Phyllis Curtin: Songs of Copland & Rorem (CD)

The Copland and Sessions songs were recorded by WHRB in Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, Massachussetts, on August 9, 1971 (recording engineers: David Gessner and David Elliott; digital mastering: Scott Kent). The recital was organized by Harvard's Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music Leon Kirschner, in part to celebrate Copland's 70th birthday, but also in commemoration of the Copland-Sessions Concerts, which, from 1928-1931, primarily in New York City, presented important contemporary music of those two composers, and others.

WHRB (95.3 FM), the radio station at Harvard run by undergraduates, is known in greater Boston as a station for people devoted to serious music and great performances. Its programs cover nearly a thousand years of music in recordings from the past one hundred. WHRB is also available on the Internet at www.whrb.org. The Rorem songs were recorded live in Boston, December 1969 (recording engineers unknown).

[2001, Mono, 60 minutes]

TWELVE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON* (Music by Aaron Copland)
Nature, The Gentlest Mother / There Came A Wind Like a Bugle / Why do they shut me out of heaven? / The World Feels Dusty
Heart, We will forget him! / Dear March, Come in! / Sleep is supposed to be / When they come back
I felt a funeral in my brain / I've heard an organ talk / Going to Heaven / The Chariot

TEN SONGS** (Music by Ned Rorem)
The Tulip Tree / The Midnight Sun / What sparks and wiry cries / The Serpent / I am Rose
For Poulenc / Little Elegy / Youth, Day, Old Age, and Night / See How They Love Me / Visits to Saint Elizabeth’s

CYCLE OF HOLY SONGS** (Music by Ned Rorem)
Psalm 134 / Psalm 142 / Psalm 148 / Psalm 150

On the Beach at Fontana*** (Roger Sessions)

Phyllis Curtin, soprano
*Aaron Copland, piano
**Ned Rorem, piano
***Robert Helps, piano