AMERICAN SONG RECITAL - AMERICAN SONG RECITALChannel Classics Records has taken a first-rate initiative in giving winners of important international music competitions the opportunity to record a CD in the Winning Artists Series. This CD, with fairly unknown American songs, is part of the above series. Other than a piece by Hundley, the remaining 22 songs are based on texts by American writers.Richard Hundley s songs are beautiful and his compositions true to the texts on which they are based. All the emotions found in the texts are expanded in the compositions to ensure that the story comes through clearly and is not lost in the music. Lori Laitman was specifically asked by Lauren Wagner to compose a song. She chose a text by Sara Teasdale and the CD is worth owning for this song alone: magnificent! Another plus to this production is that the source and full text of the songs are in the CD book.In addition to songs, a number of piano solos have been recorded. Those of Leonard Bernstein are not very well known, but very much worth listening to. He composed these works for friends, relatives and colleagues. They are concise, very complete compositions.The fact that Lauren Wagner won four important prizes in 1991 is also not surprising. This singer possesses incredible timbre, has a beautiful, controlled voice and sings with incredible ease. Her music is truly a pleasure to hear. Her accompanist Fred Weldy matches her level of skill easily. This CD is definitely a worthwhile addition to your collection.Translated from the Dutch review in Phonogram Magazine, 1994.