Composer/guitarist/baritone Frank Wallace and soprano Nancy Knowles have been performing together as Duo Live Oak (and before that as Trio Live Oak) for years and have built quite a following for their unique programs that often include original works by Wallace, either for solo guitar or for voice. This one features an entire Wallace program, with several texts provided by Knowles, the rest by various poets, primarily 20th-century American Theodore Roethke. Wallace adds a couple of his solo-guitar works--one is a sort of demonstration-piece, the other is for guitar and dancer, written for the composer's son.

The songs are all well suited to Knowles' clear, warm-colored, wide-ranging soprano, and the musical settings reveal a strong focus on long-lined, lyrical melody. The guitar accompaniments obviously were conceived by one who not only knows the instrument, but is a master of it. Wallace uses articulation effects that exploit the instrument's multi-faceted technical and timbral possibilities--and indeed the guitar parts are an equal partner with the voice, supportive but often highly independent melodically and rhythmically (and often very busy). There's also a fascinating array of styles and influences at play here--none of which dominates or even presents itself for very long--but Spanish, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and especially the polyphonic lute-song style of Dowland are happily evident and effectively employed. Wallace even manages to work in a tune by Machaut among the lines of his opening song, Pearly Everlasting, a tribute to the duo's late performing partner John Fleagle, its text written by Knowles.

Although there are some fine songs here--Bestiary, settings of six animal poems by Roethke and Knowles, is best, for its engaging characterizations and colorful descriptive effects--several don't meld music and words so convincingly. For example, in "Her Words" the running figurations in the accompaniment and the rhythmic scheme in the melody don't always accommodate the changing emphases of the text, causing certain words and phrases to sound forced or just awkward. Knowles' "Pearly Everlasting" is one of those free-verse poems whose inherent musical quality resists any attempt to impress it with actual notes. In other words, it works better as a poem--Wallace's meandering lines are more distracting than illuminating. Nevertheless, this very well recorded and expertly performed program is welcome if only for the adventurousness and skill exemplified by both of these dedicated and personable artists in a field of music all too rarely appreciated by public and record companies.

--David Vernier