One of the most celebrated basses of his time, Ramey is renowned for his portrayals of epic operatic figures such as Don Giovanni, Boris Godunov and -- in Gounod's Faust, Boito's Mefistofele and Berlioz' Le Damnation de Faust -- the evil Mephistopheles. He is also an experienced recitalist, and the performance from which this recording was drawn led the critic for Le Figaro to write, "Samuel Ramey is without a doubt one of the greatest virtuoso basses of this century."

The program includes four songs by Samuel Barber ("Sea-Snatch", "I Hear an Army", "Sure on This Shining Night" and "Bessie Bobtail"); four by Charles Tomlinson Griffes ("Evening Song", "An Old Song Re-sung", "The Lament of Ian the Proud" and "Song of the Dagger"); five by Paul Bowles ("They Cannot Stop Death" and the four-song cycle "Blue Mountain Ballads"); three by Stephen Foster ("If You've Only Got a Moustache", "Gentle Annie" and "Don't Bet Your Money on the Shanghai"); four by George Gershwin ("Nice Work if You Can Get It", "They All Laughed", "Embraceable You" and "Just Another Rhumba") and four by Cole Porter ("Blow, Gabriel, Blow", "Begin the Beguine", "The Tale of the Oyster" and "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye").

Ramey's recent operatic schedule included the role of King Philip in Verdi's Don Carlo with Lyric Opera of Chicago, followed by the four villains in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann in San Francisco Opera and -- at the Metropolitan Opera -- the Verdi Requiem and Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust.

Ramey recently appeared on Sony Classical's recording of the musical Man of La Mancha (SK 46436) and can also be heard on complete Sony Classical recordings of Boito's Mefistofele (S2K 44938), Verdi's Aida (S3K 45973), Rossini's The Barber of Seville (S3K 37862), Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (S3K 58977) and the musical Kismet (SK 46438).