Dawn Upshaw.(Sound Recording Review)

"VOICES OF LIGHT" Songs by Messiaen, Debussy, Golijov and Faure. Kalish, piano. Nonesuch 79821-2

This latest collection from the restlessly inquisitive Dawn Upshaw features songs that she describes as having, in one way or another, illuminated her life and artistry: some Messiaen pieces, which she was inspired to explore after singing the role of The Angel in Messiaen's opera Saint Francois d'Assise, Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis, which she discovered in college, via Frederica von Stade's recording; Osvaldo Golijov's "Lua Descolorida," which she sang at its premiere in 1999; and Faure's otherworldly (and rarely performed) cycle La Chanson d'Eve. More importantly, these unusual and well-chosen songs offer illumination for the listener as well. This is not simply due to the characteristic clarity and authority Upshaw brings to everything she performs; it also has to do with how these songs and composers shed light on one another when placed side by side in this way. In Messiaen's "Le Collier" (1936), the first track on the disc, we can actually hear the mature Messiaen emerging from the influence of Debussy; this impression is validated by the Debussy offering that follows, the three delicately passionate songs comprising Chansons de Bilitis. The mature Messiaen sound, however, which we hear in the selections from Harawi, is unmistakable, with its ecstatic shower of tone clusters in the piano (in "L'escalier redit, gestes du soleil") and tender flickers of birdsong (in "Amour oiscau d'etoile").

The Golijov selection, nestled among the Messiaen songs, is the sole work by a living composer ...