Brueggergosman first came to my attention at the December 31, 1999 New Year's Eve Concert at Roy Thomson Hall, when some of this country's greatest artists gathered to see us into the new millennium. She was good then, but now her voice has achieved a full, resonant, yet mellow timbre that far exceeds her age. I think, based on the CD, So Much To Tell, which is being reviewed here, I can say without hesitation, "Meash Brueggergosman has arrived." We need no longer remark on her youth, but simply concentrate from now on, on her performances.

So Much To Tell, a CBC Records disc, features an all American line-up. Brueggergosman understands the music that comes out of this continent. One is so happy to hear such well-sung tracks of music that one has considered some of the finest for a long time, but that is always being pushed aside by our Eurocentric society that looks down on American classics.

Working with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra under Roy Goodman, Brueggergosman inspires the listener to want to hear much more of this kind of music. Whether she sings the eight Copland/Dickinson songs, Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer 1915 set to words by James Agee (the American writer and poet, who was born in Knoxville, and who to most people is known as the scriptwriter of The African Queen), three songs by George Gershwin, or a traditional spiritual, Brueggergosman captures the inner spirit of the music and interprets it as very few present-day singers are able to do.

I find that the more I listen to this CD, the more I want to hear it. Aside from the beauty of Brueggergosman's voice and excellent phrasing, this music is so filled with what we should all aspire to, namely a higher sense of the world around us. It is honest music, without pretense, and also, in Gershwin's case, filled with humour and a sense of fun, deriving in part out of his brother Ira's lyrics.

There is only one instrumental piece on the CD, Barber's Serenade for Strings, Opus 1, which he composed in 1928, but arranged for strings (the version heard on this CD) in 1944. It complements the other selections well, and builds a perfect bridge to the selections by Gershwin: Embraceable You, By Strauss, and I've Got a Crush on You. And from there, the hop is easy to the spiritual, Were You there when they Crucified my Lord? Brueggergosman sings it a cappella and with such deep conviction, it cannot fail, but move you, for she has So much to tell.