Maureen Cochoni

Deutsche Grammophon has delved into its vaults to reissue the very first "complete" studio recording of Handel's Serse. (Absent are one recitative and the B section of Serse's aria "Più che penso," crossed out in Handel's autograph score.) Recorded in 1965 and originally issued on the Westminster label, this fine performance has never been available on CD, nor has it previously been issued complete on LP outside of the United States.

This is, quite simply, one of the most splendid Handel opera recordings ever made. We owe a debt of gratitude to DG/Universal for reissuing this much-admired Westminster recording from 1965. The opera itself is one of Handel's finest; a late work magically integrating farce and pathos, and filled with an abundance of brilliant invention remarkable even for Handel. Priestman does full justice to the kaleidoscopic shifts of mood, affect, idiom and orchestration that makes this work a viable musical entertainment today no less than in 1738. Though Priestman's Viennese forces play modern instruments, the conductor obviously has a solid understanding of Baroque performance practice (according to the musicological priorities of his day)…

Mercury's 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Maureen McGovern bypasses most of the artist's cabaret and classical offerings, focusing instead on the breezy pop and folk that she perfected during the mid-'70s. Known primarily for her 1973 Oscar-winning smash hit ("The Morning After") from The Poseidon Adventure, McGovern released a number of other singles during the period that failed to chart as high – a number one debut is a tough act to follow.

Maureen Budway's Sweet Candor is a masterclass in style and elegance. A former editor once gave me some sage advice about interjecting too much personal opinion unless there was some relevance to the release. Sweet Candor is the first release from Budway and sadly the last as this lyrical warrior lost her twenty year fight with cancer. I too am fighting cancer but this is not a sad occasion as Budway delivers an exemplary performance moving effortlessly through a variety of genres with a range most singers can only hope they achieve…

Canadian composer Clifford Crawley (1929-2016) is known for his command of a wide range of styles and the way he used them for both serious and playful purposes. He often said that he wrote for performers and audiences, hoping to move them, to reach them not just intellectually but as feelingful and imaginative people. To this end, he often draws on familiar elements, such as well-known dance idioms, that he inflects in highly original ways. Most of the works on this recording demonstrate Cliff’s genius in writing miniature forms, making impactful statements in short movements.

Maureen McGovern was a secretary when she was hired by Russ Regan to sing the theme from the movie The Poseidon Adventure in 1973. It was a #1 hit. The following year, McGovern sang the theme from The Towering Inferno, "We May Never Love Like This Again," which was not a hit, though it did win an Academy Award. McGovern went on to other movie themes, then distanced herself from such work, appearing on Broadway in The Pirates of Penzance. She built a reputation as a sophisticated pop singer to the point that she was able to headline at Carnegie Hall by the '90s, singing show music and standards by George Gershwin and other songwriters