Ryan Leslie

Thomas Pasatieri is a highly respected composer, having provided many of the orchestrations for the major movie soundtrack scores by famous composers, as well as writing several fine operas to the American Composer repertory. His sense of compositional line is superb and he has the ability to marry musical line and text as well as any composer writing today.

This tremendously enjoyable disc features three of his works in a spectrum most of us are not used to hearing. His penchant for comedy and 'high drama' is fun and successful. 'Divas of a Certain Age' is a biting satire here sung by two fine singing actresses - Sheri Greenawald and Ashley Putnam - accompanied by Pasatieri on the piano. It is funny, sarcastic, witty, and thoroughly entertaining despite the brevity of the piece.

The major work on this recording is 'La Divina', a piece that is not only well composed and performed (Sheri Greenawald has the lead as the acerbic diva who practically destroys everyone in her path). The orchestral writing is echt Pasatieri with clever instrumentation and ornamentation, a solid composition on every level.

The final work is Pasatieri's 'Signor Deluso', a light opera buffo that gives a fresh group of singers form the Opera Company of Brooklyn a chance to display talent that is very promising indeed. This is a tasty little tidbit of type most associated with Donizetti and it comes off very well in comparison. This is a strong recording that deserves attention. Grady Harp, October 06