093228079026

Ned Rorem: Our Town

Monadnock Music, Soloists, Gil Rose

£27.49
£27.49
Out of Stock
Cat No: NW80790

Email me when this is available

Release Date:  14 July 2017

Label:  ECM

Packaging Type:  Fat Double (a 2.5cm thick jewel case, fits several CDs)

No of Units:  2

Barcode:  093228079026

Genres:  Classical  Choral  

Composer/Series:  Ned Rorem

  • Description

    This is the world-premiere recording of Ned Rorem's (b. 1923) acclaimed setting of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, one of the best-known plays of the 20th century and a staple of every US household.

    Intended from the start to be a chamber opera, the orchestration is small, and the scoring is light and transparent throughout - consistent with a work best suited to young voices. Rorem moves in and out of speech and utilises more elevated recitative (parlando) than in his previous theatrical works. He manifests Wilder's "emotional shyness" with abrupt stylistic cross-cutting between Americana (Thomsonian faux-Protestant hymns, plush sustained cinematic strings, Copland-esque woodwind solos, Ivesian collages), transatlantic modernism (the tartly-scored "sting" chords, jagged, off-kilter ostinatos in close-canon, denatured melodic fragments in place of memorable tunes), and Gallic lyricism (rapturous string obbligatos, sudden snatches of emotionally-vibrant melody, Debussy-esque orchestration). Everywhere in the music there is a sort of cool, self-contained regretfulness - the regret so central to the play's initial impetus, a regret so intense as to border on dread - that perfectly underpins and undercuts the sentimentality of the portraits.

    Rorem believes that Satie's Socrate may be "the greatest of all operas." Certainly, he exploits in his score for Our Town the same kind of baroque cantata textures and effects as Satie did in his 1920 masterpiece. But the Rorem and McClatchy Our Town also contains - in the propulsive, off-kilter ostinati percolating uneasily beneath the Nantucket matter-of-factness of its musical surfaces and its stubborn unwillingness to wear its heart on its sleeve - an astonishing undercurrent of unanticipated, and highly effective dramaturgical fury.

  • Tracklisting

      Disc 1

      Side 1

      • 1. Our Town, Act I: Opening
      • 2. Our Town, Act I: The Earth Turns, Just A Simple Turn
      • 3. Our Town, Act I: See What I Mean?
      • 4. Our Town, Act I: Why, Hello, George Gibbs
      • 5. Our Town, Act I: What A Lot Of Beans
      • 6. Our Town, Act I: Thank You, Emily. Thank You, Mrs. Webb
      • 7. Our Town, Act I: It's Evening Now In Grover's Corners.
      • 8. Our Town, Act I: Oh George, Can You Come Down A Minute?
      • 9. Our Town, Act I: Can You Get Home Safe, Louella?
      • 10. Our Town, Act I: Emily! Are You Still There?

      Disc 2

      • 1. Our Town, Act II: Well, Friends, Three Years Have Gone By
      • 2. Our Town, Act II: Well, Mother, You're Losing Your Chick Tod
      • 3. Our Town, Act II: Morning, Everybody! Only Five More Hours T
      • 4. Our Town, Act II: Well, George, How Are You?
      • 5. Our Town, Act II: Thank You, Thank You. I Have Another Quest
      • 6. Our Town, Act II: Emily, Can I Carry Your Books Home For You
      • 7. Our Town, Act II: Hello There, George. Howdy, Emily
      • 8. Our Town, Act II: These Are So Expensive
      • 9. Our Town, Act II: And Now We'll Get On With The Wedding
      • 10. Our Town, Act III: This Time Nine Years Have Gone By, Friend
      • 11. Our Town, Act III: We're All Coming Up Here
      • 12. Our Town, Act III: Hello.
      • 13. Our Town, Act III: Little Cooler Than It Was
      • 14. Our Town, Act III: One Can Go Back Again . . . Into Living
      • 15. Our Town, Act III: Look! There's The Church Where I Got Married
      • 16. Our Town, Act III: Coming! Morning, Mama. Morning, Papa
      • 17. Our Town, Act III: Seen Enough?
      • 18. Our Town, Act III: Were You Happy, Emily?
      • 19. Our Town, Act III: Most Everyone's Asleep In Grover's Corner

More from ECM

The Lyris Quartet; Cedric Berry, Alyssa Park, Timothy Loo, Michael Matsuno, Jon Stehney, Sidney Hopson, Jacqueline Marshall, Andreas Foivos Apostolou - James Newton: Compassion and Mustard Seeds in Perilous Times - NW808292

James Newton: Compassion and Mustard Seeds in Perilo...

The Lyris Quartet; Cedric Berry, Alyssa Park, Timothy Loo, Michael Matsuno, Jon Stehney, Sidney Hop
£13.99
£13.99
Out of Stock
Present Music, Ariadne Greif, David Bloom - Raven Chacon: Voiceless Mass - NW80848

Raven Chacon: Voiceless Mass

Present Music, Ariadne Greif, David Bloom
£13.99
£13.99
Out of Stock
Trygve Seim; Frode Haltli - Our Time - 6558599

Our Time

Trygve Seim; Frode Haltli
£14.49
£14.49
Out of Stock
Tord Gustavsen Trio - Tord Gustavsen Trio: Seeing - 6516879

Tord Gustavsen Trio: Seeing

Tord Gustavsen Trio
£14.49 - £22.99
£14.49 - £22.99
Out of Stock
Marilyn Crispell; Gary Peacock; Paul Motian - Marilyn Crispell; Gary Peacock; Paul Motian: Amaryllis - 6515177

Marilyn Crispell; Gary Peacock; Paul Motian: Amaryllis

Marilyn Crispell; Gary Peacock; Paul Motian
£29.49
£29.49
Out of Stock
Lucian Ban; Mat Maneri - BEla BartUk; Lucian Ban; Mat Maneri: Transylvanian Dance - 6513053

BEla BartUk; Lucian Ban; Mat Maneri: Transylvanian D...

Lucian Ban; Mat Maneri
£14.49
£14.49
Out of Stock
Louis Sclavis; Benjamin Moussay - Unfolding - 6561404

Unfolding

Louis Sclavis; Benjamin Moussay
£14.49 - £22.99
£14.49 - £22.99
Out of Stock
Keith Jarrett; Gary Peacock; Paul Motian - Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Paul Motian: The Old Country (More from the Deer Head Inn) - 6597656

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Paul Motian: The Old Co...

Keith Jarrett; Gary Peacock; Paul Motian
£14.49
£14.49
Out of Stock

More from Genre: Choral

Evening Hymn
Berit Norbakken; Arctic Philharmonic; Hennig Kraggerud
Lawo

Evening Hymn

Berit Norbakken; Arctic Philharmonic; Hennig Kraggerud
£13.99
£13.99
Out of Stock
John Rutter: In the Poet's Garden
Melanie Marshall; Roderick Williams; The Cambridge S...
Collegium

John Rutter: In the Poet's Garden

Melanie Marshall; Roderick Williams; The Cambridge Singers; Taplow Young Voices; Royal Philharmonic
£13.99
£13.99
Out of Stock
PRE-ORDER
Mirjam Mesak; Kai Ruutel-Pajula; Mati Turi; Taavi Tampuu; Raiko Raalik; Chorus Mysticus; Singers of the Estonian National Opera Boys' Choir; Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir; Tallinn Chamber Orchestra; Tonu Kaljuste - Rudolf Tobias: Joonas (Jonah Oratorio) - ODE1456-2D

Rudolf Tobias: Joonas (Jonah Oratorio)

Mirjam Mesak; Kai Ruutel-Pajula; Mati Turi; Taavi Tampuu; Raiko Raalik; Chorus Mysticus; Singers of
£21.99
£21.99
Out of Stock
PRE-ORDER
Jervaulx Singers; Beth Moxon; Gareth Meirion Edmunds; Edmund Danon; Alison Frances Gill; Charlie Gower-Smith - In the stillness - Christmas Reflections - CR113

In the stillness - Christmas Reflections

Jervaulx Singers; Beth Moxon; Gareth Meirion Edmunds; Edmund Danon; Alison Frances Gill; Charlie Go
£12.99
£12.99
Out of Stock
PRE-ORDER
Alejandro Del Angel; Massimo Cavalletti; Aalto Theatre Opera Chorus; Essen Philharmonic Choir; Essen Philharmonic Orchestra; Andrea Sanguineti - Giacomo Puccini: Messa di Gloria; Capriccio sinfonico - 8574685

Giacomo Puccini: Messa di Gloria; Capriccio sinfonico

Alejandro Del Angel; Massimo Cavalletti; Aalto Theatre Opera Chorus; Essen Philharmonic Choir; Esse
£11.49
£11.49
Out of Stock
PRE-ORDER
Denis Rouger; figure humaine kammerchor; Hyelin Lee - Philippe Maze: Works for Choir - COV92501

Philippe Maze: Works for Choir

Denis Rouger; figure humaine kammerchor; Hyelin Lee
£13.99
£13.99
Out of Stock
Mahler: Das Lied Von Der Erde
Janet Baker; Bayerischen Rso; Rafael Kubelik
Audite

Mahler: Das Lied Von Der Erde

Janet Baker; Bayerischen Rso; Rafael Kubelik
£12.99
£12.99
Out of Stock
Arvo Part: Credo
Paavo Jarvi; Estonian Festival Orchestra; Kalle Rand...
Outhere / Alpha

Arvo Part: Credo

Paavo Jarvi; Estonian Festival Orchestra; Kalle Randalu; Estonian National Male Choir; Ellerhein Gi
£13.99
£13.99
Out of Stock