PASSING by Songs by Jake Heggie Isabel Bayrakdarian Zheng Cao Joyce Didonato Susan Graham Paul Groves Keith Phares Frederica Von Stade
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PASSING BY Songs by Jake Heggie Isabel Bayrakdarian Zheng Cao Joyce DiDonato Susan Graham Paul Groves Keith Phares Frederica von Stade Dawn Harms, violin CarlaMaria Rodrigues, viola Emil Miland, cello Jake Heggie, piano |1| PASSING BY Songs by Jake Heggie poetry and texts by Charlene Baldridge, Raymond Carver, Jake Heggie, A.E. Housman, Here and Gone 19:19 Vachel Lindsay, Armistead Maupin, Terrence McNally, Edna St. Vincent Millay, songs and duets for tenor, baritone and piano quartet Rainer Maria Rilke, Eugenia Zukerman 9. The Farms of Home (Housman) 4:32 10. In Praise of Songs That Die (Lindsay) 2:59 1. A Lucky Child, from At the Statue of Venus (McNally) 5:44 11. Stars (Housman) 1:53 Susan Graham 12. The Factory Window Song (Lindsay) 2:32 13. In the Morning (Housman) 1:00 Some Times of Day (Carver) 11:00 14. Because I Liked You Better (Housman) 3:06 three songs for mezzo-soprano and piano trio 15. The Half-Moon Westers Low (Housman) 3:26 2. The Minuet 3:04 Paul Groves and Keith Phares 3. Simple 3:53 4. The Best Time of the Day 4:10 16. To Say Before Going to Sleep (Rilke, trans. by A.E. Flemming) 2:48 Zheng Cao Joyce DiDonato Facing Forward/Looking Back 16:14 Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia 11:32 duets for two women and piano 17. Ophelia’s Song (Heggie) 2:39 5. Motherwit (Baldridge)* 4:27 18. Women Have Loved Before (Millay) 3:20 6 Grounded (Zukerman)** 4:09 19. Not in a Silver Casket (Millay) 2:17 7. Mother in the Mirror (Maupin)* 3:18 20. Spring (Millay) 3:23 8. Facing Forward (Heggie)** 4:29 Isabel Bayrakdarian Frederica von Stade with Susan Graham* and Joyce DiDonato** 21. Final Monologue from Master Class (McNally) 6:28 Joyce DiDonato |2| |3| Recorded June 21-24, 2007, and January 12-13, 2008 at Skywalker Sound, This recording was made possible by and to my work; to the writers whose ex- Nicasio, California, USA generous support from the Ann & traordinary work inspires the music, and Gordon Getty Foundation, David Stein, to their estates and publishers; to Steve, Producer and Digital Editor: Steve Barnett Richard & Lucille Janssen, Franci Crane, Preston, Dann and Mark for their skills, (Barnett Music Productions, Minneapolis, MN) William & Cerina Criss, Betty Freeman, ears and hearts; to Leslie Ann Jones, Recording Engineer: Preston Smith (Perfect Record, St. Paul, MN) Frank Jernigan and Andrew Faulk, Susan Glenn Kiser and the generous people at Assistant Engineer: Dan Thompson and Jeremy Shamos, Thomas Terry, Skywalker Sound; to Janice Mayer, Char- Piano Technician: Mark Schecter Peggy & Reid Dennis, John & Bernice lie Hamlen and Classical Action; to Welz Lindstrom, Jack & Morleen “Moe” Kaufman and The Steans Institute at Translations Rouse, Stephen McClellan & Elizabeth the Ravinia Festival; to Bill Holab, Don German – Elke Hockings Barlow, Robert & Susan Hasl. Franzen and Jennifer Hughes; to the French – Marie-Stella Pâris memories and legacies of Johana Harris, Special thanks to all of the performers James Low and James Schwabacher; to Design and Art Direction: Alan Trugman who managed to find time to record in my wonderful family, and the remarkable Cover Photo: Jay Elliott www.jayelliottphoto.com the midst of ridiculously busy schedules family of friends and artists who stand Back Photo and Session Photos: Janna Waldinger: and whose work on this CD represents a by me always; and especially to Grayson Back inlay and inlay Photo: Alan Trugman true labor of love; to all of the funders Sorci and Curt Branom, super heroes. for their commitment to this project Joyce DiDonato appears by kind permission of Virgin Classics All texts used by permission of the authors or their estates and publishers To Say Before Going to Sleep is published by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. All other songs published by Bent Pen Music, Inc. (BMI) For information, visit www.billholabmusic.com. |4| |5| PASSING BY Notes Songs by Jake Heggie “A Lucky Child” is the aria from At The me permission to set these poems, which Statue of Venus (2005), a musical scene I imagine as the journey through a day: Introduction for soprano and piano with an original a metaphor for life’s journey. “The libretto by Terrence McNally. Composed Minuet” is morning, when we wake to Here are songs that tell stories about Ernst Bacon, taught me when I was 17 for the opening of Denver’s Ellie see an idealized version of ourselves now and then. Reflections of family, years old to finish everything, and never Caulkins Opera House, the complete young, dancing, magical. “Simple” is friends and lovers passing by. A missed throw anything away. Wise advice, for as I work tells the story of a single woman noon, the middle of life when, even or mistaken connection, a moment when get older, I find my younger self teaches waiting for a blind date in a museum surrounded by beauty, a question of everything might have been different. me more and more about what it is to at the statue of Venus. She is a nervous ending it all suddenly enters. To live or People who entered our lives and would stay hopeful, adventurous and true. jumble as she waits and hopes to meet die - is it that simple? “The Best Time be there forever, then suddenly were not “Mr. Right,” for he is surely out there. As of the Day” is evening, the last part of there at all. This recording is dedicated to the time passes, she moves from hopeful to life, with a reflective appreciation for mentors and teachers in our lives; the angry, thinking perhaps he’s already been love, peace, beauty and bounty. The Though much of my life the past 12 ones who recognize something more there, seen her and left without a word. songs were commissioned for mezzo- years has been devoted to composing than we know or see ourselves. You know Just as she’s about to storm out, she soprano Zheng Cao and the Harmida opera (Dead Man Walking, Moby-Dick, Three who you are. stops herself and sings this aria. Soprano Piano Trio (violinist Dawn Harms, Decembers, The End of the Affair), my heart and Kristin Clayton gave the premiere of cellist Emil Miland, pianist Laura Dahl) musical soul lie in storytelling through Jake Heggie the scene, which is dedicated to Karen through Stanford University. The first song. In between major projects, I Kriendler Nelson. performance was at San Francisco’s always allow several months to return to Temple Emanu-El. songwriting. Many of the recent songs on Some Times of Day (2004) is a set of this recording come from those periods, three short songs based on poetry by the Facing Forward/Looking Back (2007) though some have origins dating back to late American poet Raymond Carver. His was composed on a commission from the 1980s. My first composition teacher, widow, the poet Tess Gallagher, granted Welz Kaufman and the Ravinia Festival |6| |7| for the Steans Institute, with Margo never really knew him, and this was my childhood friend, only to discover his new works on his well-known series. Garrett as its godmother. The set way of trying to stay connected and work friend is dead, the town has changed, I had long ago composed “Ophelia’s explores the fraught and ever-shifting things through. The premiere took place and he is now a stranger. Three of the Song” when one gorgeous spring day in mother/daughter relationship through in July 2007 at Ravinia with soprano songs (“The Farms of Home”, “In the 1983, Johana Harris said to me: “The five duets for two women (four are Michele Bogadanowicz , mezzo Tamara Morning”, and “The Half-Moon Westers hills are green, my dear one.” The lyrics recorded here). For this project, I Mumford and pianist Vlad Iftinca. Low”) are reworkings of songs I wrote and tune came to me immediately, and went to three of my writer friends and back in 1987 at UCLA. Much of the cycle I just needed the right place to put the asked for texts on this theme. Charlene Here and Gone (2005) was also was composed in Madison, WI, while I song. 16 years later, I found it in this Baldridge gave me two poems about a composed for the Steans Institute. My was in residence at Edenfred. The first cycle inspired by Shakespeare’s Ophelia. daughter wishing she could bring her great friend, mentor and teacher, the performance was given in July 2005 And who is Ophelia but an extraordinary mother back now that she’s grown, sure late Johana Harris, introduced me to by tenor Nicholas Phan and baritone young woman - pushed, pulled and used they would have a better understanding. the poetry of A.E. Housman and Vachel Andrew Garland. in a world dominated by men – seeking Eugenia Zukerman wrote a new poem Lindsay in my student days at UCLA. I connection and agonizing over love. based on a personal experience with her returned to those poets and devised a “To Say Before Going to Sleep” was In the early 20th century, such a young aging mother, where the roles shift and story based on their work for this set: composed in 1987 at UCLA and is a woman might have turned to poetry by the daughter becomes the parent figure one that holds resonance in both their response to the longing and fragility Edna St. Vincent Millay. So I did just for her own mother. Armistead Maupin lives, I believe, and certainly in my own. expressed in one stanza from Rilke’s that, and these three Millay poems, wrote a new text about the harrowing The baritone, a wanderer, returns to beloved poem.