Lincoln comes to life in Michael Daugherty’s perfectly pitched new work

... All the more reason then to celebrate Michael Daugherty’s Letters from  Lincoln. The song cycle was premiered by Thomas Hampson and the Spokane Symphony in February, 2009, and is here revealed not only as one of Daugherty’s best works but as one of the finest historically inspired works to come from any American composer in years.

Thomas Hampson is without peer in this American-flavoured repertoire and strikes an easy balance of vocal strength, expressive phrasing and rustic charm while avoiding pomposity. The Spokane Symphony plays very well indeed for music director Eckart Preu.

Anton Webern('s) Langsamer Satz and the darker, more brooding chromaticism of Im Sommerwind complementing the Daugherty work and here given evocative, atmospheric performances by Preu and the orchestra.

What they say:

"The [Schoenberg] 'Serenade'…, conducted by Eckart Preu, was just about ideal, one of those rare performances in which precision and sheer musical joy unite as inseparable allies."

''Eckart isn't interested in standard repertoire names, what astonishes him is discovering the riches of the repertory. Instead of doing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, he might do the ''Joachim'' Concerto. Instead of doing a Brahms symphony he might do a Hartmann symphony. He has a tremendously winning personality,'' he added. A lot of people in this business are narcissists. He doesn't get caught up in its theatricality.''

Leon Botstein, Music Director American Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony 

"What was most remarkable about Preu's approach to this symphonic poem was, well, the poetry. His delivery was not merely a gush of pretty melodies or the technicolor bombast of its heroic sections. What happened instead was a carefully measured unfolding of descriptive music... The logic of the transformation of a tiny grain of an opening melodic idea through Liszt's amazing contrasts was beautifully handled."

The Spokesman Review 2009