Michael Hoppé - The Lover: The Love Poetry Of Carl Sandburg - [CD]

Michael Hoppe and Tim Wheater

In 1997 keyboardist Michael Hoppe released The Poet: Romances for Cello, a music-meets-poetry collection that included a Carl Sandburg poem ("The Great Hunt"), accompanied by a 1926 photograph of Sandburg shot by Hoppe's grandfather, E.O. Hoppe. Descendants of the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner had not known of the photo's existence, leading the family and Hoppe to become acquainted and, ultimately, collaborators on this mostly spoken-word project. The Lover features 18 Sandburg poems, softly and thoughtfully read by flautist Tim Wheater (a longtime Hoppe colleague) in his handsome English baritone, and underscored with subdued (faint, even) audio backdrops shaped by Hoppe. Hoppe also drops in six gentle, chamberlike interludes, two of which feature longing, almost reverential soprano voicings. Thus the disc projects a hushed atmosphere and an earnest, intimate tone, though it is less about music and more about the poetry. A few of the selections, such as the lamenting "Mag," are unusual inclusions, yet the disc's overall impact is touching and, at times, memorable. The packaging, enhanced by a nice slipcase and a 28-page CD booklet (which includes the full text of all poems, plus notes from Sandburg biographer Penelope Niven), is first-rate, framing the moods and complexities of Sandburg's verse: "Love, with little hands / Comes and touches you / With a thousand memories, / And asks you / Beautiful, unanswerable questions." --Terry Wood