 

Five years following the release of
Meredith Braun's critically acclaimed debut album 'Someone Else's Story',
Meredith returns with her new solo album, 'When Love Is Gone'. The
title for the release comes from the Paul Williams song Meredith
performed in the iconic film 'The Muppet Christmas Carol', which
celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Meredith's new 2017 recording of
'When Love Is Gone' marks the first time she has performed the song since
recording the original version for the 1992 film soundtrack.
'When Love Is Gone'
takes the form of a narrative song cycle, based around both specially selected
material and original songs. The material featured ranges from musical theatre
to singer-songwriter ballads, brought together by Meredith's own self-penned and
elegantly crafted musical arrangements. Written and recorded between November
2016 and July 2017, the album highlights Braun's musicality, not just as a
performer but also as a musician and writer as she embraces a wide range of
musical styles and genres across the recording. Meredith is accompanied on the
cello by her son, 13 year-old Tiger Braun-White, a student at the Royal Academy
of Music and holder of both the Leverhulme and ABRSM scholarships. Speaking
about the new album, Meredith commented:
"Words make you think a
thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought."
- Yip Harburg.
"When Love Is Gone" encompasses all the elements of music theatre that
I love. 15 years ago I performed a one-woman play with songs at the National
Theatre Studio - 'Cordelia'. It was written for me by the award-winning
playwright and lyricist Stephen Clark. I have taken this concept of a
narrative song cycle into "When Love Is Gone". Primarily, it is the
story of an 'Everywoman' who is living through a painful and difficult
relationship. The narrative is driven by both the excerpts and the lyric but the
music and the arrangements expand and heighten the experience and, I hope,
elucidate the issues."
Songs featured include a
heart-rending interpretation of Stephen Sondheim's 'With So Little To Be
Sure Of', a rare and unique cover of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'There's
Me' (from the original production of 'Starlight Express', arr. James
McConnel) Barry Manilow's evocatively tragic composition 'Sandra'
and the premiere studio recording of Agnetha Faltskog's powerful and
passionate solo ABBA song 'I'm Still Alive'. New material is
represented by two compositions written by Meredith ('Hold Me' and
'Everything That's Me') and 'The Rules', a
hauntingly dramatic original song written especially for the album by musical
theatre writers Stephen Keeling and Shaun McKenna.
Recorded
at Goldsmiths Music Studios, London
January - July 2017
WHEN
LOVE IS GONE - THE NARRATIVE
'When Love
Is Gone' tells the story of women in controlling relationships -
click the link to follow the story as you listen to the songs. Read
More...
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THE NEW ALBUM RELEASED
NOVEMBER 10th 2017
PRE-ORDER: AMAZON
| ITUNES
1. REAL EMOTIONAL GIRL
(Randy
Newman) [LISTEN]
2. THERE'S ME (Andrew Lloyd
Webber / Richard Stilgoe)
[LISTEN]
(from 'Starlight Express')
3. THAT'S THE WAY I'VE ALWAYS HEARD IT SHOULD BE
(Carly Simon / Jacob Brackman)
4. WITH SO LITTLE TO BE SURE OF (Stephen
Sondheim) [LISTEN]
(from 'Anyone Can Whistle')
5. THE RULES (Stephen Keeling / Shaun
McKenna)
6. IF LOVE WERE ALL
(Noel Coward)
(from 'Bitter Sweet')
7. SANDRA
(Barry
Manilow / Enoch Anderson)
8. HOLD ME (Meredith Braun)
[LISTEN]
9. TRY TO REMEMBER / NO MORE
(Tom Jones / Harvey Schmidt - Stephen Sondheim) [LISTEN]
(from 'The Fantasticks' / 'Into The Woods')
10. WHEN LOVE IS GONE (Paul
Williams)
(from 'The Muppet Christmas Carol')
11. EVERYTHING THAT'S ME
(Meredith
Braun)
12. I'M STILL ALIVE (Agnetha
Faltskog / Bjorn Ulvaeus)
[LISTEN]
13. OLD FRIEND (Nancy Ford /
Gretchen Cryer) [LISTEN]
(from 'I'm Getting My Act Together And Taking It On The Road')
14. COME THE WILD, WILD WEATHER
(Noel Coward)
(from 'Waiting In The Wings')
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