“His voice and sensibility are perfect…”
— Gramophone
“Of the hundreds of song recitals I’ve
reviewed for ARG, this is one that stands out.”
— American Record Guide
Why do the Nations
Stephen Powell
Baritone & Piano
World Premiere recording: *
1. Morire? (1917), Giacomo Puccini
2. Chanson à Boire (1932), Maurice Ravel
3. El Paño Moruno (1914), Manuel De Falla
4. Auch Kleine Dinge (1892), Hugo Wolf
5. Vesenniye Vody (1896), Sergei Rachmaninoff
6. Jiào Wo Rúhé Bùxiang Tā (1926), Zhao Yuanren
7. The Brisk Young Widow (1954), Benjamin Britten
8. La Seduzione (1839), Giuseppe Verdi
9. I Hear an Army (1937), Samuel Barber
10. Ich Trage Meine Minne (1896), Richard Strauss
11. Mandoline (1891), Gabriel Fauré
12. Kōjō no Tsuki (1901), Rentarō Taki
13. ¿Corazón Porqué Pasáis? (1921), Fernando Obradors
14. Polyubila Ya Na Pechal Svoyu (1893), Sergei Rachmaninoff
15. Money, O! (1928), Michael Head
16. Die Forelle (1817), Franz Schubert
17. Il Poveretto (1847), Giuseppe Verdi
18. I Want to Go Back (1933), Dong Jin Kim
19. Zion’s Walls (1952), Aaron Copland
*20. Petits Enfants (1873), Émile Paladilhe
21. Nochi Bezumnyye, Nochi Bessonnyye (1886), Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
22. Meine Liebe ist Grün (1873), Johannes Brahms
23. Terra e Mare (1902), Giacomo Puccini
24. Meu Amor Me Disse Adeus (1960), Cláudio Santoro
25. Every Night and Every Morn (1965), Benjamin Britten
26. Canción De Cuna Para Dormir Un Negrito (1945), Xavier Montsalvatge
27. Majority (1921), Charles Ives
Total Time: 74:40
“this is an impressive feat”
David Shengold, Opera News
“Powell is clearly seasoned but his robust baritone wears its mileage well… he makes this wide-ranging repertoire feel like home… His voice and sensibility are perfect…”
David Patrick Stearns, Gramophone
“Powell’s artistry imprints the album and flows via his warm and capable voice.”
Sophie Bisson, The WholeNote
“one of the most superb baritone voices on the planet”
Erica Miner, Broadway World
“This is a recital to dispel gloom and he does so with vim… brilliantly programmed and … [s]omething of a collector’s item, I suspect.”
Simon Mundy, Present Arts
“Powell's voice lends itself as excellently to the heartfelt expressiveness… terrific [collection] that attest[s] to his gifts as not only singer but curator and conceptualist…”
Ron Schepper, Textura
“The songs weave a multi-hued sonic tapestry of languages and styles. And - as it turns out - Mr. Powell's an excellent pianist. I wept, I laughed...I derived great pleasure from this collection. So many of the songs - and Stephen's singing of them - reached me on a very personal level.”
Oberon’s Grove
“It’s a very intimate, personal experience… fantastic interpretations… A real voyage of discovery and thought… It’s not often that you have a recording that makes you sit and think for a while…”
Brad Cresswell, WGTE
“It’s hard for me to name any album of the hundreds I’ve reviewed that has this broad a scope…What impresses me as much as the quality of the program is the excellence of Powell’s performance, both as singer and pianist. This is the first time I’ve reviewed an entire program with the same person in both roles.
Powell’s performance is exemplary—both as singer and pianist. His diction is immaculate, his vocal coloring is applied appropriately, and his sense of the musical line is engaging. It’s one of the most worthwhile albums I’ve heard”
Robert A Moore, American Record Guide
