Kiri Te KanawaReseñas

Like that certain book, this is one album that I give to friends and acquaintances continually. Although Eleanor Steber and Lisa della Casa do fine interpretations of this monumental work, Janowitz’s performance of Strauss’s Four Last Songs has been described, rightly, as transcendental. It aches with love for a life that is quietly fading. I know of no other piece of music, nor any performance, which moves me quite like this.

Nicely told stories, with enough detail to make them truly interesting. It's in the juvenile section of the library, but doesn't talk down to children or adults. (If you're choosing this for a read-aloud book to young children, I'd read the story to yourself first to choose ones most suited to them. Many of these are probably most suited to older children, teens, and adults.)

Very appealing watercolor illustrations that suggest strong natural and magical forces (not attempting the Maori art style, by the way).

The Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa that is often translated as "land of the long white cloud", a swirl of cloud caused by warm winter winds from Australia meeting cold Antarctic air over New Zealand.

One of my favourite opera singers, Kiri Te Kanawa was inspired at a family reunion (her mother is Irish and her father Maori) to write folk tales just as she remembered them being told to her when she was a child. The legends depict the fantastic mythological culture of New Zealand. This is a charming book, beautifully illustrated by Michael Foreman.

INFORMATION-This album contains the following tracks:
1 Blue Skies, song (originally interpolated into the R.Rodgers musical "Betsy") (Irving Berlin), 3:22
2 Speak Low, song for voice & piano (from "One Touch of Venus") (A.M. Brunner / Ogden Nash / Geoff Tate / Kurt Weill / Michael Wilton), 4:42
3 It Might as Well Be Spring, song (from film "State Fair") (Oscar Hammerstein II / Richard Rodgers), 4:36
4 Here's That Rainy Day (James Van Heusen), 4:48
5 I Didn't Know What Time It Was, song (from "Too Many Girls") (Richard Rodgers / Richard Rogers), 2:54
6 Yesterdays, song (from "Roberta") (West Arkeen / Otto Harbach / Del James / J.J. Johnson / Jerome Kern / Axl Rose), 4:55
7 So in love, song (from "Kiss Me Kate") (Cole Porter), 6:12
8 How High the Moon (Nancy Hamilton / James Lewis / Morgan Lewis), 4:19
9 True love, song (from "High Society") (Peter Chatman / Cole Porter), 3:00
10 Gone with the wind, song (Herbert Magidson / Allie Wrubel), 4:03
11 When I Grow Too Old to Dream (Oscar Hammerstein II / Sigmund Romberg), 3:03
12 The Folks Who Live On the Hill, song (from the film "High, Wide and Handsome") (Oscar Hammerstein II / Jerome Kern), 4:40