Audra Mcdonald - Way Back to Paradise
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Free Music Notes for Way Back to Paradise
Free Music Review: A Talented Performer with Talented Composers
Hit: 5 Stars
Honestly...Audra could be singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and people would fall at her feet proclaiming her as the creator of that song. In other words, there is nothing a reviewer can say that could honestly put down the vocal and emotional talent Audra possesses. The beef that many people have with this CD is Audra's choice of material. Yes, it is a risk for a performer to make her recording debut with material from relatively unknown and young composers. As some reviewers have stated, some of the "best" songs from this disc were ones with which they were already familiar...If you're expecting Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, or Jerry Herman you're in for a huge disappointment. In fact, if you're expecting Sondheim you're still in for a disappointment.
This CD is best approached with an open mind. Audra's emotional depth and honesty in her performance of this material clearly demonstrates her love, support and belief in not only these selections but their respective composers as well. Our duty is to trust a performer in his or her choice of material. If we value the performer, then we need to value and understand that every song is intentional. Every song is a personal, intimate moment that the performer is sharing with the rest of the world.
The songs on this disc deliberately and successfully stray from the exhausted popular form of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus. Jenny Giering's "I Follow" is a gorgeous, quiet, introspective and haunting piece. Ricky Ian Gordon's song cycle pieces are brilliant and quite evocative of the moods of the Langston Hughes poems from which the text was derived. Adam Guettel is a master of fusing theatrical music with a contemporary "pop"-like quality to create music that is not only smart but ear-friendly as well.
Do yourself a favor. Purchase this CD if you're willing to judge for YOURSELF--free of preconceptions--the quality of the pieces. At worst, you'll have a CD of a glorious vocal talent. At best, you'll have discovered along with the rest of us some amazing new composers.
Free Music Review: Time Travel
Hit: 5 Stars
If you look hard, I'm sure you can find CD's out there devoted to the best of early theatre music, songs from the 30's and 40's by such old hands as Gershwin, Porter and Kern. Nonesuch has been trying hard to disguise it, but the fact is, this disc is just such a disc - a disc from the 2060's somehow transported back in time documenting the best theatre music of the end of the 20th Century. And it was recorded by an angel, who are apparantly common recording artists in the future, for surely no human could make such sounds. Audra MCDonalds debut album is one of two CD's I've purchased in the past 2 years that never leave my CD player for more than a week or so. For anyone interested in either wonderful, throughly enchanting and transporting singing or the future of theatre music, this disc truly fits the cliche of "required listening." Right from the opening the marriage of singer and song is glorious; Ms. McDonald wraps her bright and sweet soprano around an uplifting melody and the ears take notice. Other highlights include "Way Back to Paradise," a wonderfully sprightly feminist duet with operatic soprano Dawn Upshaw (and the blend between the two stars of opera and Broadway is a delight), "Come to Jesus," a moving and plaintive story of abortion, "You Don't Know this Man," a starkly simple song of condemnation, "Tom," a beautiful song about the ache of adultery, and - wait, I'm just listing the songs. Suffice it to say that each and everyone is a highlight, each and every one displays a almost mystical marriage of song and singer, and that each and every one of the people reading this should click above and get this disc now.
Free Music Review: Music for ears, soul, and spirit
Hit: 5 Stars
As a singer, conductor and music teacher for 25 years, I am always searching for "new" music that goes deeper than so much of contemporary music (in all styles, including classical). Sadly, my budget does not allow me to freely sample numerous new releases, and rely on reviews to spark my interest. After reading a couple of glowing reviews of Back to Paradise, I found it in Borders-in "easy listening," of all places!Easy listening it is not! Wonderful, breathtaking, rewarding and disturbing it is.
Aaron Copland writes of listening on "three planes" - sensual, emotional, and sheerly musical. Sensually this is a joy- the sheer beauty and color of Ms McDonald's voice and the not too heavy orchestrations constantly please the ear and illuminate the music.Emotionally, these songs explore the deepest areas of the soul- joy, dispair, lust for power- in levels not unusally found in todays music. Some may be put off by some of the subject matter, but will be rewarded for hanging in.
The most astonishing aspect of this album is the way the composers use complex yet accessible musical language to express those colors and emotions. This is music that demands active listening -no background music this!- and rewards frequent returns.
To classify this music as "show music" is misleading, as is "classical." What this is, in its purest sense, is "art" music; music that goes beyond the sound and emotion to transmit deep personal thoughts in music. These are the depths that the masters have plumbed.
Is it too much to compare musical experience to those lofty acheivements? To these jaded ears, the answer is an resounding yes.
Free Music Review: Buy it.
Hit: 5 Stars
A co-worker handed me this CD knowing that I am a performer of musical theater and opera. I was familiar with Ricky Ian Gordon, but the other composer's names were only vaguely familiar. I was familiar with Audra, and was not disappointed by this performance. Audra's artistry is astounding. She brings exciting, moving performances to each of these songs. This is not Rogers & Hammerstein, nor is it Sondheim. However, this is a wonderful sampling of young composers and lyricists. "Stars and the Moon" from Jason Robert Brown's SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD is exciting and thought provoking. I listened to it eight times in one work day. It's a shame Warner Brothers discontinued publication of this music in 10/99. Guettel's "Come to Jesus" is a haunting look at abortion. "I Follow" is stunning. Despite other reviews that this music is a-tonal and unmelodic, I have had multiple melodies ringing clearly in my mind after listening to this cd. As for Audra's choice of material, I must agree with a comment in the cd liner that her choice of music makes us listen to the music, not her. As a fellow performer, I commend Audra for allowing herself to be a vehicle to highlight music and text, instead of getting caught up in letting the music be a vehicle to highlight her. For me, this is a sign of a true artist.Free Music Review: We need wait no longer.
Hit: 5 Stars
Responding to the "60 Minutes" interviewer's questions about Audra's potential, Zoe Caldwell, her co-star in "Master Class," assured him and us with prophetic flair: "Just wait. Just wait." I beg to disagree with the esteemed Ms. Caldwell. We need not wait. Audra McDonald has arrived.I concur with the raves that precede my comments here (and I question seriously the taste, the sanity really, of those who find fault with this superlative recording).
Voice, brains, balls. What more could the listener want? What is most special about Audra, I think, is her ability to communicate. Her voice is transparent. Her singing has the immediacy, the intimacy of speech. In the liner notes, Terrence McNally compares her to Judy Garland in this regard, which I think is great call. She shares with Judy Garland that ability to grab hold of a song, not let go, make it all her own. A totally self-actualizing singer. Early favorites: "Dream Variations," (excruciatingly beautiful) "Stars and the Moon," "Mistress of the Senator" (read a review that notes that this one song alone contains a more complex plot and covers more emotional ground than many shows in their entirety). Not crazy about the Guettel pieces, but I suspect they'll grow on me with time.
Buy this CD!