Decca Gold: Anthony Roth Costanzo & Justin Vivian Bond — Only an Octave Apart — Audio CD

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• UPC: 602438909438
• Catalog Number: 00602438909438
• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Decca Gold (Decca Records US / Universal Music)
• Artists: Anthony Roth Costanzo, Justin Vivian Bond
• Release Year: 2022
• Genre: Vocal / Crossover
• Style: Classical-pop crossover, cabaret, art song

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Total runtime: approx. 55 minutes
• Made in: EU
• Condition: Brand new, factory sealed

Overview

A countertenor and a cabaret legend walk into a recording studio — and what comes out is one of the more delightful crossover records in years. Anthony Roth Costanzo, the Met Opera star, and Justin Vivian Bond, downtown New York's reigning cabaret performer, are "only an octave apart" in vocal range, and they use that closeness to braid opera and pop into the same breath.

The trick is in the medleys. Purcell's "Dido's Lament" slides into Dido's "White Flag." "Walk Like an Egyptian" meets music from Philip Glass's Akhnaten. "Autumn Leaves" leans into Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up." High and low, ancient and recent — the pairings are witty but never cheap, and the two voices genuinely listen to each other.

It closes on Queen and Bowie's "Under Pressure," which tells you exactly the spirit of the thing: serious musicianship worn lightly. Born from their celebrated St. Ann's Warehouse run, this is a studio document of a show that critics adored. Released on Decca Gold in 2022, around 55 minutes.

Interesting Facts

• The album grew out of a sold-out stage show at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn in 2021, later presented at the New York Philharmonic.
• Anthony Roth Costanzo is best known for the title role in Philip Glass's opera Akhnaten at the Metropolitan Opera, which feeds the "Egyptian Sun" medley here.
• Justin Vivian Bond is a Tony-nominated performer celebrated for the Kiki and Herb cabaret act and a fixture of New York's downtown scene.
• The title refers to the roughly octave gap between Costanzo's countertenor and Bond's voice — close enough to blend, far enough to play off each other.
• The track "Didos" fuses Purcell's 17th-century "Dido's Lament" with the British pop singer Dido's 2003 hit "White Flag."

Track Listing

1. Autumn Leaves
2. Egyptian Sun (Walk Like an Egyptian / Hymn to the Sun Medley)
3. Deh Placatevi con me / Don't Give Up Medley
4. Two Charming Fairies (One Charming Night / There Are Faeries at the Bottom of Our Garden Medley)
5. Didos (Dido's Lament / White Flag Medley)
6. Two Meadowlarks
7. The Waters of March
8. Über Allen Gipfeln ist Ruh
9. Double Rainbow (I'm Always Chasing Rainbows / Rainbow Sleeves Medley)
10. Stars
11. Me and My Shadow
12. Under Pressure

Publishers

A Decca Gold release, ℗© 2022 Decca Records US, a division of UMG Recordings. Made in the EU. Catalog number 00602438909438.

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