Dawn Upshaw sings Vernon Duke (Nonesuch)
The story of how Vladimir Alexandrovitch Dukelsky, born in a railway station near Minsk, became Vernon Duke, Broadway composer, is a fantastic and fascinating one, told with a suitably stylish assurance in the sleeve notes to this CD: one question the notes can't answer, of course, is why - despite a quartet of enduring hits, among them April in Paris and Autumn in New York - Duke never achieved more widespread popularity as a songwriter. Certainly the songs offer breathtaking technical difficulties - casual crooners need not apply - and complex harmonies, but when the luscious lines and oddball lyrics are spun out with sensitivity and artistry, as they are here by the soprano Dawn Upshaw, the results are startling, sophisticated and seductive. Pure joy for voice buffs, whatever style of music you're into.
By Arminta Wallace