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Title: Confused
Review: I have the Sarah Walker recording of Berio's Folksongs, but I wanted to hear Berberian's interpretation, as the songs were arranged for her. What a shock: terribly annoying voice, intrusive accent in the English numbers, embarrassing pronunciation of Italian and Russian, and shallow, formulaic over-acting. Berberian fans would do well to check out Sarah Walker: gorgeous voice, careful and elegant pronunciation, exquisite phrasing -- and, in dramatic numbers, powerful acting. In addition, for all those who appreciate Berio, Henze, and other "modern" music composers, Walker has done her share, not only Berio and Henze, but also Maw, Tippett, Taverner -- and the older composers from Monteverdi through Wagner (she has the best hoy-yo-to-jo of them all.)
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