiding hand
our exiled fathers crossed the sea;
and when they trod the wintry strand,
with prayer and psalm they worshipped Thee.

Baltimore Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, David Zinman, cond. Decca, recorded September 1994 [audio link]
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, cond. CBS/Sony, recorded 1986 [audio link]

AARON COPLAND (1900-1990), arranger
Old American Songs, Sets 1 (1950) and 2 (1952)

For a perhaps more conventionally euphonious Thanksgiving, here are the two Copland-arranged Copland's Old American Songs I intended to present originally, in Copland's orchestral-accompanied version (as we saw and heard Marilyn Horne and James Levine perform them at the start of this post).

I love the stereo recording of the orchestral version that Copland conducted with William Warfield in 1962. In 1951 and 1953, when Sets 1 and 2 of the Old American Songs were new, Warfield and Copland had recorded the original piano versions. (The photograph at left is from February 1951.) I know we've heard the 1953 piano-accompanied "At the River" (as well as "I Bought Me a Cat"), in November 2009), but I can't trace the "Simple Gifts," even though I made an audio file for it. We might as well throw it in here -- and, what the heck, the 1953 "At the River" as well.

COPLAND (arr.): "At the River"
(from Set 2 of Old American Songs)

Shall we gather by the river,
where bright angel's feet have trod,
with its crystal tide forever,
flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we'll gather by the river,
the beautiful, the beautiful river,
gather with the saints by the river
that flows by the throne of God.

Soon we'll reach the shining river,
soon our pilgrimage will cease,
soon our happy hearts will quiver
with the melody of peace.

Yes, we'll gather by the river,
the beautiful, the beautiful river,
gather with the saints by the river
that flows by the throne of God.

piano version: William Warfield, bass-baritone; Aaron Copland, piano. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Aug. 18, 1953 [audio link]orchestral version: William Warfield, bass-baritone; Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded May 3-4, 1962 [audio link]

COPLAND (arr.): "Simple Gifts"
(from Set 1 of Old American Songs)

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
and when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
to bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.
To turn, turn will be our delight,
till by turning, turning we come round right.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
and when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'twill be in the valley of love and delight.

piano version: William Warfield, bass-baritone; Aaron Copland, piano. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Aug. 16, 1951 [audio link]orchestral version: William Warfield, bass-baritone; Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded May 3-4, 1962 [audio link]



Here's Set 2 of the Copland-arranged Old American Songs, again with pianist Warren Jones: the lullaby "The Little Horses," the revivalist song "Zion's Walls" (3:24), the Anglo-American ballad "The Golden Willow Tree" (5:19), the hymn tune "At the River" (8:58), and the minstrel song "Ching-a-Ring Chaw" (11:56).


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!


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