The new album will concentrate on the generation of singer-songwriters that emerged in the American music scene during the late '60s and early '70s. Among the composers whose work will be covered are Randy Newman, Laura Nyro and Loudon Wainwright.

The disc will also likely include a song or two by McDonald's favorite young musical theatre composers, such as Adam Guettel. This sort of mix has become familiar to McDonald fans. For instance, her 2002 album "Happy Songs," while primarily a collection of Depression-era tunes, also featured a selection by Michael John LaChiusa, whose work McDonald has championed.

Nonesuch will release the work, as it has all of McDonald's recordings, including "Way Back to Paradise" (1998) and "How Glory Goes" (2000). No release date is set.

McDonald's work on the Broadway stage includes Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime and A Raisin in the Sun. She won Tony Awards for all these portrayals. She will make her Houston Grand Opera debut in March 2006. The centerpiece of McDonald's performance will be Francis Poulenc's La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice). The evening will also include a companion piece written by Michael John LaChiusa that concerns "the lighter side of love."

Sperling won a Tony Award for his orchestrations of The Light in the Piazza. He is currently director of the Off-Broadway LaChiusa musical See What I Wanna See.