Album: Bach/Bernstein/Blitzstein, Carpentersville – Lucy Schaufer (ABC Classics)

Schaufer is the go-to gal for contemporary opera, an esteemed performer of Adams, Birtwistle and Knussen.

This feisty set of mostly American songs reveals another side. There's yearning (Blitzstein's "I Wish it So"), sass (Bernstein's "100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man"), sauce (Ruth Wallis's "Dinghy Song"), sorrow (Bach's "Erbarme Dich", with its backdrop of falling rain), and even a cookie recipe. A sharp, witty, heart-on-sleeve recital.