''Love Sublime'' is an album by

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, touring and recording while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's quar ...

and

Renée Fleming Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano and actress, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nom ...

Background

Prior to this album,

had built a reputation as a jazz pianist, particularly with his trio. Soprano

was known for "her operatic performances and recitals of classical art songs". Mehldau's playing often encompassed classical music, while Fleming was interested in being a jazz vocalist from her time at college.

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

wrote the poems collected in '' The Book of Hours'' around the turn of the twentieth century. Mehldau worked on the music for around two years. He and Fleming performed all of the tracks at Zankel Hall.

Music and recording

Poems from Rilke's ''The Book of Hours'' were used. New, free translations into English were employed. Other tracks were based on some of the ''Blue Estuaries'' poems of

Louise Bogan Louise Bogan ( – ) was an American poet. She was appointed the fourth Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress in 1945, and was the first woman to hold this title.. Throughout her life she wrote poetry, fiction, and criticism, and became the ...

; these were written in

strophe A strophe () is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of var ...

s. The title track was written by Fleurine. All of the music was either composed or "well-prepared if not entirely written".Witherden, Barry (January 20, 2012
"Mehldau"
BBC Music Magazine. Mehldau's "settings capture the sense of Rilke's spiritual solitude and existential dread, transfixing the poet's struggle with belief in a steely light that illuminates his final declaration of faith as clearly as his doubts and fears." "Some of the most striking effects are achieved with bleak, chiming chords, evoking Messiaen, but Mehldau parallels the poets' most involved images with passages of close-packed counterpoint and dense chording." There are some links between the lyrical content and the music: "In 'Tears in Sleep', for example, the vocal line slides over slippery harmonies, suggesting dreamy restlessness."Farach-Colton, Andre
"Love Sublime"
Gramophone. Retrieved May 23, 2016.

Release and reception

The album was released by

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Nonesuch ...

on June 27, 2006.Goldberg, Joe (August 3, 2006) "When Classical Meets Jazz". ''Wall Street Journal''. p. D5. Opinions were split partly on genre lines. ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

'' reviewer stated "Jazz buyers beware", while the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' concluded that "Opera and jazz might seem to be polar opposites, but on this album ..they blend brilliantly."Hobart, Mike (July 15, 2006
"CDs & DVDs"
''Financial Times''. ''

Gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

'' asserted that "Fleming sings with plush tone and deep feeling, often sacrificing textual clarity in the process, and her swoops and swoons help bring out the connections to jazz."

Track listing

# The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God: Your First Word Was "Light" (Mehldau/Rilke) – 5:28 # The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God: The Hour Is Striking So Close Above Me (Mehldau/Rilke) – 5:09 # The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God: I Love the Dark Hours of My Being (Mehldau/Rilke) – 4:35 # The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God: I Love You, Gentlest of Ways (Mehldau/Rilke) – 7:02 # The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God: No One Lives His Life (Mehldau/Rilke) – 2:36 # The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God: His Caring Is a Nightmare to Us (Mehldau/Rilke) – 2:31 # The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God: Extinguish My Eyes, I'll Go On Seeing You (Mehldau/Rilke) – 6:13 # The Blue Estuaries: Tears in Sleep (Mehldau/Bogan) – 2:31 # The Blue Estuaries: Memory (Mehldau/Bogan) – 3:25 # The Blue Estuaries: A Tale (Mehldau/Bogan) – 4:28 # Love Sublime (Mehldau/Fleurine) – 4:20

Personnel

– piano *

– vocals

Background

Music and recording

Release and reception

Track listing

Personnel

References

Further reading