Heart's Music

• Main performer: David Diamond
• Time: 67:07
• Release Date: 2006

Review

Soon after David Diamond's death in 2005, composer and conductor Jack Stamp assembled this CD as a memorial tribute, including both Diamond's music and music written in his honor. Stamp conducts the Keystone Wind Ensemble in Diamond's Heart's Music (1989) and Tantivy (1987), both written at Stamp's instigation, and the brief Ceremonial Fanfare (1950). All are attractive and skillfully written pieces, but Tantivy stands out for its wit and inventiveness. Jack Stamp's tribute, Variations on a Bach Chorale, displays his mentor's influence in its compositional ingenuity. The bulk of the CD is devoted to Diamond's songs, performed by soprano Mary Logan Hastings, baritone Curt Scheib, and pianist Jan Halmes. The songs, which set an extremely wide range of writers, from Shakespeare to Marilyn Monroe, are well written for the voice but rarely take wing, due partly to a lack of memorable melodies and partly to the stolidity of most of the accompaniments. The quality of the recordings, made under a number of diverse circumstances, varies considerably, from a slightly grainy sound for the songs to a clean, bright sound for the wind ensemble pieces. ~ Stephen Eddins, All Music Guide

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
David Diamond	Hearts Music	4:50
David Diamond	Tantivy, for band	9:18
David Diamond	Ceremonial Fanfare	1:45
Eric Whitacre	October, for symphonic wind orchestra	7:43
Jack Stamp	Variations on a Bach Chorale	9:40
David Diamond	My Spirit Will Not Haunt the Mound, for voice & piano	2:45
David Diamond	On Death, for voice & piano	3:38
David Diamond	Full Fathom Five, for voice & piano	1:37
David Diamond	This World Is Not My Home, for voice & piano	1:09
David Diamond	A Flower Given to My Daughter, for voice & piano	1:22
David Diamond	No More Dams, for voice & piano	1:52
David Diamond	While You Here Do Snoring Lie (for Aaron Copland), for voice & piano	0:49
David Diamond	Anniversary in a Country Cemetery, for voice & piano	2:48
David Diamond	Sister Jane, for voice & piano	0:53
David Diamond	For an Old Man, for voice & piano	1:02
David Diamond	Epitaph, for voice & piano	1:59
David Diamond	Music, When Soft Voices Die, for voice & piano	1:02
David Diamond	Brigid's Song, for voice & piano	1:25
David Diamond	Don't Cry, for voice & piano	1:05
David Diamond	To Lucasta, for voice & piano	2:01
David Diamond	Billy in the Darbies, for voice & piano	3:24
David Diamond	A Portrait, for voice & piano	1:13
David Diamond	Lift Not the Painted Veil, for voice & piano	3:47