Soprano Dawn Upshaw is joined by guitarists Sérgio and Odair Assad on this beguiling set of songs addressing the themes of night, sleep, and dreams and including pieces by composers ranging from Handel to George Crumb. The Washington Post calls it "imaginatively conceived and flawlessly executed."
Dawn Upshaw joins music from four centuries in a collection dedicated to Morpheus, the god of Sleep. From the peaceful realm depicted by Handel and Dowland, to a world of wakefulness and the Moon favored by Schwanter and Crumb, White Moon encompasses both soothing and unsettling aspects of night and sleep.
Upshaw, previously a Grammy Award winner for her Nonesuch recital collections Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and The girl with orange lips, has become well-known for her distinctive programming, both on recording and in performance. White Moon presents a range of musical mood and style, as well as text and instrumentation. The soprano is variously paired with piano; duo guitars; and mixed wind and string ensembles to evoke a spectrum of nocturnal atmospheres.
White Moon is Upshaw’s fifth solo recording on Nonesuch.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Tommy Krasker
Engineered by John McClure
Recorded June 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City
Assistant Engineers: Carl Glanville and Drake Ayen
Edited and mastered by Paul Zinman at SoundByte Productions, New York City
Mixed by John McClure and Tommy Krasker at The Hit Factory, New York City
Front Cover: Ladder to the Moon by Georgia O’Keeffe, collection of the Emily Fisher Landau Trust, New York. Copyright © 1995 The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation
Photographed by Malcolm Varon, New York City
Back cover photograph of Dawn Upshaw by Deborah Feingold
Design by Carbone Smolan Associates
Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz
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MUSICIANS
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Margo Garrett, piano
Sérgio and Odair Assad, guitars
Eric Bartlett, electric cello
Susan Rotholz, alto flute, piccolo
David Starobin, banjo
James Baker, percussion
members of The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
and assisting artists