The Listener's Gallery

Abstract

The Listener's Gallery Gregory Berg (bio) Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers. Will Liverman, baritone; Paul Sánchez, piano. (Cedille 90000 200; 60:52) Damien Sneed: "I Dream a World." Henry Burleigh: Five Songs of Laurence Hope: "Worth While," "The Jungle Flower," "Kashmiri Song," "Among the Fuchsias," "Till I Wake." Leslie Adams: "Amazing Grace." Margaret Bonds: Three Dream Portraits: "Minstrel Man," "Dream Variation," "I, Too." Thomas Kerr: "Riding to Town." Shawn E. Okpebholo: Two Black Churches: "Ballad of Birmingham," "The Rain." Robert Owens: Mortal Storm: "A House in Taos," "Little Song," "Jaime," "Faithful One," "Genius Child." Richard Fariña: "Birmingham Sunday." Black lives matter. One would hope that nobody would hesitate to endorse such a simple, straightforward and seemingly unassailable statement. Then again, if we have learned anything over the last few years, it is that there are many people who simply cannot bring themselves, for whatever reason, to embrace those three simple words. (How odd that the phrase, "Black is beautiful," first coined more than fifty years ago, seems to have generated far less consternation over the years.) That difficult reality makes this new release, Dreams of a New Day, all the more important and perfectly timed. Indeed, this may be the single most important recording of Black art songs ever released. In the personal statement that precedes the program notes, baritone Will Liverman calls this a "passion project." One clearly senses passion in every aspect of this release, including his singing. Liverman is one of the most spectacularly talented baritones before the public today. His upcoming engagements include the starring role in the most hotly anticipated work of the Metropolitan Opera's 2021–22 season, the world premiere of Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones. This will be the first time that the Met has staged an opera by a Black composer. That Liverman has been entrusted by the Met with such an important assignment speaks volumes about his exceptional skills, as well as the high regard in which he is held. His singing is a bit reminiscent of a young George London both in the stunning opulence of his sound as well as in the ferocious and fearless intensity of his expressiveness. But Liverman is not afraid to spin delicate phrases when called upon, and some of the most memorable moments from this recording come with his gentlest singing. Liverman is a singer who always has something compelling to say and has just the tools with which to say it best. Pianist Paul Sánchez offers assured and sensitive support at every turn. No singer could ask for a better artistic partner. The single biggest revelation here comes with Five Songs of Laurence Hope by Henry Burleigh (1866–1949). Most of us only know his name (if at all) for his many effective arrangements of spirituals. In fact, Burleigh's legacy includes a large number of art songs, many of which remain completely unknown to the public. These five songs, composed in 1915, are unabashedly romantic, and Liverman sings them with joyous relish and with enough voice to crown every extravagant climax. Leslie Adams's "Amazing Grace" is cut from similar cloth, and it is Liverman's unapologetic embrace of the song's emotionality that makes it work as well as it does. Margaret Allison Bonds (1913– 1972) is the composer here who most deserves far wider recognition than she has been given thus far. This Chicago born dynamo followed in the footsteps of her mentor, Florence Price, by breaking down more than a few doors that had long been closed both to Black as well as female musicians. She was also a tireless champion for other Black composers, and was an effective teacher to younger composers, such as Ned Rorem. She is perhaps best known for her frequent collaborations with Black writer and poet Langston Hughes, and set many of his works to music over the course of their thirty year friendship. Three Dream Portraits, from 1959, can easily stand with the finest song sets written in the second half of the twentieth century. Bonds clearly understood the relentless hunger for justice at the heart of Hughes's...