Paul Shoemaker

Naxos has collected its four volume traversal of the lute music into a handy slipcase. All the volumes are available singly, but you can also buy the four together as a quartet of excellence, presided over by Nigel North, the acknowledged hero of the hour. What follows is a reprise of two volumes already reviewed - volumes 1 and 3 - and a look at volumes 2 and 4.

American composer Dominick Argento is known for music for the voice: opera, choral music, art song. Long associated with the University of Minnesota, he has attracted commissions from singers and ensembles from all over the U.S. and Europe. After serving in World War II, Argento studied composition with Nicolas Nabokov at the Peabody Conservatory and with Baltimore composer Hugo Weisgall. At Peabody, he finished undergraduate studies in 1951 and took a Master of Music degree in 1954, studying with Henry Cowell, among others. Argento also studied in Florence on three Fulbright fellowships, working with Dallapiccola, who influenced his use of 12-tone techniques. He had a lifelong affection for the city ……..
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