69 Results for : impressionistic

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    Marlene
    An Oscar-« nominee for Best Documentary and winner of the 1986 New York Film Critic-¦s Circle non-fiction film prize, Marlene is a "portrait of a remarkably strong-willed woman, stage-managing her career right up to the bitter end" (New York Times) that brilliantly lifts the veil on a movie star of the brightest magnitude as she is fading into twilight. N September of 1982, Oscar-« winning actor and director Maximilian Schell (Julia, the Man in the Glass Booth) arrived in Paris for a series of on-camera interviews with Marlene Dietrich intended for a documentary film on the screen icon-¦s life and work. Despite having agreed to participate, the near-recluse Dietrich withdrew permission for her Judgment at Nuremburg co-star to film in her flat. Instead, in over 40 hours of audio-taped interviews, the 81 year-old screen legend provoked a battle royale of conversational mind games leading to unforgettably raw and truthful emotional revelations. Using Dietrich-¦s candid, bruising, infuriating, and occasionally touching off-camera musings on childhood, marriage, sex, love, collaborators, co-stars, life, death, and the Holocaust, Schell "sets her words, like a score, to the stunning film images of the young Marlene." (Washington Post). The hypnotic final result- buoyed by self-reflexive making-of footage, and an impressionistic re-creation of the sunless Paris flat where star and filmmaker fenced, fought, and ultimately connected- is the "Sunset Boulevard of documentaries" (Washington Post).
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    20th Anniversay Celebration
    20th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF AUSTRALIAN COMPOSERS JADCD 1119 An anthology of works by Australian composers in a wide range of styles and musical groupings ranging from saxophone quartet, mandolin ensemble through, a trio for piccolo, guitar & cello to works for solo mandolin and solo piano. Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 - ERIC GROSS (b.1926) SUITE LATIN AMERICAN op.302 (2008) for multi-instrumentalist Saxophone Quartet. The TANGO CONCERTANTE, completed in 2007 received a very enthusiastic reception by the members of the Fo(u)r Fans - Saxophone Quartet to whom this Suite is dedicated. It was therefore decided to create a suite of movements in a Latin American style. The title of each movement indicates the style, mood and rhythmic provenance of the musical content, with the BALADA providing a calm and gentle contrast to the other, livelier movements. Because of the versatility of the instrumentalists for whom the suite has been composed, the composer succumbed to the temptation to provide additional variety of timbre by utilising also instruments other than the various saxophones, which the members of this ensemble play so expertly. Track 1 - Tango Concertante Track 2 - Rumbaphonics Track 3 - Balada Track 4 - Samba This Suite was recorded privately in Weimar, Germany in 2008 and the fifth movement, "Hatdance" will be recorded in due course. The members of the Fo(u)r Fans- Saxophone Quartet are: • Ruediger Trosits-Sopr.Sax/Flute/Bb Clt. • Berndt Klinke-Alto Sax/Sopr.Sax/Flt/Picc./Bb Clt./B'Clt. • Holger Arndt-Ten.Sax/Eb Clt./ B'Clt. • Jens Kaiser-Baritone Sax/Bb Clt. Track 5 - PIANGO CONCERTANTE op.302/A (2008) This is an arrangement and adaption for solo piano of the Tango Concertante op.302/1. Because of the enthusiastic reception given to the tango the composer decided to create this idiomatic arrangement for that great supporter of Australian music, the Australian pianist Sally Mays, utilising her great musicianship and technical prowess to the fullest. This private recording was made in London in August 2008. Sound Engineer Bas Kelleher. Track 6 - PREMARCH AND POSTWAR (VORMÅRZ UND NACHKRIEG) op.307 A brief tone-poem for piano, based upon the poem of the same title by the German poet MICHAEL KIRMES-SEITZ, and gives expression to the disasters and havoc created in Germany by the political events of that period. The music pictures and contrasts the exaggerated and false hopes raised and the inevitable horrendous consequences by the end of World War II. This composition was written especially for the outstanding pianist and pedagogue, Idil Ugur who resides in Weimar where this private recording was made in August 2008. E.G. Track 7 - PETER SCULTHORPE (b.1929) A SUN SONG FOR ERIC (1991) This short piece of music was written by the composer to be included in a GARLAND of pieces written by various composers for Eric Gross on his retirement from Sydney University in 1991. The music is one of Peter Sculthorpe's miniature masterpieces and contains a sunny aspect throughout. Peter Sculthorpe is Australia's most celebrated composer. Track 8 - ANN CARR-BOYD (b.1938) FANDANGO (1982) FANDANGO, written in 1982 for Adrian Hooper and the Sydney Mandolins, is a lyrical bluesy type of work and has proved to be this composer's most popular piece of music along with her MUSIC FOR AN IMAGINARY ITALIAN FILM, also written for Adrian Hooper and the Sydney Mandolins. Track 9 - BETTY BEATH (b.1942) contrasts (1983) This is one of the many miniature masterpieces of Betty Beath's composed in 1983. Played by the composer at the piano. Tracks 10, 11 & 12 - ROBERT ALLWORTH (b.1943) Track 10 - NIGHTFALL ON SYDNEY HARBOUR (2006) This composition describes an impressionistic landscape of Sydney Harbour at dusk. The music ebbs and flows, creating a moody scene. Track 11 - TWILIGHT THOUGHTS (2008) Twilight Thoughts depicts feelings at twilight and is contemplative in character. Track 12 - PRELUDE AMETHYST AND JADE (2008) Prelude Amethyst and Jade describes in harmony and melody the characteristics of these gems. Tracks 10, 11 and 12 recorded 12/9/2008 by Kerry Joyner at 2MBSFM Studio C. Track 13 - RAY LEMOND (b.1956) NORDLAND (2008) The upper part of Norway is known as Nordland and is home to the spectacular Norwegian fjords. The music tries to capture a slice of the majesty and tranquility of this natural wonder. Recorded on Arcadia 24/8/2008 by Matt James. Track 14 - ROBERT ALLWORTH (b.1943) FALLING LEAVES OF RED AND GOLD (2008) FALLING LEAVES OF RED AND GOLD was written for mandolinist MICHAEL HOOPER in July 2008. The music is in three movements and is lyrical and autumnal in character. Michael Hooper graduated as Doctor of Philosophy (Musicology) from York University in July 2008 and recorded this composition at the Rymer Auditorium of the Music Research Centre at the University of York.The recording was produced by Ellen Winhall and remastering was supervised by Adrian Hooper. Track 15 - DEREK STRAHAN (b.1935) AT BONDI-SURF & RIPS (1963) Rondo for Piccolo, Guitar & 'Cello (1963, revised 2008) - Trio Nuovo Musicale New Music Group Players. My home in 1963 was a flat in a crumbling block at the south end of Bondi Beach renting at $8 per week which had a millionaire's view looking north along the surf, and which has since been replaced by expensive apartments. I body-surfed every day, rediscovering a beach life last experienced at age 10 in 1945 in Perth, WA, before being relocated to the UK by my family, from whence I fled in 1962 returning to Australia. This Rondo is one of a dozen or so music works I wrote in that year, and seems to have been a visceral and combative depiction of swimming in the surf in rough conditions, with conflicting currents above and below amid the constant excitement of waves rolling in. I have changed little of the structure and themes of the original score but have added detail to enhance texture, maintain motivic impulse and provide a more climactic Coda. This is the first of three pieces making up a Suite "At Bondi". 'Surf & Rips' heard here, then "Millpond" and "Perfect Day" which follow with the flute taking the woodwind role. Recording, Revolve Pty. Ltd., 28/01/08 This compact disc celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the first compact disc issued on the JADE label through BROAD MUSIC. This compilation represents 20 years of production of Australian music on JADE RECORDS. A special tribute is made to Dr. Eric Gross AM for his encouragement of Australian music during his tenure as Associate professor of Music at the University of Sydney and also as a supporter throughout the 20 years of the JADE series of Australian music. Some of his most engaging music is heard on this disc. The 20th year of production and also the 103rd disc in this series. Compilation mastered by Steve Smart Studios 301. Photo: ARCADIA NSW by Lorraine Cain of Newport Beach NSW Australia.
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    Hommage
    This two CD set is a compilation of largely French 20th Century Serial and Impressionistic works which feature the Clarinet, either as a solo instrument or as part of a small ensemble. These recordings are all taken from live performances.
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    Culmination
    'Culmination', the title track for this 2010 internet release, is scored for his world-jazz group 'Hybrid Project', consisting of acoustic guitar, ney, alto sax, trumpet, cello, bass and drums. The composition, originally written for chamber orchestra and jazz rhythm section, won an award for jazz composition from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. Notes from Francesco Martinelli: fmartinelli@tin.it Istanbul is still a city of wonders. Behind the great metropolis with his fumes and traffic jams, it's noble profile defaced by urbanistic crimes and it's unique memories apparently under attack from all sides, there's still a spirit fueled by the traditions that met - and fought - there over the centuries. There's unmistakably a buzz in today's Istanbul, a vibe generated by young generations eager to be open to the outside world, and often brought to reconsider their country's recent and ancient history. Artists are stimulated by the atmosphere, and among a group of musicians currently tapping the energy of the Bosphorous town is guitar player and composer Donovan Mixon. Tall and athletic, Donovan could be an ex-basketball player, and his serious face is ready to open in a sweet smile - his students say he's pretty good at frowning too, but I haven't experienced that. What I know is that of the American jazz musicians that I've met, and they are a fair number, Donovan is among the most receptive to European culture. He lived in Italy for many years, we had in Istanbul pleasant conversations in Italian, and his attitude is not a "transatlantic" one anymore. Don is thoroughly schooled in jazz and contemporary music, but in view of subsequent developments, his early connection with guitarist Dennis Sandole is especially intriguing. "Modern Music from Philadelphia" by the Sandole brothers, of Italian descent, was a landmark of the 50's "new music" and contained compositions like "The boys from Istanbul"! After extensive studies, Donovan played professionally on the road for several years, and his activity as a teacher reflects a practical approach to the needs of a working musician. He recorded with the likes of Lee Konitz, George Garzone and Eddie Henderson, and distilled his experiences into a personal style of relaxed elegance, where notes are carefully placed in a uncluttered, transparent texture. With this CD a distinctly Turkish element enters in his music, not in a heavy concoction of "typical" sounds: the rich tradition of colors and sounds in Turkish music yields some selected ingredients - the unique tone of 'ney' (a Turkish wooden flute), some special scales and rhythms - but the agenda is not dictated by anything external to Donovan's idea of music. "Summer Of 78" slowly grows from acoustic guitar to a "chamber" sound before introducing the sound of Ercan Irmak's ney. Ercan is one of the most important and in demand players of this instrument, central to the mystical and classical tradition, he guested on this track because he especially liked the composition. His improvisation combines traditional technique with the modern feeling of the theme, and the breathy sound of the ney integrates smoothly with the ensemble in a sequence of variations and permutations. The trumpet countermelodies at the end theme played by Senova Ulker, a guest and respected soloist both in classical and jazz circles in Istanbul, seem to be improvised but they are in fact written parts. On the wistful "The Dance Of Life", Senova Ulker carries the theme with authority before entertaining an improvised dialogue with the guitar. Aptly entitled, this composition possesses a highly capricious quality perhaps due to the asymmetric construction of the main theme, harmonic rhythm and phrases. Performed with an exquisite 3/4 swing by the ensemble. "Culmination" - awarded a jazz composition prize by the National Endowment for the Arts - is Donovan's take on the never-ending fascination of jazz players with the contrapunct of Baroque music, in a dramatic growing complexity of voicings, sharp tempo changes, fast, articulated lines and a question at the end, it's most aptly the centerpiece of the CD. 'We Are Yo' Kids" - a special kind of nursery song, has a definite Latin feel: listen to the drums on this one. Ferit Odman, like Billy Higgins, is a smiling drummer, but he's listening too. This bright young man, whom I had the pleasure to have as a student in my classes, is putting under his belt an extraordinary amount of serious work, having fun while learning all the time from different sources. His light, airy swing carefully follows the indications of the composer without losing relaxation. "He let's loose in the duet with fellow percussionist Engin Gurkey, while Serhan Erkol provides rhythmic drive with his bari riffs." "Mist" is not an impressionistic piece, in fact it's the closest Donovan gets on this CD to contemporary music with a dramatic exploration of dynamics and dissonance at once. 'Mercury' opens and prominently features Jeff McAuley, an American cello player with a taste for adventure in music and life. Jeff is a classical musician, but we don't hold this against him, since he's getting more and more intrigued by the idea of improvisation. Mixon's concept of music, with his emphasis on light but well-connected structures establishing a dialectic with improvisation is the perfect point of entry for Jeff's cello, with it's careful intonation and melodic phrasing. The atmospheric, suspended prelude of "Eddi & Daniela"features Ayça Ergin on ney: a girl, quite a startling sight on a predominantly male instrument, who studied with the most important masters before starting her own career. Her performance is largely responsible for the feel of this piece that eventually concludes with a trio with the guitar and cello. "Quando Il Lupo Annusa i Fiori" - a humorous title, "When the wolf smells the flowers" in Italian - features in the intro Caner Kaptan on bass: another musician in his 20's who shows great promise. The rich tone of Ulker's trumpet can be fully appreciated in the development of the piece, at times almost alone in the acoustic space: Donovan then gets to play his electric guitar, and his proportioned, sometimes blues-tinged solo is a model of restrained intensity built through crisp, full-attacked tones, generating an equally inspired repartee by Senova. Fading in already in full swing, "Rough Translation" is the most overtly Oriental theme, limited to a quick impression of Donovan and his band passing by in their quest, giving an appointment for some further stage of the travel - this listener only hopes the next installment will come soon. Francesco Martinelli fmartinelli@tin.it CULMINATION TRACK ORDER 1. Summer of '78 * 7:04 2. The Dance of Life 4:01 3. Culmination 3:56 4. We Are Yo' Kids 3:48 5. Mist 1:13 6. Mercury 3:52 7. Eddi & Daniela 4:44 8. Quando Il Lupo Annusa I Fiori 10:31 9. Rough Translation 1:56 Total: 41:27 All music composed and arranged by Donovan Mixon, © 2010 Dibim Music BMI. Personnel Donovan Mixon Guitars Serhan Erkol Alto & Baritone Saxophones Ayca Ergin Ney *Ercan Irmak Ney (Summer of '78 only) Senova Ulker Trumpet/Flugelhorn Caner Kaptan Acoustic Bass Ferit Odman Drums Engin Gurkey Percussion Recording produced by Donovan Mixon, Myspace.com/donovanmixon Facebook.com donovanmixon@gmail.com Recorded at Istanbul Bilgi University, Engineer Doruk Ozturk. Mixed and Mastered at Modulab via Del Lavoro, Casalecchio sul Reno - Bologna, Italy Engineer: Marco Biscarini, marco.biscarini@fastwebnet.it Technical consultant: Mine Erkaya Special Thanks to: Diana Anton Compositions that were composed in America: Summer of '78 Mist Mercury *Culmination We Are Yo' Kids Compositions composed in Italy Eddi & Daniela Quando Il Lupo Annusa i Fiori Compositions composed in Turkey The Dance of Life Rough Translation.
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    Awake
    Following the success of their debut album 'Frequency', pop-infused flute duo In Sterio presents 'Awake', a CD/DVD** combo that brings abstract art to life through music and video animations. The album, composed by In Sterio member Erica Peel, features completely original material inspired by the works of abstract artist, Jerry Peel. From the Cameroon-inspired title track, 'Awake', to the new age-hard rock-impressionistic sounds of 'Purple Tide At Dawn', the album seamlessly navigates through rock, latin, funk, jazz, trance, world and classical styles to create a fresh and moving soundscape. It also gives rise to completely new genres, like the light-astral-funk sounds of 'Blue Crinkled Moon' and the industrial-dubstep-disco sounds of 'Synchroneity'. The album is a journey through which the listeners will find themselves forgetting that it's two flute players who are rocking their world! The included DVD (only available with the physical copy) highlights the art from which the album was inspired, and brings the music to another level with stunning video animations by Drew Morton. This high-energy, outside the box, modern and innovative duo presents a project that is the first of it's kind. Classically trained, yet stylistically unique, Shivhan and Erica (Miyazawa Artists) fearlessly fuse virtuosic flute playing with original and eclectic cross-cultural music for an electrifying and powerful presentation of sound. Their vision challenges convention as they draw inspiration from rock, jazz, classical, latin, funk, folk, world and electro styles with a sound that has been described as "two flutes - one brain". Performances have been praised as "spell binding" and "awe inspiring". This high octane, "outside the box" duo brings audiences to their feet. Individually, the girls have performed with artists such as Diana Krall, Al Jarreau, Harry Connick Jr., Jeff Goldblum, Olivia Newton John, Chris Botti, Burt Bacharach, Martin Sexton, Jake Shimabukuro, Elvis Costello and Diane Reeves. In Sterio continues to make their mark as one of the 'leading and most intriguing chamber ensembles' in the country. **Please note: The DVD is only available when purchasing the physical copy, not as a download.
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    Chamber Music 2009
    Lyrical Passages for Small Ensemble, by Brian R Russell Music for Chamber Orchestra, by Eric Goetz (in search of) Common Ground, by Zachary Smith Midnight Menagerie, by Josh Dobson Overcast, by Marcelo Freitas Chamber Music No. 1, by Brian Scott Phraner Nymphaes, by Jeff Tolbert Toboggan, by Greg Schlimm String Quartet No. 2, Colloquy: I-III, by Jennifer Taylor The Flying Man of Pocklington, by Deborah Lee Cloud Waltz, by Steve Heuring The Siren and the Rocky Shoal, by Tim Huling Eleven students came together under the tutelage of Tim Huling and wrote new music for Clarinet, Harp, Percussion, and string quartet. The result was these pieces - beautiful new works ranging from impressionistic, to lyrical, to modern, to programmatic. This album is a recording the pieces' world premieres in the lovely Chapel at the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle, Washington, in front of a packed house. Laura Deluca - Clarinets, Bethany Mann - Harp, Rob Tucker - Percussion, Gennady Filimonov - Violin 1, Artur Grisky - Violin 2, Arie Shachter - Viola, Walter Gray - Cello.
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    Daniel Akiva: Malchut / Various
    Daniel Akiva is a composer, performer, and educator whose performances on guitar and lute have won great acclaim. A native of Haifa whose family has lived in Israel for over five hundred years, he was steeped in the Sephardic tradition from his youth. Much of his compositional output has been devoted to works that grow out of the music of the Sephardic Jews. Mr. Akiva has appeared in concert as a guitarist and lutist in Israel, Spain, Switzerland, France, Germany, Portugal, the United States, Mexico, and in most of the countries of Central and South America. In 1984 he accompanied the soprano Victoria de los Angeles in a series of concerts at the prestigious Israel Festival. His repertoire includes works from the Renaissance through the 21th century. Daniel Akiva's output includes works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, choir, voice and guitar, piano, and chamber orchestra. In 1990 his work Mizmorim (Psalms) for guitar solo was awarded the ACUM prize for composition. He has also written music for films including the eight-part television series 'Jerusalem That Was in Spain,' which was broadcast in five languages throughout the world. His work Siniza i fumo (Smoke and Ashes), for mezzo-soprano, recorder, flute, narrator, children's choir, guitar, and orchestra, composed in memory of the Jews of Salonika who perished in the Holocaust, was premiered in 1997 in Jerusalem, and was performed several times in the United States in May, 2000. His string quartet Ciclos was awarded the ACUM prize for composition in 2002. In 2006, he received the Amazon Prize for his disc 'Hope.' Mr. Akiva is a graduate of the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, and completed his studies at the Geneva Conservatorium in Switzerland. He currently heads the Music Department at the WIZO High School for the Arts in Haifa, which he founded in 1986, and has been the Artistic Director of the Guitar Gems Festival since 2006. 'Malchut' for voice and guitar, is a setting of a poem by Rivka Miriam 'Four Prayers' for mandolin and guitar consists of four miniature movements and was written in 2001 by invitation of the mandolinist Avi Avital, and dedicated to him and to the guitar and lute artist Bari Moscovitz. The composition describes different spiritual states as expressed through prayer, moving from contemplation to joy and from meditation to dancing. The trio 'Selichot' was inspired by the penitential poems of the Sephardic Jews for the High Holidays. The composition is a series of dialogues between the three instruments. The dialogues include confrontation, reconciliation, and agreement, three traits of human behavior. The first movement begins with solo oboe which introduces the first theme. The second theme is introduced by the cello, and is based upon the Neilah prayer which concludes Yom Kippur. The second movement begins with a meditative motive played by the guitar and based upon the melody of the poem 'As a servant longs' by the medieval poet Solomon ibn Gabirol. The melody is introduced later by the oboe. In the third movement, 'The year has ended with it's curses,' expresses reconciliation and agreement, and is based upon the melody of the poem whose name it bears. Towards the end of the movement, the Neilah motive of the first movement returns as the motive for the blessing which concludes the work. The song cycle 'Sarina kanta' (Sarina sings) is sung in Ladino and was inspired by Sephardic folk songs.Various folk songs are quoted in the work. The first movement, 'Dia y noche' ('Day and Night') is based upon a cantiga (lyric love song). The second movement is a fantasia based on a poem by Avner Perez, 'Sarina kanta romansas,' ('Sarina sings romances'). Sarina is Perez's grandmother, whose memory is recalled in this cycle of poems. The third movement was originally a romance of the Sephardic Jews from Turkey, 'Una matika de ruda' ('A spring of Rue'), which over time turned into a cantiga. The fourth movement, 'Ya abasha la novia' ('The Bride is Coming Down'), is a humorous wedding song. The fifth movement is a lulluby with a violin obligato part. The cycle concludes with 'Ya salio de la mar' ('Here She Comes from the Sea'), a wedding song. '6 Preludes' selected from the First and Second Books by Claude Debussy were arranged by Daniel Akiva for the combination of oboe, cello and guitar in order to provide color and give expression to the composer's Impressionistic thought through the independent use of color.
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    Arbol Del Olvido / Various
    Guitar duets and violin and guitar duets of Hispanic music. This project started as a group of friends performing music rarely heard in guitar duet form.It soon became apparent that something special was going on.All of the music on this recording, except for the Nocturne are transcriptions. Many of these are reductions of orchestral scores. Because of this, the artists have a greater leeway for interpretation.The result is a transparency not found n the original works. Included on the recording is the haunting beautiful 'Danza del Trigo' that was featured in the 2012 award winning film 'The Artist'. Composers Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albeniz were considered the Spanish equivalent to the French impressionist writers such as Debussy and Ravel. Argentinian Alberto Ginastera's music is often categorized as Impressionistic also. This music lends itself to the rich colors and tone quality of the classic guitar.
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    Black Knight
    Six years ago, I had the idea that a few 19th century composers might have set a few poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to music. If that music existed, I had hoped to create a choral concert in commemoration of the 200th birthday of our Portland-born poet. In it's third season, 2009, after performing and recording nearly 100 musical settings of Longfellow texts -- among them an astounding 32 world premieres of the winning entries in our annual Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition -- The Longfellow Chorus stood before what seemed to be a potentially boundless repertory of Longfellow vocal music, new and old. There are hundreds of period songs yet to be sung and recorded, and a number of very good period cantatas. Beyond these older settings, numerous new Longfellow songs, choruses and cantatas were -- and still are -- being created for The Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition by composers from around the world -- Australia and New Zealand, Asia, Europe, North and South America -- and these are adding a fresh, modern perspective. More than 200 composers have answered our call. The music contained in this CD set is from our third annual Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Birthday Choral Concert, which took place on February 28 and March 1, 2009, just after Longfellow's 202nd birthday. Published in 1845, The Day is Done is a fairly early poem. Longfellow was experiencing family life as a young father, and it is easy to imagine that the person "lending the beauty of" her "voice" to the "rhyme of the poet" was young mother Frances Appleton Longfellow, 1817-1861. George Whitefield Chadwick, 1854-1931, set Longfellow's Allah translation to music in 1887. At the time, he was a freelance composer in Boston and a church organist known for a certain Bohemian streak. Marienne Kreitlow has adeptly captured the dramatic mood of The Challenge -- a poem first published in Longfellow's 1873 Birds of Passage, Flight the Third -- in her setting for baritone voice. No less than in his early works, Longfellow shows in his later works an awareness that certain poems would inevitably be set to music by someone, somewhere, at some time. The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls was published near the end of Longfellow's life in Ultima Thule, 1880, and is included under the subtitle Folk-Songs. John Knowles Paine, 1839-1906, is Portland's other Victorian-American superstar. He grew up on Oxford Street. His father, Jacob, ran the local Chickering piano dealership where, in 1843, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow bought a piano as a wedding present for "Fanny" Appleton. It Is Not Always May -- text from Longfellow's Ballads and Other Poems, 1842 -- is based on a Spanish proverb, no hay pájaros en los nidos de antaño: "there are no birds in last year's nest." You can't see the beautiful, light snowflakes that were falling in South Portland on March 1, 2009, as The Longfellow Chorus performed Pontet's and Hopson's versions of Snow-Flakes, but if you listen carefully, you might hear them. About his humorous setting for bass-baritone voice and piano, composer Riccardo La Spina comments: "'Prescrizione'...evokes the style of comic operatic aria for bass of Longfellow's time, with a nod to Mozart's Don Giovanni..., one of the poet's favorite operas." Christmas Bells was Longfellow's response to the outbreak of the American Civil War, and over the past 147 years, numerous composers have turned to it as a source for musical expression of outrage and hope during the onset of newer wars. In 1916, John S. Matthews, 1870-1934, used the poem as the basis for his musical response to the First World War. Kevin Jones's contribution expresses his response to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Charles Ives's impressionistic, truncated version of The Children's Hour is paired with the atonal setting of Autumn Within by Traci Mendel. With his setting of Nature, Stanley Hoffman remembers his father, Josef, and, as the father of a four-year-old daughter, reflects on his own experience as a parent. The mother of Edward Elgar didn't believe that her son understood women enough to be able to attract a young bride, so she made him read Longfellow's novel Hyperion for inspiration. The result was a strange, rarely-performed cantata called The Black Knight, something that leaves the musical impression of being a late-Victorian precursor of Star Wars. - -Charles Kaufmann, Artistic Director of The Longfellow Chorus.
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