Lucas Meachem: Shall We Gather
Rubicon Classics

Baritone Lucas Meachem brings an impressive list of credits to his debut solo album Shall We Gather. Among his accomplishments, the North Carolina-born singer has appeared in operas by Wagner, Puccini, Prokofiev, Britten, Mozart, Verdi, and Berlioz and given concert performances of Mahler, Fauré, and Orff. The release of Shall We Gather offers a magnificent sampling of his vocal artistry, with the singer joined by pianist Irina Meachem, who regularly performs with her husband in recitals. Fifteen art songs of markedly diverse style provide a compelling portrait of America's national character. All of the material is sung in English, which adds to the immediacy of the performances and the songs' collective plea for a better and more tolerant world.

The polite formality of the album title's entreaty is belied by the fervency of Meachem's heartfelt expression. Throughout the recording, he invests himself fully into the songs as he distills their essence into a well-considered interpretative approach. In some cases, he sings with stentorian force; in the album's most poignant settings, his delivery is tremulous, his voice fragile. Included on the fifty-three-minute set are Charles Ives' arrangement of “In the Mornin',” Arthur Farwell's “Song of the Deathless Voice,” and “The Boatman's Dance” and “At the River” from Aaron Copland's Old American Songs. Material by Florence Price (“Night”), Carrie Jacob-Bonds (“A Perfect Day”), Stephen Foster (“Hard Times Come Again No More”), William Grant Still (“Grief”), Ricky Ian Gordon (“We Will Always Walk Together”), and Kurt Weill (“Beat! Beat! Drums!” from Four Walt Whitman Songs) appears alongside Gene Scheer's “American Anthem” and Jake Heggie's “That Moment On,” the latter two album standouts. Whether declaiming loudly or at a hush, Meachem's engagement is never less than captivating.

The yearning articulated movingly in the traditional folk song “Oh, Shenandoah” extends across the recording, not only for nature but, as Dan Ruccia states in liner notes, for “a more just and equal society, pursued through actions large and small.” Through his thoughtful curation, Meachem offers hope for America and the resilience of its people, and despite there being so much over which to despair the performances constantly uplift and inspire. Myriad forces might have wrenched us apart, but the potential to gather remains, as does the call to community. Such a message is profoundly embodied in the opening song, Scheer's “American Anthem,” which stirs with the beauty and passion of Meachem's open-hearted performance (“Let me know in my heart when my days are through, America, I gave my best to you.”). Here and throughout the release, Irina complements his voice with exemplary accompaniment; always supportive, her playing often opts for understatement, which proves all the more powerful for its restraint.

Whereas Meachem delivers Still's “Grief,” its setting a cemetery with a weeping angel, Price's “Night,” Foster's lament “Hard Times Come Again No More,” and Gordon's lyrical “We Will Always Walk Together” with characteristic sensitivity, Weill's fervent call to action “Beat! Beat! Drums!” is delivered with gusto. The baritone's tender side comes to the fore in John Musto's “Litany,” where Langston Hughes' words—“Gather up / In the arms of your pity / The sick, the depraved, / The desperate, the tired…”—echo the familiar text at the base of the Statue of Liberty, even if in this case the words refer to denizens of the city itself that has failed them. If Copland's arrangement of Dan Emmett's “The Boatman's Dance” endears for its celebratory spirit, his arrangement of Robert Lowry's “At the River” is affecting for the earnestness of its hope for deliverance.

It's the rendering of “That Moment On” from Songs of 9/11 that is the album's most poignant, however. Set to words by Gene Scheer, the sense of personal loss incurred by the event is devastatingly captured, and the fragility of the vocal and Heggie's stirring writing combine for a performance of almost unbearable intensity; the gently trilling motif voiced gracefully by the pianist also adds to the impact. Rare is the recording that can bring tears to one's eyes, yet Shall We Gather has the capacity to do so not once but repeatedly. In featuring voice and piano only, the recording grows in impact for the heartfelt sincerity of its expression.

October 2021