American Dreamer

Dreams, American dreams in particular, are basic to our lives. Whether it is the desire to write the perfect love song to use as a serenade or the need to break away from the everyday, humdrum world and escape into the land of rhythm, these songs make those dreams immediate and very real. Every song in this collection speaks to the heart, as well as to the mind, of the singer and the listener. American in content and context, American voices sing these songs best. Vocal music written by young American composers is coming into its own here at the end of this century and more singers are including songs by American songwriters than ever before in their recitals and recordings. Many new works are being commissioned by singers every year. In this recording Jean Danton presents an overview of the heart of American song writing for the last 150 years. Beautiful Dreamer, for example, has the same poignant soul as All the Things You Are. That particular Kern song is as complex, musically, as anything by Charles Ives. Gershwin's and Carpenter's musicianship is the equal of Copland's. Romberg and Ganz, for all their European background, made their American music as truly native in appeal as Bernstein or Joplin. Carl Davis' song seems to sum up the whole spectrum of song writing on its own terms. There is much to love in this music; all songs, sad, sweet, melancholy or raucous, are about love and about dreams. Heart Songs really are American Dreams.