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Whilst we love the Nonesuch releases of last year, SFCollective and its ‘companion’ Joshua Redman Elastic Band’s Momentum, I was not prepared for the duo of Mehldau (piano) and Fleming (soprano). That’s soprano voice, not sax!

Ms. Fleming is from the classical world you see. And while I’m all for cross-genre experimentation, this is probably a step too far for me. Mehldau wrote all the music for his solo piano performance and it is sounds very classical Radio 3. Equally, Fleming’s voice is so ‘pure’ Opera I can’t make out a word she’s singing.

Now that doesn’t mean it’s a bad album, I just found it hard work. Having said that, I guess I’ve probably enjoyed this album more than I would the pop/jazz ballad cover version set Haunted Heart she did last year as a trio with Bill Frisell (guitar) and Fred Hersch (piano).

This album is like a Part II to Mehldau’s earlier solo album Elegiac Cycle which was based on the writings of early-20th-century poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Fleming was fan of this album and was the catalyst for the new one when she got Carnegie Hall to commission the work based a poetry book by Rilke’s The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God. Fleming in turn gave Mehldau the book, The Blue Estuaries by American poet Louise Bogan which was the inspiration for three more songs. The CD ends with the title track, which is typical of the album as a whole.

It think I’d have enjoyed Love Sublime better if we’d had some strings to give the music a little more variety. But there we are, not exactly a Love Supreme then, but something to work on. Even if they’d included Nirvana’s ‘Lithium’ and Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’ as they did before the World Premiere of Songs from The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God it would have helped. Check out the ‘Listen Again’ on the NPR site (see links below) and I’ll get back to my usual jazzy hip-hop electro folky dub comfort zone.

Brad Brad Mehldau & Renée Fleming - Love Sublime (Nonesuch) Cat. No. 75559 799 522 Release Date: 26th June 2006
Songs from The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God (Mehldau/Words by Rainer Maria Rilke)
I. Your First Word Was Light
II. The Hour Is Striking So Close Above Me
III. I Love the Dark Hours of My Being
IV. I Love You, Gentlest of Ways
V. No One Lives His Life
VI His Caring Is A Nightmare To Us
VII. Extinguish My Eyes, I’ll Go on Seeing You
Songs from The Blue Estuaries (Mehldau/Words by Louise Bogan)
8. Tears In Sleep
9. Memory
10. A Tale
11. Love Sublime (Mehldau/Words by Fleurine)

Links:
renee-fleming.com
www.bradmehldau.com
Renée Fleming: Haunted Heart
Creators at Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall: 6th Sept 2006 [Listen Again Available]
www.nonesuch.com Nonesuch’s background is interesting as in 1963, Jac Holzman (of Elektra Records) wanted to set up a label specialisied in classical music where records were as cheap to buy as classic literature in paperback.