Editorial Reviews

By calling this album Music of John Harbison, Vol. 1, Bridge Records makes the implicit commitment to further releases of the composer's music, which is a very good thing. While Harbison has fared well on disc, he is remarkably prolific, and many pieces remain to be recorded. This CD contains some of the composer's most attractive works. "Mirabai Songs" is probably his most accessible and beguiling score, particularly in its version for voice and chamber ensemble. It's recorded here in the version with piano accompaniment, which doesn't have the exotic sparkle or loopiness of the ensemble version. Georgine Resick has a full, voluptuous voice and sings beautifully, but her performance, particularly in the faster songs, doesn't have the crazed quality, which in Dawn Upshaw's performance on Nonesuch really gets at the core of "Mirabai"'s psyche and makes these songs so compelling. In the slower, more introspective songs, however, Resick is heartbreakingly poignant. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sings "Due Libri dei Mottetto di Montale," a song cycle accompanied here in a nuanced performance by the Greenleaf Chamber Players. These songs are emotionally and musically more abstract than the "Mirabai Songs," and their felicities are not as immediately apparent, but repeated listenings reveal a work of comparable richness. Hunt Lieberson's voice is supple, warm, and complex, and her passionate performance gives great depth to the sadness of the protagonist.

The three movements of the "Concerto for oboe, clarinet, and strings" are high-profile character pieces and Peggy Pearson and Jo-Ann Sternberg, accompanied by the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Scott Yoo, perform with conviction and high spirits. Robert Shannon plays the "Piano Sonata No. 1" with flexibility and crackling energy. Bridge's sound quality is consistently transparent and vivid. Stephen Eddins, All Music Guide

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