John Matthew Myers is rapidly in the ascendent. His debut album, "Desiderium", coincides with his Metropolitan Opera debut in Brett Dean’s Hamlet. "Desiderium" – "an ardent desire or longing, a feeling of loss or grief for something lost" – beautifully showcases Myers’ mellifluous voice. His thoughtful program of works by American and American émigré composers opens with Samuel Barber’s yearning Knoxville: Summer of 1915 – rarely heard sung by a tenor – and transitions to Charles Tomlinson Griffes’ similarly searching settings of 3 Poems of Fiona Macleod, and Andre Previn’s 4 Songs for Tenor and Piano.
What follows is A Letter from Sullivan Ballou, set to the words of a poignant letter by an American Civil War officer, by John Kander (of Kander and Ebb musical theatre fame). Rounding out the recital are 4 Walt Whitman Songs by German-born composer Kurt Weill, including the classic O Captain! My Captain!
John Matthew Myers says “Call me a big-hearted Romantic. Each song on this album conveys yearning, separation, loneliness or distance but also a sense of intimacy and longing for connection". It certainly does. "Desiderium" is an auspicious album. © AVIE Records