Blue – Michelle & David Murray

William Bolcom, a member of the faculty at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is a 1988 Pulitzer Prize winner for his Cabaret Songs, written with poet Arnold Weinstein. His works blend classical and popular styles and constitute a significant contribution to the American art song genre. This recording, featuring Michelle and David Murray is the FIRST to include all twenty-four of Bolcom’s award-winning works.

This intriguing collection contains portraits of fanciful characters such as a self-absorbed girl whose beauty disrupts everything around her, a smarmy poseur intent on seducing every woman he meets, and a cross-dressing opera singer whose untimely death is remembered over cocktails. These expressive pieces also contain vivid depictions of everyday life, such as the painful break-up of a marriage and the loving bond between father and child.

This fine collection of Bolcom’s Cabaret Songs gives the listener a valuable, and consistent resource for these innovative works, while providing enjoyable music filled with the popular and jazzy elements that define American Music. This recording features Michelle Murray as a soprano, whose colourful voice brings Weinstein’s lyrics to life, and enhances their deepest meaning. David Murray brings the same subjectivity and emotionality to the piano he so expertly, yet sensuously plays.

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