Foster Songs, Vols. 1 & 2
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79158
Track Listing
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13:16
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103:22
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113:30
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122:22
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132:59
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141:42
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153:25
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163:23
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172:01
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183:42
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191:55
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23:10
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202:36
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211:53
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222:57
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234:10
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33:54
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42:53
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51:21
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62:56
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73:35
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82:08
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95:38
News & Reviews
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Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish Share Story Behind New Album, 'Narrow Sea'
Composer Caroline Shaw's new album, Narrow Sea, featuring Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish's performance of the title piece—five parts, each a new setting of a text from The Sacred Harp, the 19th-century collection of shape-note hymns—is due next Friday, January 22, on Nonesuch. Here, the artists talk with writer Matthew Guerrieri about the album, which also includes Sō Percussion's performance of Shaw's Taxidermy. Find out why she tells Guerrieri: "I was telling a friend, half-jokingly, that, in a lot of my music, I’m trying to figure out a way to talk about death and mortality, or think about it."
Nonesuch Records releases its second album from Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw, Narrow Sea, on January 22, 2021. The title piece was written for Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish, who perform it on this recording: five parts, each a new setting of a text from The Sacred Harp nineteenth century collection of shape-note hymns. Also on the album is Sō Percussion's performance of Shaw's Taxidermy, which she wrote for the ensemble. A video for Part 2 of Narrow Sea can be seen here.
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About This Album
Widely regarded as the first characteristically American composer, Stephen Foster wrote music that drew from both Southern dialects and Northern sensibilities, paradoxically reflecting both the entirety of the American experience and the divisive time in which he lived and wrote. The songs featured on this album were written as “parlor arias,” simple enough to be performed and enjoyed in the mid 19th-century American home.
Credits
MUSICIANS
Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano
Leslie Guinn, baritone
Gilbert Kalish, piano, melodeon
with
Robert Sheldon, flute (2, 7, 8), keyed bugle (14)
Sonya Monosoff, violin (7, 13)
Douglas Koeppe, piccolo (15), flute (20, 22)
James Weaver, piano II (19)
The Camerata Chorus of Washington (15, 18, 20, 21)
Noami Fenkel, Dorothy Horton, J’aime Ryskind, soprano
Mary Akright, Joan Reinthaler, Heather Schaufele, alto
Donald Chestnut, Allan Parrent, Harry Price, tenor
George Harshaw, Howard Markham, David Parker, bassPRODUCTION CREDITS
Track 1-14 recorded April 1972 at the Smithsonian Institution, Division of Musical Instruments, Washington, DC
Instrumental accompaniments realized by William Bolcom
Editorial supervision: William Bolcom and Joshua Rifkin
Track 15-23 recorded June 1976 at the Smithsonian Institution, Division of Musical Instruments, Washington, DC
Flute arrangements realized by James Weaver
Engineering and musical supervision: Marc J. Aubort, Joanna Nickrenz (Elite Recordings, Inc.)
Mastering: Robert C. Ludwig (Masterdisk Corp.)
Coordinator: Teresa Sterne
Cover art: Jack Martin
More From
Widely regarded as the first characteristically American composer, Stephen Foster wrote music that drew from both Southern dialects and Northern sensibilities, paradoxically reflecting both the entirety of the American experience and the divisive time in which he lived and wrote. The songs featured on this album were written as “parlor arias,” simple enough to be performed and enjoyed in the mid 19th-century American home.
Widely regarded as the first characteristically American composer, Stephen Foster wrote music that drew from both Southern dialects and Northern sensibilities, paradoxically reflecting both the entirety of the American experience and the divisive time in which he lived and wrote. The songs featured on this album were written as “parlor arias,” simple enough to be performed and enjoyed in the mid 19th-century American home.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Track 1-14 recorded April 1972 at the Smithsonian Institution, Division of Musical Instruments, Washington, DC
Instrumental accompaniments realized by William Bolcom
Editorial supervision: William Bolcom and Joshua Rifkin
Track 15-23 recorded June 1976 at the Smithsonian Institution, Division of Musical Instruments, Washington, DC
Flute arrangements realized by James Weaver
Engineering and musical supervision: Marc J. Aubort, Joanna Nickrenz (Elite Recordings, Inc.)
Mastering: Robert C. Ludwig (Masterdisk Corp.)
Coordinator: Teresa Sterne
Cover art: Jack Martin

79158
MUSICIANS
Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano
Leslie Guinn, baritone
Gilbert Kalish, piano, melodeon
with
Robert Sheldon, flute (2, 7, 8), keyed bugle (14)
Sonya Monosoff, violin (7, 13)
Douglas Koeppe, piccolo (15), flute (20, 22)
James Weaver, piano II (19)
The Camerata Chorus of Washington (15, 18, 20, 21)
Noami Fenkel, Dorothy Horton, J’aime Ryskind, soprano
Mary Akright, Joan Reinthaler, Heather Schaufele, alto
Donald Chestnut, Allan Parrent, Harry Price, tenor
George Harshaw, Howard Markham, David Parker, bass