SKU: BT.PMC3865
The Two Songs on American Poems were composed in late May and early June of 2011 by candlelight at my rustic waterfront cabin on a remote island off the northwest coast of Washington State. It was in this locale that I havecompleted a number of works over the years, including the Lux Aeterna, O Magnum Mysterium, Nocturnes, Canticle/O Vos Omnes and others. Prayer was written in memory of Michael Jasper Gioia, Dana and Mary Gioia's infant son, whosebrief life was tragically ended by SIDS.Mr. Gioia served as Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003-2010 and has authored several books of poems, numerous anthologies, articles, essays and two opera libretti. Amonghis many awards are the American Book Award and Presidential Citizens Medal. He currently holds the Judge Widney Chair of Poetry and Public Policy at the University of Southern California. Sure on this Shining Night was originallycomposed as a choral piece, the third movement of my Nocturnes on poems by Rilke, Neruda and Agee. Rod Gilfry, an international star of opera, recital and musical theater, premiered the mixed duet version with his daughter, Carin,in 2009. He is Professor of Vocal Studies at the USC Thornton School of Music. Both he and Mr. Gioia are national treasures. The Two Songs are designed as a pair but may be sung independently - when paired, Sure On This ShiningNight should begin immediatelyfollowing the final, sustained chord of Prayer with no break in between the songs. Both of these songs, premiered by Mr. Gilfry accompanied by the composer at a USC Visions & Voices tribute to DanaGioia on September 27, 2011, have their roots in the American musical theater and should be sung as such.
SKU: HL.48186452
UPC: 888680828363. 9.0x12.0x0.192 inches.
Widely acclaimed by music lovers for over a century, Selected Songs of Gabriel Faure (1845-1924) are here collected into an anthology, complete with an audio version in the form of a download card. Excerpted from the 1st collection published in 1879, Au bord de l?eau and Ici bas bestow an aura of internal reverie on Sully Prudhomme?s simple poems, made palpable by the harmonic refinement and vocal fluidity that constitutes the very essence of Faurean charm. Several vocal pages selected in the 2nd volume (1897) continue to be favourites: Les Roses d?Ispahan restored to their dreamy stillness, Les Berceaux whose oscillation evokes the swaying of boats, and the very nostalgic Clair de lune in which Verlaine?s words, set to music for the first time, inspired Faure to write what would become one of his masterpieces: La Bonne Chanson. From this cycle, drunk on lovelorn lyricism, the collection retains Puisque l?aube grandit, an exalted melody if there ever was one, and La lune blanche luit dans les bois, a nocturnal landscape in F sharp major ? two pearls that distil the same mystery of solace..
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