GODS & MONSTERS:
SONGS BY BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS, MAHLER, MENDELSSOHN, SCHUBERT, SCHUMANN, & WOLF
with Myra Huang, piano
Avie Records
2018 GRAMMY AWARD NOMINEE:
BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM
ABOUT THE ALBUM
What are songs but stories set to music? Whether they are confessional stories of the self or the telling of any variety of narrative, songs are but musical tales.
Back in 2009, I had the privilege of participating in one of the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s National Artist Residencies in Oberlin, Ohio. These residencies consisted of a full, traditional recital on the local presenting series, preceded by a couple of days of outreach performances, taking art songs into the local schools. The most challenging and rewarding parts of this week in Ohio were these outreach performances. My pianist colleague and I performed in classrooms filled with children as young as five years old – first and second graders. We were limited to art song – no opera arias, no crossover repertoire. The task of presenting the songs of Robert Schumann and Benjamin Britten to these young people was a daunting one – how does one hold a child’s attention for the length of time required to sing these songs? When one is singing for an audience of five-year-olds, even a two-minute song can feel like an eternity.
It was a transformative experience for me, and it revolutionized my approach to performance. Now no matter the audience, I feel that the same techniques apply. One has to mine every detail and pretend that they are telling a tall tale around a campfire. No stone can be left unturned, and every colorful extreme must be brought to life.
As more and more children have entered our lives, most notably my longtime recital partner Myra Huang’s two daughters and my niece, storytelling has become a greater part of our personal lives, leading us to this fun program of songs about various myths, legends and fairy tales. Almost all of the great giants of the German Lieder repertoire are represented, and every song is one of these composers’ musically imaginative retellings of stories about various gods, monsters, witches, kings, knights and all sorts of other fantastical creatures. During my own childhood, one of the first books I remember falling in love with was a copy of D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. I’ve been fascinated with tales of the legendary and fantastic ever since. One of the most astounding aspects of these powerful musical miniatures is the incredible amount of color and atmosphere they lend to these stories, so that each song becomes an epic tale of almost cinematic proportions.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
OPERA NEWS
BEST RECORDINGS OF 2017
"Nicholas Phan and Myra Huang offer musical storytelling at its finest in a new recital of legends, tales and horror stories drawn from the nineteenth-century German Lieder repertoire. In addition to superb narrative skills and dramatic conviction, Phan possesses enough musical imagination and vocal daring to bring each story and character vividly to life, and Huang matches the tenor with pianistic arsenal of colors and attacks, controlled by her astonishing technique...Among many high points of the recital is Mahler’s Wunderhorn song, “Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen,”...Both artists sustain the magical nocturnal atmosphere, with generous phrasing and restrained dynamics in a sophisticated, beautifully felt and expressed performance..."
GRAMOPHONE
"...throughout the disc, whose programme is subdivided into four sections and a postlude, his narrative prowess, care with words and desire to bring these stories to life immediately draw you in...this is an appealing, charming and clearly lovingly planned recital, engagingly performed."
THE ARTS DESK
"There are so many jewels here...Wo die Schönen Trompeten blasen is outstanding, made so by Phan’s impeccable diction and pianist Myra Huang’s deft characterisation..Phan's sheer sensitivity is a delight. An absorbing recital disc, and an ideal introduction to the joys of lieder. Beautifully recorded..."
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
"...Huang's fleet fingers make light of some fearsomely virtuosic accompaniments. At his best. Phan offers some exquisitely calibrated soft singing supported by a rich acoustic and crystal-clear sound."
Bay Area REPORTER
"Few voices are as reliable (or beautiful) as Phan's, which gives him freedoms he takes. In everything he sings, storytelling is paramount. Perfect diction, too, is a given, to which Phan adds a kind of around-the-campfire confidentiality that draws you into the tales rather than talking you through them. It's a voice born to sing German Lieder...There's a story in each of the songs about lesser and super humans by Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Wolf, and Phan finds the magic (sometimes black) in each."
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
"With his wonderfully animated quality as a natural storyteller, Phan’s program could be a good way for a family to introduce children to lieder. Their performances of some of the dramatic songs have a spellbinding quality...[Phan] has a wonderful legato style and delivers clear articulation of the text. He packs intensity into the words with a commanding display of dynamic gradation and vocal color..."
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to
Anonymous, Roxi Cargill & Peter Weston, William Ginchereau, Leslie Ann Jones, Robin & Steve Kunkel, Dagmar Moore & Lisa Seischab.
Many thanks also to the army of generous supporters who contributed to the production of this album, including:
John W Adams, Anonymous, the Amoray family, Fotine Assimos, Barr Foundation, Matthew Beck & Chad Smith, Jesse Blumberg, Teddy Dean Boys, Kevin Bylsma, Rob Caverly-Paxton, Hayley Downs, Jocelyn Dueck, Larry & Arlene Dunn, Eugenia Edmonds, Judith Erb, Andrew Gillespie, Bruce Gillespie, Scott Allen Jarrett, Joe Law, Will Leben, Jeffrey Leong, Lynn Luckow, Da Ping Luo, Michael McGaghie, Janet Pascal, Sharlene & Louis Phan, Isabelle Phan, Jeff Phillips, James & Marcy Plunkett, Leah Plunkett & Michael Lewis, Trevor Pollack, Ian Ritchie, Jennifer Rivera, Miguel A. Rodriguez & Barry A. Hume, Maria Sampanis, Aaron Sheehan, Gina Soter, Roland Spahr, Xenia Varelas, Patrick Vaz, Frank Villella, Christopher Weimer, Lawrence A. Whitney, Douglas Williams, Emily Wilson-Tobin & Yi-Heng Yang
Gods & Monsters was part of Nicholas Phan's solo recording projects, which is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.
Contributions for the charitable purposes of Nicholas Phan's solo recording projects must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
