Marc Blitzstein Music for Solo Piano
Performed & Recorded Nov. 4 & 11, 2005 by Leonard Lehrman at Queens College
Including melodrama from ballet Show [aka The Guests] with Leonard & Helene Williams
Released in London, Feb. 1, 2019 Toccata Classics 0438
Click here for launch concert.
Remarks by Ralph P. Locke:
"I am, in a way, particularly impressed by your playing
--you make so many phrases and passages sound improvised,
through flexible phrasing.
"But I can see that this is also part of MB's composition method
--doing a phrase, doing a phrase again, perhaps with a little twist,
then taking some of that material for the third phrase,
which moves into other territory, and so on.
"The Piano Sonata comes as a shock, esp. after so much music that is gentle,
even a bit like cocktail piano (but with a harmonic kicker in the cocktail!).
"Once again, I see that MB didn't have a single distinctive style.
He was omnivorous that way. But, as I said, there is some kind of
method to the way his pieces grow and change.
"It's a wonderful CD!"
Reviewed in the April 2019 edition of Classical Source,
by London Times critic Geoff Brown who concludes:
"Blitzstein in some important ways was an unlucky composer:
tragically unlucky in his early death, murdered in Martinique in 1964;
unlucky, too, in the volume of music he left unperformed or unfinished.
But in another way he's definitely lucky.
He has a champion like Leonard Lehrman,
tireless and passionate, determined to spread his enthusiasm
with these pungent performances of pungent music -
finally brought into the public domain through the inspired support of
Martin Anderson and his label Toccata Classics.
I learned a lot from this collection."
Also reviewed by Jonathan Woolf in June 2019 on musicweb-international.com:
"That most of these pieces are heard in premiere recordings
suggests that Marc Blitzstein's music for solo piano
has long lagged behind his well-known stage works.
In fact, this appears to be the first album ever released
that's devoted wholly to his piano music
and this may seem strange given that he was a well-regarded pianist
and wrote for the instrument throughout his career.
Indeed, the works span an almost half-century from 1918 to 1963.
...polytonality and playfulness, paradiddle and perplexity,
lid-shutting percussion and driving vexatious excitement...
...fabulously pugnacious harmonies and metre-changing...
One of the best things about this disc is its archaeological function.
Some of the pieces are simply as good as unknown.
The 1930 ballet music from Cain, for example:
three excerpts lasting ten minutes rich, once again, in polytonality...
The ballet Show (The Guests) is heard in a reconstruction by Leonard Lehrman.
It was the only time the composer was to work with choreographer Jerome Robbins,
but the seven tracked pieces here show a pleasing variety of expression.
There's a piece redolent of 20s Jazz 'n' Blues with torch song hues, another with Latino drive -
a strangely forward-looking West Side Story number, perhaps? -
and a splendidly calm cantabile cut.
There's a role for two speakers - Lehrman and Helene Williams...
well worth listening to...
The contentious numbers are the primary focus here,
but Show makes the most of its nineteen-minute length
and should titillate the sympathetic listener, as should quite a bit else."
Reviewed by Philip Scott June 24, 2019 in Limelight Magazine, who called it "volume 1"(!):
"Marc Blitzstein (1905-64) was an integral figure in mid-20th century American music.
He wrote the socialist musical The Cradle Will Rock (directed by a young Orson Welles),
and translated Brecht for a long-running production of The Threepenny Opera.
His major work was the opera Regina, recorded in 1992 by Decca: his only opera
to receive a production. In 1964 he was gay-bashed to death at the docks in Martinique.
An excellent pianist, Blitzstein wrote extensively for his instrument, mostly short vignettes.
This volume collects several, beginning with juvenilia from 1918. Some are charming, including
the Waterfall Barcarolle, or the later Innocent Psalm (1952), written for the birth of
Leonard Bernstein's daughter. (It sounds uncannily like Bernstein). Others are experimental,
such as Percussion Music for Piano (1928-29) and the cluster-laden Piano Sonata
(1944)[sic: actually 1927-28]. You realise how few experimental pieces survive.
The piano lid banging of the Rondino from Percussion Music, or the random
mosaic structure of the Sonata no longer sound remotely revolutionary.
Tippett managed the latter format more coherently in his Piano Sonata No 2.
There are two suites from ballets: Cain (1930), and The Guests (1946-49) ...
played sympathetically by Leonard Lehrman, who specialises in the composer's work."
HARMONIZE YOUR SPIRIT WITH MY CALM
Music by Leonard Lehrman & Joel Mandelbaum
featuring Helene Williams and the State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg
conducted by Vladimir Lande, including 8 Russian Songs & "Bloody Kansas"
+ partial reissue of 3 LICA CDs. Released by Parma: Jan. 13, 2017
(LP) OPUS ONE #145 We Are Innocent (Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus) (1989)
now available also on CD
(cassette) Juedische Lieder: Der Juedische Musiktheaterverein Berlin (1986)
incl. excerpts from Heine & Holocaust cycles
(cassette) Helene Williams sings Songs of Conscience (1991)
incl. Sisters, excerpts from E.G., Superspy!, Lewis Allan & Edith Segal songs
now available also on CD
Click here for contents and access to individual songs at library.newmusicusa.org
(compact disc) Premier CD 1005 A Blitzstein Cabaret (1991)
incl. excerpts from Idiots First and Sacco and Vanzetti
Click here for list of contents.
Thirty-second samples from each of the selections may be heard at the amazon.com website.
(compact disc) Premier CD 1016 Broadway Dreams (1992)
incl. original arrangements of music by Jerome Moross & Morton Gould
(compact disc) Capstone #CPS-8623 (1994)
William Cullen Bryant Bicentennial Concert at Bryant Library (13 composers)
Links to reviews of this CD in The New Music Connoisseur and the Sonneck Society Bulletin under reconstruction.
Hear Helene sing Leonard's "Journey of Life" at newmusicusa.org
(compact disc) Capstone #CPS-8647 (1997)
Helene Williams Sings Songs of Love (incl. 21 by Lehrman)
Link to review of this CD in The New Music Connoisseur under reconstruction.
Hear Helene sing Leonard's "Love's Secret" (William Blake)
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" (Christopher Marlowe)
"The Definition of Love" (Andrew Marvell)
"Tell Me, What Is Love?" (Joel Shatzky)
"In der Fremd" (Leyb Naydus, tr. L.Lehrman)
"When I Am Dead, My Dearest" (Christina Rossetti)
"Remember Me When I Am Gone Away (Christina Rossetti)
"An Edith Segal Love Song Cycle"
"An Elizabeth Gurley Love Song Cycle"
at library.newmusicusa.org
(compact disc) Capstone #CPS-8661 (1999)
Leonard Lehrman Plays Works for Piano Solo
(13 composers, including his own Reineke Fuchs Suite)
Link to a review of this CD in The American Record Guide under reconstruction.
(compact disc) Capstone #CPS-8667 (1999)
Helene Williams Sings MORE Songs of Love (incl.13 by Lehrman)
Link to review of this CD in The New Music Connoisseur under reconstruction.
Listen to Helene sing Leonard's "Advice to Virgins" (Robert Herrick)
"Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover?" (John Suckling)
"Jenny Kissed Me" (Leigh Hunt)
"Abou Ben Adhem" (Leigh Hunt)
"Love Song [Liebeslied]" (Mascha Kaléko, tr. L.Lehrman)
"I Felt a Cleaving" (Emily Dickinson)
"I'm Nobody" (Emily Dickinson)
"Wild Nights" (Emily Dickinson)
"Titian" (Anon.)
"The Freud' of Sex" (L.Lehrman)
"Amoeba" (Anon.)
"A Red, Red Rose" (Robert Burns)
(compact disc) Original Cast #OC-4441 (2001)
A Marc Blitzstein Songbook (19 songs, 7 completions by Lehrman,
including Smoking Glasses; Few Little English; Expatriate--from No for an Answer;
Under the sky--from Idiots First; and four excerpts from Sacco and Vanzetti:
Rosa-Sacco Duet; Vanzetti's First Aria; Sacco's "The Whole Shoe"; and Vanzetti's Last Statement--
all available for listening at library.newmusicusa.org)
performed by Helene Williams, Gregory Mercer, James Sergi and Leonard Lehrman
A Broadway Mania review of this recording by Ben Winters may be retrievable, somewhere.
Click here to order.
(compact disc) Original Cast #OC-6055 (2003)
The Abel Meeropol Centennial Concert including the complete opera The Wooing
and first recordings of works by Engel, Haufrecht, Lehrman, Mandelbaum, Siegmeister, Weill
performed by the Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus, conducted by Leonard Lehrman
Click here for contents and links to recordings online at library.newmusicusa.org.
Click here for critical comments. Copies may be ordered from Amazon here.
(compact disc) Original Cast #OC-6127 (2005)
The Marc Blitzstein Centennial Concert CD including the complete I've Got the Tune
in Leonard Lehrman's 1970 adaptation, excerpts from Idiots First and Sacco and Vanzetti
and 9 first recordings, with Helene Williams, Bill Castleman, Lars Woodul, Cameron Smith,
Robert Osborne, Victoria Tralongo, Joshua Minkin, Katya Brous, and members of the
Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus, the Solidarity Singers, and the Workmen's Circle Chorus,
conducted by Leonard Lehrman
"a worthy addition to the field of Blitzstein recordings"
--Ken Mandelbaum, broadway.com
Click here for contents. Click here to order.
(compact disc) Original Cast #OC-6235 (2008)
The Elie Siegmeister Centennial CD including 28 songs, 16 first recordings,
on texts by Edward Eager, Vachel Lindsay, Rosemary & Stephen Vincent Benet,
Leo Israel, Langston Hughes, Norman Rosten,
Edward Mabley, Miriam Waddington, and Kim Rich
with Helene Williams, Lars Woodul,
and The Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus,
conducted from the piano by Leonard Lehrman
Click here for contents. Click here for texts. Click here to order.
(compact disc) Albany Troy #817 (2005)
A Diamond Jubilee: Songs of David Diamond--Even Though the World Keeps Changing
the first CD devoted entirely to the songs of David Diamond (1915-2005)
recorded Jan. 1995,
funded by grants from the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Alice M. Ditson Fund,
the Maldeb Foundation, and Stephen E. Davis.
Order a copy from Albany Records.
"A valuable collection offering a selection from
the remarkable songs of David Diamond"
--Glyn Pursglove, MusicWeb-International.
Another review of it appeared in Castle Classics. (Probably retrievable, eventually.)
Songs for Naturists:
Live from the Naked Front (2005)
performed by
Helene Williams & Leonard Lehrman
with Cary Bair
produced with the kind assistance of
The Naturist Education Foundation
Click here for a review by Paul Rapoport in the Canadian magazine, Going Natural.
Remarks by Ralph P. Locke:
"I am, in a way, particularly impressed by your playing
--you make so many phrases and passages sound improvised,
through flexible phrasing.
"But I can see that this is also part of MB's composition method
--doing a phrase, doing a phrase again, perhaps with a little twist,
then taking some of that material for the third phrase,
which moves into other territory, and so on.
"The Piano Sonata comes as a shock, esp. after so much music that is gentle,
even a bit like cocktail piano (but with a harmonic kicker in the cocktail!).
"Once again, I see that MB didn't have a single distinctive style.
He was omnivorous that way. But, as I said, there is some kind of
method to the way his pieces grow and change.
"It's a wonderful CD!"
Reviewed in the April 2019 edition of Classical Source,
by London Times critic Geoff Brown who concludes:
"Blitzstein in some important ways was an unlucky composer:
tragically unlucky in his early death, murdered in Martinique in 1964;
unlucky, too, in the volume of music he left unperformed or unfinished.
But in another way he's definitely lucky.
He has a champion like Leonard Lehrman,
tireless and passionate, determined to spread his enthusiasm
with these pungent performances of pungent music -
finally brought into the public domain through the inspired support of
Martin Anderson and his label Toccata Classics.
I learned a lot from this collection."
Also reviewed by Jonathan Woolf in June 2019 on musicweb-international.com:
"That most of these pieces are heard in premiere recordings
suggests that Marc Blitzstein's music for solo piano
has long lagged behind his well-known stage works.
In fact, this appears to be the first album ever released
that's devoted wholly to his piano music
and this may seem strange given that he was a well-regarded pianist
and wrote for the instrument throughout his career.
Indeed, the works span an almost half-century from 1918 to 1963.
...polytonality and playfulness, paradiddle and perplexity,
lid-shutting percussion and driving vexatious excitement...
...fabulously pugnacious harmonies and metre-changing...
One of the best things about this disc is its archaeological function.
Some of the pieces are simply as good as unknown.
The 1930 ballet music from Cain, for example:
three excerpts lasting ten minutes rich, once again, in polytonality...
The ballet Show (The Guests) is heard in a reconstruction by Leonard Lehrman.
It was the only time the composer was to work with choreographer Jerome Robbins,
but the seven tracked pieces here show a pleasing variety of expression.
There's a piece redolent of 20s Jazz 'n' Blues with torch song hues, another with Latino drive -
a strangely forward-looking West Side Story number, perhaps? -
and a splendidly calm cantabile cut.
There's a role for two speakers - Lehrman and Helene Williams...
well worth listening to...
The contentious numbers are the primary focus here,
but Show makes the most of its nineteen-minute length
and should titillate the sympathetic listener, as should quite a bit else."
Reviewed by Philip Scott June 24, 2019 in Limelight Magazine, who called it "volume 1"(!):
"Marc Blitzstein (1905-64) was an integral figure in mid-20th century American music.
He wrote the socialist musical The Cradle Will Rock (directed by a young Orson Welles),
and translated Brecht for a long-running production of The Threepenny Opera.
His major work was the opera Regina, recorded in 1992 by Decca: his only opera
to receive a production. In 1964 he was gay-bashed to death at the docks in Martinique.
An excellent pianist, Blitzstein wrote extensively for his instrument, mostly short vignettes.
This volume collects several, beginning with juvenilia from 1918. Some are charming, including
the Waterfall Barcarolle, or the later Innocent Psalm (1952), written for the birth of
Leonard Bernstein's daughter. (It sounds uncannily like Bernstein). Others are experimental,
such as Percussion Music for Piano (1928-29) and the cluster-laden Piano Sonata
(1944)[sic: actually 1927-28]. You realise how few experimental pieces survive.
The piano lid banging of the Rondino from Percussion Music, or the random
mosaic structure of the Sonata no longer sound remotely revolutionary.
Tippett managed the latter format more coherently in his Piano Sonata No 2.
There are two suites from ballets: Cain (1930), and The Guests (1946-49) ...
played sympathetically by Leonard Lehrman, who specialises in the composer's work."
HARMONIZE YOUR SPIRIT WITH MY CALM
Music by Leonard Lehrman & Joel Mandelbaum
featuring Helene Williams and the State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg
conducted by Vladimir Lande, including 8 Russian Songs & "Bloody Kansas"
+ partial reissue of 3 LICA CDs. Released by Parma: Jan. 13, 2017
 Read complete review by Grego Applegate Edwards here, summarized thus: "So much music, well played and sung, comparing and contrasting two interrelated styles while forming a richly satisfying program in total. This is substantial contemporary fare." From the Issue 40:5 (May/June 2017) of Fanfare magazine: CD Review by Colin Clarke LEHRMAN 8 Russian Songs. 1 Bloody Kansas. 2 An Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Love Song Cycle. 3 MANDELBAUM Prelude. 4 Chaconne. 5 In Sainte-Chapelle. 5 String Quartet No. 2. 6 Love is not all. 1, 5Vladimir Lande, 2Joel Mandelbaum, cond; 3, 4Leonard Lehrman (pn); 1, 3 . Helene Williams (sop); 1 Alexander Mikhalėv (bs bar); 6 Meridian Str Qrt; 1, 5 St Petersburg St SO; 2C Music Live O at Queens College; RAVELLO 7951 (76:08) This fascinating and beautifully produced disc celebrates the connections between and the friendship of two composers, Joel Mandelbaum and Leonard Lehrman, both American composers descended from Jews born in the Russian Empire. The soprano here, Helene Williams, incidentally, has familial links to what the booklet describes as "Russian Poland." Recording dates on this disc vary from 1997 to 2016; four of the recordings have previously been available on Capstone Records. The link between the two composers is clear with the first item, as Mandelbaum's sweet Prelude (composed when he was just 17) is performed by Leonard Lehrman. It is succeeded by Lehrman's own Eight Russian Songs, sung in Russian (an English language alternative exists). There is, in fact, a mini-cycle within a cycle here, as the Fet, Krylov, and Derzhavin texts (movements three through five) are together headed "Songs of Birds." Helene Williams is a clear-voiced soprano with a lovely tone; Alexander Mikhalėv has a full, perfectly "Russian" sound. The combination of soprano and solo English horn is particularly effective in "Greeting" (the superb English horn player is Yulia Orlova). There is a Shostakovich-like gait and acidic wit to "Quartet" to a text by Ivan Krylov, which is given with a delightful accompaniment of oboe, viola, French horn, and harpsichord. The title, equally delightfully, refers to a string quartet played by animals: a monkey, a goat, a donkey, and a "clumsy bear." As so often, the Russian soul (pardon the largely unintentional pun) bares itself and there is an undercurrent of sadness. The solo soprano "Nightingale in a Dream" offers high contrast and is impeccably and eloquently sung by Williams. Mikhalėv captures the enigmatic undercurrent of Vladimir Mayakovsky's text perfectly in "My University," but perhaps the greatest poignancy lies in the setting of Pushkin's "Winter Morning," set with tissue delicacy; the Saint Petersburg strings play with quiet radiance, a quality which also suffuses the final "Untitled" to a text by Galina Leybovich that concentrates on nothing in life being meaningless. Lehrman's "Bloody Kansas" was part of a commissioning project for pieces that lasted one minute commemorating important events in U.S. history, and in fact it lasts exactly that length of time. It is dissonant and makes its point well (the event chosen by the composer is John Brown's anti- slavery raids). Lehrman's song-cycle to words by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, an American labor leader who died in Moscow, sets her letters to her lover. Again, this was recorded for Capstone Records and it is good to hear these imaginative, tender settings. There is a simplicity here that is charming: "The Beauty of Love," the third song, exemplifies this perfectly. The tenderness aspect is perhaps heard at its strongest in "To Carlo," a poem of some valediction, of locking the heart against the lover-powerful, yet delivered with an interior aspect that speaks volumes as to the depth of feeling underneath. The final "On Equality" features a tricky piano part. A plea for male/female equality, it is certainly a thought-provoking and powerful way to end. This recording was actually reviewed in reviewed in Fanfare 22:1 (that's back in 1998). It is fair to say that the review was lukewarm, and it is good for it to get the chance for reappraisal here. The Chaconne by Mandelbaum has a D-Minor ostinato and aims to chart "life's voyage through triumph and loss." It is a brief piece (only five minutes), but incredibly effective. The wind scoring is particularly appealing. The tight construction is felt rather than consciously heard. Mandelbaum]s In Sainte Chapelle is inspired by the clerestory windows in Sainte Chapelle in Paris that depict Revelation (a Biblical story of much violence wrought on all unbelievers). Resonances with 9/11 brought up parallels for the composer, and the piece seeks to calm the dissonances of its opening, ending with natural microtonal overtones in a plea for the world to look for resolution: a beautiful sentiment, and well realized here. The scoring is expert and the performance here with the Saint Petersburg State Symphony exemplary, in particular the shining, luminous beauty the score contains at times. The String Quartet No. 2 by Mandelbaum is a dramatic piece which, like the Chaconne, comes across as tightly organized. In fact, it is one of Mandelbaum's few serial works (he uses a 16-note row though, so it is not strictly dodecaphonic; the set is segmented into four-note groups). The music, occasionally sounding Schoenbergian, is incredibly expressive. Although there are some notes on this piece in the booklet provided with the disc, it is recommended readers go to the disc's web site and explore the fuller notes to this piece there, which includes a photo of a page of the manuscript: ravellorecords.com/catalog/rr7951/harmonize-your-spirit--liner-notes.html. The opening "Theme and Variations" ends by ascending into space; the central Allegro is cast in D Major, which may come as a surprise given the serial organization going on (it nevertheless still concentrates on a prevalent four-note cell). The excellent Meridian String Quartet finds nice spring to the rhythms of the central movement. The finale is an approximate retrograde of the first, hence its title, "Snoitairav dna Emeht." (There is a slight and forgivable mis-spelling on the disc: Perhaps they were subliminally influenced by the inconsistent retrograde of "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" in the song from Mary Poppins?) The music is just as expressive heard backwards: not as throwaway a statement as might appear, rather more of a validation of serial procedures at work on a larger-scale structural level. Finally, a brief song by Mandelbaum, "Love is not all," is a setting of a poem from Fatal Interview by Edna St. Vincent Millay. This comes from Mandelbaum's first song cycle and is set in a notably tonal idiom. I say "notably" as it is certainly underlined after the String Quartet. The splendid poem is heard in an impassioned performance here by Helene Williams with Lehrman at the piano. This is a fascinating, wide-ranging disc; amazing what one can fit into 76 minutes. Colin Clarke |
(LP) OPUS ONE #145 We Are Innocent (Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus) (1989)
now available also on CD
 |
(cassette) Juedische Lieder: Der Juedische Musiktheaterverein Berlin (1986)
incl. excerpts from Heine & Holocaust cycles
(cassette) Helene Williams sings Songs of Conscience (1991)
incl. Sisters, excerpts from E.G., Superspy!, Lewis Allan & Edith Segal songs
now available also on CD
Click here for contents and access to individual songs at library.newmusicusa.org
(compact disc) Premier CD 1005 A Blitzstein Cabaret (1991)
incl. excerpts from Idiots First and Sacco and Vanzetti
Click here for list of contents.
Thirty-second samples from each of the selections may be heard at the amazon.com website.
 |
(compact disc) Premier CD 1016 Broadway Dreams (1992)
incl. original arrangements of music by Jerome Moross & Morton Gould
 |
(compact disc) Capstone #CPS-8623 (1994)
William Cullen Bryant Bicentennial Concert at Bryant Library (13 composers)
Links to reviews of this CD in The New Music Connoisseur and the Sonneck Society Bulletin under reconstruction.
Hear Helene sing Leonard's "Journey of Life" at newmusicusa.org
 |
(compact disc) Capstone #CPS-8647 (1997)
Helene Williams Sings Songs of Love (incl. 21 by Lehrman)
Link to review of this CD in The New Music Connoisseur under reconstruction.
Hear Helene sing Leonard's "Love's Secret" (William Blake)
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" (Christopher Marlowe)
"The Definition of Love" (Andrew Marvell)
"Tell Me, What Is Love?" (Joel Shatzky)
"In der Fremd" (Leyb Naydus, tr. L.Lehrman)
"When I Am Dead, My Dearest" (Christina Rossetti)
"Remember Me When I Am Gone Away (Christina Rossetti)
"An Edith Segal Love Song Cycle"
"An Elizabeth Gurley Love Song Cycle"
at library.newmusicusa.org
 |
(compact disc) Capstone #CPS-8661 (1999)
Leonard Lehrman Plays Works for Piano Solo
(13 composers, including his own Reineke Fuchs Suite)
Link to a review of this CD in The American Record Guide under reconstruction.
 |
(compact disc) Capstone #CPS-8667 (1999)
Helene Williams Sings MORE Songs of Love (incl.13 by Lehrman)
Link to review of this CD in The New Music Connoisseur under reconstruction.
Listen to Helene sing Leonard's "Advice to Virgins" (Robert Herrick)
"Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover?" (John Suckling)
"Jenny Kissed Me" (Leigh Hunt)
"Abou Ben Adhem" (Leigh Hunt)
"Love Song [Liebeslied]" (Mascha Kaléko, tr. L.Lehrman)
"I Felt a Cleaving" (Emily Dickinson)
"I'm Nobody" (Emily Dickinson)
"Wild Nights" (Emily Dickinson)
"Titian" (Anon.)
"The Freud' of Sex" (L.Lehrman)
"Amoeba" (Anon.)
"A Red, Red Rose" (Robert Burns)
 |
A Marc Blitzstein Songbook (19 songs, 7 completions by Lehrman,
including Smoking Glasses; Few Little English; Expatriate--from No for an Answer;
Under the sky--from Idiots First; and four excerpts from Sacco and Vanzetti:
Rosa-Sacco Duet; Vanzetti's First Aria; Sacco's "The Whole Shoe"; and Vanzetti's Last Statement--
all available for listening at library.newmusicusa.org)
performed by Helene Williams, Gregory Mercer, James Sergi and Leonard Lehrman
A Broadway Mania review of this recording by Ben Winters may be retrievable, somewhere.
Click here to order.
 |
(compact disc) Original Cast #OC-6055 (2003)
The Abel Meeropol Centennial Concert including the complete opera The Wooing
and first recordings of works by Engel, Haufrecht, Lehrman, Mandelbaum, Siegmeister, Weill
performed by the Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus, conducted by Leonard Lehrman
Click here for contents and links to recordings online at library.newmusicusa.org.
Click here for critical comments. Copies may be ordered from Amazon here.
 |
(compact disc) Original Cast #OC-6127 (2005)
The Marc Blitzstein Centennial Concert CD including the complete I've Got the Tune
in Leonard Lehrman's 1970 adaptation, excerpts from Idiots First and Sacco and Vanzetti
and 9 first recordings, with Helene Williams, Bill Castleman, Lars Woodul, Cameron Smith,
Robert Osborne, Victoria Tralongo, Joshua Minkin, Katya Brous, and members of the
Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus, the Solidarity Singers, and the Workmen's Circle Chorus,
conducted by Leonard Lehrman
"a worthy addition to the field of Blitzstein recordings"
--Ken Mandelbaum, broadway.com
Click here for contents. Click here to order.
 |
(compact disc) Original Cast #OC-6235 (2008)
The Elie Siegmeister Centennial CD including 28 songs, 16 first recordings,
on texts by Edward Eager, Vachel Lindsay, Rosemary & Stephen Vincent Benet,
Leo Israel, Langston Hughes, Norman Rosten,
Edward Mabley, Miriam Waddington, and Kim Rich
with Helene Williams, Lars Woodul,
and The Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus,
conducted from the piano by Leonard Lehrman
 |
(compact disc) Albany Troy #817 (2005)
A Diamond Jubilee: Songs of David Diamond--Even Though the World Keeps Changing
the first CD devoted entirely to the songs of David Diamond (1915-2005)
recorded Jan. 1995,
funded by grants from the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Alice M. Ditson Fund,
the Maldeb Foundation, and Stephen E. Davis.
Order a copy from Albany Records.
"A valuable collection offering a selection from
the remarkable songs of David Diamond"
--Glyn Pursglove, MusicWeb-International.
Another review of it appeared in Castle Classics. (Probably retrievable, eventually.)
 |
Songs for Naturists:
Live from the Naked Front (2005)
performed by
Helene Williams & Leonard Lehrman
with Cary Bair
produced with the kind assistance of
The Naturist Education Foundation
Click here for a review by Paul Rapoport in the Canadian magazine, Going Natural.