13.
There are places in the American landscape that are part of our collective consciousness, thanks to music. In this program, we listen to songs that have helped shape the way we see our country.
Related Educational ResourcesSong listings with composer / poet, performers, CD label, and CD number:
My Native Land
Charles Ives
William Sharp, baritone; Steven Blier, piano
Record#: Albany Records TROY 077
A Life in the West
Henry Russell
George Pope Morris
Clifford Jackson, baritone; Peter Basquin, piano
Record#: New World Records 80251
Home on the Range
Daniel Kelley
Dr. Brewster Higley
John Charles Thomas, baritone; orchestra conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret
Record#: Nimbus NI 7838
E-Ri-E Canal
Thomas Hampson, baritone; Armen Guzelimian, piano
Record#: EMI Classics 41645 2 8
My Old Kentucky Home
Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
Marian Anderson, contralto; Victor Symphony Orchestra conducted by C. O’Connell
Record#: Magnum Music MCCD
Sugar in the Cane
Paul Bowles
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano
Record#: THM 5432
Song Collection: Blue Mountain Ballads
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (op. 24)
Samuel Barber
James Agee
Leontyne Price, soprano; Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Thomas Schippers
Record#: RCA Victor 61983
Hell in Texas
Steven Mark Kohn
Andrew Garland, baritone; Donna Loewy, piano
Record#: Azica B001AGNMBW
The Boatmen's Dance
Aaron Copland
Thomas Hampson, baritone; St. Paul Chamber Orchestra conducted by Hugh Wolff
Record#: Teldec 77310-2
Song Collection: Old American Songs, Set 1
River Chanty
Kurt Weill
Maxwell Anderson
Steven Kimbrough, baritone; Dalton Baldwin, piano
Record#: Arabesque Z6579
The Housatonic at Stockbridge
Charles Ives
Robert Underwood Johnson
Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano; Gilbert Kalish, piano
Record#: Nonesuch 71325
The Lordly Hudson
Ned Rorem
Paul Goodman
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano; Malcolm Martineau, piano
Record#: Erato 80222
Shenandoah
Program 11: Thomas Hampson, baritone; Armen Guzelimian, piano | Program 13: Thomas Hampson, baritone; Wolfram Rieger, piano
Record#: Program 11: EMI/Angel 0946 3 4645 2 8 | Program 13: TH 5432
Langston Hughes, one of America’s great poets, gave jubilant voice to the lives of African Americans. His poetry has inspired settings by dozens of composers; we hear some of that music and learn about the world that inspired him.
In this program, Song of America Fellow Emma Beachy explores Margaret Bonds’s song cycle Three Dream Portraits, which sets the poetry of Langston Hughes. With the help of performers and scholars Thomas Hampson and Louise Toppin, Emma considers who is meant to hear and sing American song.
