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Two Plus One: Duets for Soprano and Baritone with Piano. Carole FitzPatrick, soprano; Robert Barefield, baritone; Eckart Sellheim, piano. (Cavalli Records CCD 334; 59:59)
James DeMars: "Listening Into Night." Foster: "Wilt Thou be Gone," "Mr. and Mrs. Brown." Britten: "The Deaf Woman's Courtship," "Soldier, won't you marry me?" Vaughan Williams: "Adieu." J. C. Bach: "Ah rammenta, o bella Irene." Donizetti: "L'Addio." Mendelssohn: "Herbstlied," "Das Ährenfeld." Cornelius: "Liebesprobe," "Der beste Liebesbrief," "Ein Wort der Liebe." Chausson: "La nuit." Saint- Saëns: "Pastorale." Massenet: "Oh! Ne finis jamais, nuit clémente et divine." Gretchaninov: "Ai-Du-Du," "Kolibelnaya: Bayu Bai." Tchaikovsky: "Shotlandskaya Balada." Rimsky-Korsakov: "Angel i Demon."
This recording will be warmly welcomed by anyone who has gone looking for duets for soprano and baritone and desired something besides the familiar "La ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni or "Dunque io son" from Il barbiere di Siviglia. It serves up a spectacular array of duets ranging from Johann Christian Bach to Benjamin Britten, and chances are that the typical listener will encounter the vast majority of these duets for the very first time. The rarity of this material warrants first-class performances, and it receives them from Carole FitzPatrick and Robert Barefield, faculty colleagues at Arizona State University with extensive performance experience on the operatic, concert, and recital stage. There is both a precision and an ease in their collaboration and their voices are perfectly blended and balanced. One only regrets a slightly harried quality that occasionally mars the quicker duets. Aside from that, the two sing superbly. They are ably accompanied on both the piano and fortepiano by a former ASU colleague, Eckart Sellheim, who moves deftly through the wide range of repertoire represented here. Full texts and translations are included, along with excellent liner notes written by another ASU music faculty member, Professor Sabine...