PROGRAM
Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano
Wondrous Free: Renowned baritone Thomas Hampson tells America's stories in song, bringing them to life through masterly performances and a passionate sense of their importance to our national soul. As part of his extensive collaboration with the Library of Congress, he unearths several previously neglected gems, singing them alongside more familiar favorites by Foster, Copland, Barber, and Ives. We also hear the fourth song in Stephen Paulus's "Heartland Portrait", a cycle commissioned for Mr. Hampson and set to luminous poems by Ted Kooser, thirteenth Poet Laureate of the United States. Pianist Craig Rutenberg, whose contributions have likewise enlarged our musical life, performs with equal mastery and heart.
MUSIC PLAYED IN THE PROGRAM
- Francis Hopkinson (text: Hopkinson): "My Days Have Been so Wondrous Free"
- Stephen Foster (text: Foster): "Hard Times"
- Aaron Copland (text/tune: Trad.): "The Dodger"
- H.T. Burleigh: "Lovely, Dark, and Lonely One."
- Elinor Remick Warren (text: Anon. 16th c): "God Be in my heart"
- Virgil Thomson (text: William Blake): "Tiger! Tiger!"
- Samuel Barber (text: James Joyce): "Sure On This Shining Night"
- Stephen Paulus (text: Ted Kooser): "A Heartland Portrait"
—IV. "A Summer Night" - Charles Ives (text: Col. John McCrae): "In Flanders Fields"
- Arthur Farwell (adapted text: Omaha Indian): "The old man’s love song"
- William Grant Still (text: LeRoy V. Brant): "Grief"
- Stephen White (text/tune: Trad. American): "Shenandoah"
- Aaron Copland: "The Boatman"
MIXED COMPANY
Mixed Company is written by Saint Paul Sunday staff, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the show and the classical music they love.
LINKS AND RESOURCES
Artist profile: Thomas Hampson and Craig Rutenberg
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Other performances on Saint Paul Sunday:
- Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano (1997, part I)
- Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano (1997, part II)
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Thomas Hampson's 2006 Schubert Club performance of Stephen Paulus's "Heartland Portrait"—a cycle of four settings of poems by Ted Kooser, thirteenth Poet Laureate of the United States. The pianist is Wolfram Reiger.
- Flying at Night
- At Midnight
- An August Night
- A Summer Night
- The Modern Man I Sing - Poems by Walt Whitman
- A Poet's Love - Twenty Songs from the Lyrical Intermezzo