Heggie: Dead Man Walking (Live recording of 2000 world premiere production): MusicNear.com

Music CD 1

Dead Man Walking, opera: Prelude - Patrick Summers
Dead Man Walking, opera: Prologue - Patrick Summers
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 1.: 'He will gather us around.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 2.: 'Be careful,' people have always told me.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 2.: 'This journey. This journey to Christ.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 3.: 'Sister Helen? I've been waiting for you.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 4.: 'Some of them didn't look so bad.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 4.: 'I don't like that man.: - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 5.: 'Woman on the tier!' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 6.: 'Thank you.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 6.: 'A warm night.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 7.: 'The defendant's mother, Mrs. Patrick De Rocher.' - Frederica Von Stade
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 8.: 'It's a good sign when they take so long.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 8.: 'You don't know what it's like to bear a child.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 8.: 'It is the decision of this Pardon Board' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 9.: 'Guess you nun ain't comin' back, De Rocher.' - Susan Graham
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 1. Scene 10.: 'He will gather us around' - Susan Graham

Music CD 2

Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2.: Prelude - Patrick Summers
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 1.: '31... 32... 33...' - John Packard
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 2.: 'Oh!... Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 2.: 'Sometimes forgiveness is in the smallest gesture.'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 3.: 'Well? Well?'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 3.: 'What time is it?'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 4.: 'Don't say a word.'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 4.: 'Who will walk with me?'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 5.: 'Good evening.'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 5.: 'I've said some harsh things.'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 6.: 'You're a regular illustrated man, De Rocher.'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 7.: 'We'd been drinkin' and smokin' weed at the road house.'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 8.: 'Dead Man Walking!'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 8.: 'He will gather us around.'
Dead Man Walking, opera: Act 2. Scene 8.: Applause

Free Music Notes for Heggie: Dead Man Walking (Live recording of 2000 world premiere production)

Free Music Review: Opera for a twenty-first century audience
Hit: 5 Stars

Heggie is at home writing for the voice, which is apparent in the hymn "He will gather us around", but also in Joe's aria "A Warm Night...", the Act 2 Duet between Sister Helen and Sister Rose, and also von Stade's moving goodbye to Joe in Act 2. It's rediculously inaccurate to say that there are no hummable tunes in the opera, and every one of those tunes has a special place on the dramatic trajectory of this powerful work. The singing is also fabulous. John Packard is better live than on recording, but the acting comes across wonderfully. Susan Graham's use of myriad vocal colors is fantastic, and her crystal diction is vital for this wonderfully vernacular libretto. It's hard to believe that this is a live recording; I've never been in an opera house where people were that quiet. Just further proof, I suppose, of the powerful grip that the opera has over an audience.

The most important aspect of the work, though, is its accessibility to both veteran opera-philes and those who have very little exposure to the genre. It's inclusion of musical material more classified in a gospel or rock idiom and it's use of motives for emotional impact work to include the audience rather than alienate them. In contrast to much of contemporary opera, Dead Man Walking leaves the audience feeling included, and moved, and loved. I would recommend this recording to all levels of opera exposure, all musical tastes, and anyone who has ever had to deal with losing someone they love--it speaks to everyone.