My Love Unspoken

Leo Sowerby, whose loving sobriquet is "the Handel of Lake Michigan," lived most of his life in Chicago. He composed 550 works in all forms save ballet and opera and was the recipient of both the Pulitzer Prize and the Prix de Rome. His works were premiered by such illustrious musicians and Organizations as Serge Koussevitsky, E. Power Biggs, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, and the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras. His 122 songs, 21 of which are heard on this disc, composed between 1909 and 1966, straddle a critical transitional period in American art song history. His earliest songs reflect the parlor and sentimental styles that were prevalent in the first decades of this century. His compositional training and his beloved models were from the French school, rather than the more dominant German school that then held sway over American concert and educational life. But by the early 1920s Sowerby's personal and American voice, founded on his prairie roots, was clear in his songs. This unique voice is heard to magnificent effect in the lovely songs contained on this recording.