Unabashedly "popular" in his writing, Stephen Foster remains the composer perhaps most strongly connected with "American" music than any other excepting Gershwin (but including such quintessentially "American" composers as Ives, Copland, or Bernstein). Ironically, this northern composer (yes, northern composer) of such hits as "My Old Kentucky Home, good night!," "Oh! Susanna," "Old Folks at Home," and "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" is manifestly connected with the American south.

This famous recording by the incomparable and ebullient Thomas Hampson is considered by many to be a modern classic. A good deal of this stems from both Hampson's suitability to the material and his obvious love for it. Note how he relishes every ironic turn of phrase in "My wife is a most knowing woman" or with what exuberance he lets loose on "That's what's the matter." For this month's clip, though, I have chosen a personal Foster favorite, the pre-war (yes, pre-war) song "Hard times come again no more." I find the bare performance of Hampson, et al., to be a particularly moving rendition.