I just received my January Gramophone and on page 53, in a sidebar
called "Orchestral Highlights in 2004", the first item states that
Marin Alsop has recorded a disc of John Adams's music with the
Bournemouth Symphony that includes Shaker Loops, A Short Ride in a
Fast Machine, and The Wound Dresser with Nathan Gunn as the soloist.
Since this is sort of a preview column there's no mention of a
release date or a record label, though the last Alsop recording with
Bournemouth was part of Naxos's American Classics series.
The same issue has a very positive review of the War and Peace DVD
(which Amazon finally sent me) on page 85: "Francesca Zambello
elicits emotionally truthful performances from her strong team of
mainly Russian soloists, with Nathan Gunn, as Andrei, and Robert
Brubaker looking and sounding by no means out of place." That's the
only specific mention of Gunn.
Thanks for the review of the Messiah performance -- I'm still sorry I
missed it, though it doesn't sound ideal. Sorry you were in town for
the black-out -- at least you missed the earthquake. California's had
a rough year.