Renée Fleming: Sacred Songs

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Amazon.com This lovely CD features Renée Fleming singing religious music in an unaffected, lovely manner. Many favorites are here: both the Bach/Gounod and Schubert versions of "Ave Maria," each offered with long breaths and soft tone; "Rejoice Greatly" from Messiah, delivered with virtuosity and gleaming sound, and "He Shall Feed His Flock," also from Messiah, sung in a smooth, laid-back manner. Bits of the Fauré Requiem and Poulenc Gloria are welcome, as is the gorgeous "L'Adieu des Bergers" from L'Enfance du Christ. In the prayer from Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel, Fleming is joined by the splendid Susan Graham. Two excerpts from Mozart's Mass in C Minor, pieces by Reger and Franck, and a few surprises round out this devotional CD. Robert Levine

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01. Ave Maria _ Charles Gounod
02. Jesu bleibet meine Freude _ Johann Sebastian Bach
03. Dank sei dir, Herr _ Siegfried Ochs
04. Ave Maria, D839 _ Franz Schubert
05. Laudamus te _ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
06. Panis Angelicus _ Cesar Franck
07. Air: "He shall feed his Flock" _ George Frideric Handel
08. Simple Song _ Leonard Bernstein
09. Pie Jesu _ Gabriel Faure
10. Domine Deus _ Francis Poulenc
11. Laudate Dominum omnes gentes _ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
12. Air: Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion _ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
13. Abends will ich schlafen gehn _ Engelbert Humperdinck
14. L'Adieu des bergers _ Hector Berlioz
15. Mariä Wiegenlied, Op.76/52 _ Max Reger