Search - Ursula Oppens & Cynthia Haymon :: Thomas & Beulah / Rita Dove and Amnon Wolman

An extraordinary Achievement -- Also Starring Cynthia Haymon

08/18/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An extraordinary achievement! It should be mentioned that the soprano singing Rita Dove's Pulitzer Prize-winning poems in Amnon Wolman's musical tour de force is Cynthia Haymon, who achieved international fame a few years back when she sang Porgy in Trevor Nunn's outstanding Glyndebourne Festival production of "Porgy & Bess" (available on both CD and DVD). Ms. Haymon has given vocal justice to Rita Dove poems before --most notably in the song cycle "Seven for Luck", composed by John Williams and conducted by him in 1998 both at Tanglewood (with the Boston Symphony) and on the PBS program "Boston Pops". (Unfortunately not yet available on CD; a surprising fact, considering that John Williams, honored with half a dozen or so Oscars and with his movie music in everyone's ear, is one of the most famous composers of our time. "Seven for Luck" is not only a beautiful work, a prime example of a successful writer-composer collaboration, but also unique in the sense that Williams deviated from his usual symphonic approach and subjected himself to words.)"