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Music CD - Just Before Sunrise
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Music CD: Just Before Sunrise
List Price: $18.98
Our Price: $7.90
Your Save: $ 11.08 ( 58% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: SONY CLASSICS
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Tracks:
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1. Just Before Sunrise
2. The Briar And The Rose
3. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
4. In The Dark Pine-Wood
5. It Feels Like Home
6. Say Anything
7. Time
8. The Dance Of Love
9. And So It Goes
10. Innocent When You Dream
11. The Secret Marriage
12. When You Are Old And Gray
13. Jam Tart
14. This Heart That Flutters
15. I Have Loved Hours At Sea
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0886970651028
Label: SONY CLASSICS
Manufacturer: SONY CLASSICS
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: SONY CLASSICS
Release Date: 2007-08-07
Studio: SONY CLASSICS
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Smooth as silk!
Comment: Having seen Nathan Gunn on the stage of the Metropolitan three times I fell in love with his voice and stage presence from the first. I bought this CD out of curiosity -- could that great baritone pull off pop music? The answer for me is an enthusiastic yes. Baritones can be so "thick" that they can't stretch across musical type. But Gunn not only show a remarkable range, but actually makes the music not only melodic but often very soft and sweet -- not typical qualities for baritone voices. He can sell a song like no one else yet the selection choices were curious as I couldn't quite get how the majority fit the theme of the title song "Just before Sunrise." Yet, they were haunting, often catchy and generally alluring. And I love it when popular composers more obscure pieces are highlighted by masters like Gunn. I enjoyed this CD more than "American Anthem" (his first.)
Customer Rating:
Summary: An honest try, but this is pretty square
Comment: You never know when classical crossover will work and when it won't. Nathan Gunn's voice is as suave and creamy as Thomas Hampson's, and he's nowhere near as mannered as Hampson often is when he attempts Broadway tunes. But somehow this CD doesn't strike sparks, in large part because Gunn is rhythmically stiff and emotionally square. When Broadway's "Grey Gardens" star Kristin Chenowerth jumps in for a few bars, one winces at the contrast between her natural feeling for pop and Gunn's bland imitation. I listened to the whole album, but one sample -- Billy Joel's "And So It Goes" --was embarrassing enough to kill all pleasure. Gunn has become the poster boy for "opera singers who go to the gym," but he doesn't play on his sexy media image. If anything, he should. These flat renditions need a lot mroe sexiness than he gives them with vocalism alone.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Opera singers should stay away from showtunes and pop songs
Comment: I LOVE musical theatre and I LOVE Opera. Unfortunately, opera singers usually cannot do musical theatre justice. There are very few opera singers that can sing musical theatre (Rise Stevens in her prime, Rodney Gilfry and Dawn Upshaw).The rest should stick to what they are trained to do. Gunn has a beautiful voice and he clearly knows to how convey feeling and emotion in this singing. However, his voice is simply too operatic for pop/showtune/standard repertoire.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mismatch
Comment: Lovely voice, but the song selections on this CD do not do it justice. I should have read the reviews before I made this purchase.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just Before Sunrise
Comment: Gene has a wonderful voice, very strong and clear. However, I don't really care for his selection of songs. Just not as enjoyable as I had expected.
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Editorial Reviews:
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American baritone Nathan Gunn has been earning kudos in the world of opera for his handsome voice and appealing looks in operas by Britten and Mozart and as Clyde Griffiths in the world premiere of Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy. For his solo debut album, however, he has turned his attention to a program of introspective contemporary songs by the likes of Sting, Tom Waits, Gene Scheer (better known as a librettist), Billy Joel, and others. He's assisted by Kristin Chenoweth in a song by John Bucchino and backed by prodigy jazz pianist Eldar on some cuts. The intimate arrangements throughout are by David Cullen. The songs are lovely: romantic, nostalgic, and gentle (Jimmy van Heusen's "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," a veritable Norman Rockwell painting in song, is included). Fans of easy listening will appreciate Gunn's nonchalant, pitch-perfect, thoroughly non-operatic renditions of them all. There is nothing classical about this release, however, and Gunn's true gifts are better heard in opera. --Robert Levine
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