Track Listing

1. I Dream of Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair
2. Hard Times (Come Again No More)
3. The Voice of Bygone Days
4. Foster Favorites Medley: Ring, Ring the Banjo/Oh! Susanna/Camptown ...
5. Open Thy Lattice, Love
6. Beautiful Dreamer
7. That's What's the Matter
8. Old Home Medley: Old Folks at Home/My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night
9. Molly! Do You Love Me?
10. Sweetly She Sleeps, My Alice Fair
11. Comrades, Fill No Glass for Me
12. Dancing on the River: Nelly Bly/The Glendy Burk/Angelina Baker
13. My Wife Is a Most Knowing Woman
14. Gentle Annie
15. Linger in Blissful Repose
16. Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18785 in Music
• Released on: 1992-10-20
• Number of discs: 1

Miami Herald, Lawrence Johnson, July 1st, 2007
This delightful, artfully chosen and smartly arranged collection transports the listener to the mid-19th century parlor with the baritone's wonderfully supple and characterful singing.

Customer Reviews

a wonderful cd
American Dreamer: Songs of Stephen Foster; Thomas Hampson; Jay Unger; Molly Mason This is simply a wonderful cd. I have two copies one for home and one for the car.Hampson not only sings these songs beautifully,he caresses the words. Not since john Mc cormack has a vocalist had such a way with telling a story in music.

It's Dreamy
This is a very wonderful recording of Stephen Foster by a master singer.
Foster's songs are of a more innocent and naive time in the American psyche, a time that it would not hurt us to remember, given the wretched brutality of American culture today (something you'll appreciate after listening to this recording).

The songs are beautifully sung by Mr. Hamspon, and the musical accompaniment with piano, mandolin, tuba, banjo, etc. seems a perfect setting for this period music. I enjoyed the musical interludes of Foster songs (not sung by Mr. Hampson), such as "Oh, Suzanna", "My Old Kentucky Home", and "Camptown Races." They are foot-stompin' and finger-snappin' good in a non-syncopated way.

Mr. Hampson's voice is so beautiful, and he has done such a wonderful job with these song's you'll just have to hear it, and when you do, tell me that you're not dreaming.

I remember reading a quote by John Phillip Sousa that decried the use of syncopation in American popular music. I never understood it until listening to this recording. The richness and intensity of American popular music (as experienced in the work of Stephen Foster) has been lost.
Everything has to be so cool today, thanks to syncopation, and "cool" really means no emotion.

If emotion is what you want, emotion is what you'll get with Stephen Foster's songs. It was a time when the death of loved ones (especially those who died in their youth) was experienced more often (see "I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair" and "Gentle Annie"). And we were not protected from the vicissitudes of fate by myriad government programs, modern medicine and universal prosperity (see "Hard Times").
Husbands and wives had their differences then, as today, (see the amusing song "My Wife is a Most Knowin' Woman") The passion of the Civil War (Foster was a Unionist),is reflected in a wonderful, fun song, "That's What's the Matter."

If you love good music, and you have heart which can be stirred, and you love your country, this is for you.

I love this recording. It has opened up the door to my "beautiful dreams," dreams of bygone days, lost love, and whatever else we pine for.

I wanted to buy several copies for my friends, but somehow I felt that the impact of this recording was so personal, that it could not be shared with others. Not that they couldn't enjoy it, but that I could not begin to share the intense emotion and reverie stirred in my heart by these beautiful songs.

My Favorite Composer of all time
Growing up playing his stuff on piano, I love the instrumentality of this CD..the violins give off that wail that he speaks of..I am not sure what it is about Stephen Foster but these verses..grab me like no other..there is so much sensitivity to it..

I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair
Born like a vapor on the summer air
I see her tripping where the bright streams play
Happy as the daisies that dance on her way
Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour

but the violins in this CD make this CD the best out there..
FYI should you be into astrology Stephen Foster is definition of Cancer...Sun and Moon conjunct in Cancer with mars in Scorpio..i love his lyrics..almost to the point of obsession..