Pleas to Famous Fairies

LINDA= LISTER Pleas to Famous Fairies

Linda Lister, soprano Amanda Johnston, piano

WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1725 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 © 2018 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL.

Lister_1725_book.indd 1-2 4/17/18 11:22 AM Bring Me the Wine of Love (Rumi) Open the curtain, my Beloved, (Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and How can I dance? Maryam Mafi, from Rumi Hidden Music, At age 15, I was asked by the director of the University of used with permission) What a loss = Utah’s Young People’s Theatre to compose a new musical version In celebration of the 13th-century mystical What a loss, what a loss, poet, this piece features excerpts in which To be sober in the midst of drunks. of The Little Match Girl. In my naïveté, I didn’t think it was an Rumi references wine, love, and music. Keep on pouring the wine of love until unusual request and soon the word composer was listed by my name All reason dissolves. in the program. My composing continued at Vassar College under Free my heart the mentorship of Professor Annea Lockwood. I did not follow Free my heart from this entanglement O lovers Of search and disappointment O lovers in her footsteps of burning pianos, rather I found my own tonal, Bring me the wine of love Love will lay a carpet of treasures under neo-Romantic voice. Literature has been a longtime inspiration, And my soul will open its wings. your feet. with Shakespeare, Rilke, Rumi, and the Brontë sisters among the You have the perfect cup for every lover. Musicians Love will fill your drums with gold. most frequent muses, although sometimes I have set my own poems I am hopelessly in love with you Thirsty ones to music. I have also enjoyed using occasional musical “inside I am hopelessly in love with you, no point Love will turn your scorched desert jokes” with quotes from great composers ranging from Schubert to In giving me advice. Into a meadow of paradise. I have drunk love’s poison, no point To the parched lips of those who are Tchaikovsky. My vocal writing also reveals a fondness for coloratura, Taking any remedy. Willing to surrender an element not often found in contemporary art song. It has been They want to chain my feet but Love will bring the wine that changes my goal to imbue my compositions with the pathos or humor befit- What’s the point darkness ting the text. In my endeavors as a performer/composer, I enjoy the When it is my heart that’s gone mad! Into vision, and dust into precious incense.

ultimate creative synergy of singing my own music and sharing it There is no wine without You I am love’s musician with the world in this very personal way. There is no wine without You, I am love’s musician playing for joy —Linda Lister, February 2018 No use for the rosary without Your hand. I comb the beard of happiness From afar You order me to dance And pull the moustache of sorrow. But unless You set the stage and When my core is touched by music Love’s wine begins to flow.

Lister_1725_book.indd 3-4 4/17/18 11:22 AM Pleas to Famous Fairies (Linda Lister) Wanders free, Wave your magic wand, Godmother, With Peter, Peter Pan, Written in 2009 for Laura Collins, these In search of Weaving fairy fantasies. Along with Tiger Lily songs were inspired partially by Zilpha Sylvan synergy. With your diamond star-topped stem, And your not-so-favorite Wendy. Keatley Snyder’s novel The Changeling, You have the power to entrance, You fly, (second star to the right!) which tells the story of a young girl who Queen Titania To conjure shimmering golden gowns, You share your light, doesn’t quite fit in and decides it’s because Hand in hand, with Fairy grace, will we Royal balls, and pure romance. And share the many joys she is a changeling child. Quotes from Wil- sing, and bless this place. With crystal slippers on my feet, Of a pixiepalooza liam Shakespeare, J.M. Barrie, Pyotr Ilyich —William Shakespeare (A Midsummer I’ll dance a dainty minuet With your favorite Lost Boys. Tchaikovsky and Antonín Dvořák salute Night’s Dream, Act V) Close within my prince’s arms, You sprinkle the famous fairies. Joined in single silhouette. Your fairy dust Titania, my queen, oh my fairy So cast your spell, Of shimmer powder pink, Ariel Ambitions queen, Becharm, enchant. And soon, Merrily, merrily shall I live now under the Are you the fairest or the fairiest? Fancify my furtive wanting, All the world can’t help but… blossom that hangs on the bough. Are you pixie or dryad? Nixie or nyad? Add some luster to my longing. Think —William Shakespeare (The Tempest, Act V) Queen of Puck, Pan, or the Peri? Just one wish— Tink! Oh sylphid sovereign, you reign o’er the Grant me this. I aspire to nymph-hood… fey— Rusalka To dance among the sprites, Which ones comprise your chimerical Tink Ah, To frolic with spirits court? Do you believe in fairies? If you believe, Rusalka... In the fairy life. Ariel? Philomel? And what of Tinkerbell? clap your hands! Nymph of the water, A changeling child Surely some new nymphs are needed today! —J. M. Barrie (Peter Pan) Lunar serenader… I must have been, Therefore Titania, your magical majesty, Tink, Your yearning known only by the moon Since my soul hungers Crown me now as your fairy princess Oh, Tink, above, For pixie kin. To flit, to float, to fleet and flourish Oh, Tinkerbell… You harbor honeyed dreams of a mortal My inward imp Within the realm of your royal fancy. I live under your spell… love. Seeks empathy, I clap my hands Oh, And refuge Fairy Godmother For I believe in fairies! What fairy From propriety. I am wistful, wishful, dreamful, I believe you dwell Irony: And so this psyche Ripe with Cinderella dreams. In Never, Never Land You want human happiness

Lister_1725_book.indd 5-6 4/17/18 11:22 AM While I seek spritely sweetness. Fairy Thank You Miscellany Courtship Such tenderness my heart has never known, You offer your immortality Both Will Shakespeare and Walt Disney It seems that words cannot describe my So I expect to waken from a dream. For a taste of flesh and fervency, Have made stars of the fairy... heart, But as your warmth envelops my frail soul, But you know not the power of earthly Let us not forget, Although I feel the need to understand How perfect and how pure the world does pain, Lest we regret, This coy, consuming thought. seem! The magical frailty of things humane. There are still a few I will impart, strangely enough, my plight And as dreams turn to actuality, Yet, We should mention, too: involves a man. Reality becomes sweet fantasy. Your silver nocturne enchants my soul The Tooth Fairy who reimbursed us The issue is of that which is implied, To cherish the wish that renders me whole. For our dental deliveries, Be it in smile, in touch, in sigh or glance. Consequence I may not see eternity, like you, The Sugar Plum Fairy who dances so sweetly One needs the insight of a neutral mind Within me stirs a pain beyond compare, But my love, he is lifelong, real, and true. In our Nutcracker memories, Or else ideas will quickly be entranced. An ache which haunts me even as I sleep. The Blue Fairy who gave a puppet Bur reason is impossible to see Because I know that you no longer care, Sookie Stackhouse The chance to be a boy, When romance serenades a lonely soul. My blood becomes the tears my heart does Sookie Stackhouse is a fairy! And The Lilac Fairy whose magic Thus he, the wooing poet, holds the key weep. Sookie Stackhouse: Let a Sleeping Beauty wake to joy. For only he can play the leader’s role. I live within the memory of your touch What a silly, silly name. Oh, thank you, one and all, dear fairies, Albeit so, the prospect it not dim And drown in the denial of my loss. It has so many sibilants. For granting wishes If she, the courted, versifies love for him. But my delusion only does so much Although alliteration is okay. And princes’ kisses, And cannot quell forsaken love’s cruel frost. Fitting fairy names are And making dreams realities. Consummation Abiding in my own uncherished soul, Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, A single image doth consume my mind I mourn the part of me he took away. Silvermist, Dewberry. A Sonnetress Enamored (Linda Lister) Encompassing both pleasure and despair. I look to time and space to take control, Not Sookie, nor Snookie. These poems, and later this song cycle, were Within this thought, tranquility I find, For they alone my suffering can allay. A telepathic barmaid from Bon Temps, written during the composer’s time at Vassar For when I close my eyes, I see you there. And when my self-regard has been retrieved, She loves the vampire Bill Compton. College. The instrumental part, originally Sweet sights remain as I recall your face, Perhaps the course of love will then True Love, True Blood. scored for flute, is meant to represent the And on my lips I feel a lingering kiss. proceed. Sookie Stackhouse: lover of the female poet. I am transported to a wondrous place, Stick to telepathy and fairy telemetry, A place where they conceived the stage of Or you might have a vampire baby! bliss.

Lister_1725_book.indd 7-8 4/17/18 11:22 AM Separate Strings On letters never mailed. ’Tis not in the high stars alone, More a new moon. These beautiful poems portray the highs And after a while, Nor in the cup of budding flowers, Optimist, and lows of coupling and uncoupling. No more insomnia, Nor in the redbreast’s mellow tone, Feminist. No more insanity, Nor in the bow that smiles in showers, Grace inherent, Oh sweetest song (Rainer Maria Rilke) Some more happiness, But in the mud and scum of things Eyre apparent. (Translation by Stephen Mitchell) Some more life. There alway, alway something sings. Oh Jane, miss Eyre, How can I keep my soul in me, so that All it took was giving you up. Your air I’d share. It doesn’t touch your soul? How can I raise And that took quite a bit. Eyre to Jane (Linda Lister) It high enough, past you, to other things? (used with permission by Jane Eyre, J.E. (Not Jane Austen) from How Clear She Shines! I would like to shelter it, among remote Peter McWilliams) By Currer Bell, C.B. (Or Charlotte Brontë) The semi-opera How Clear She Shines! Lost objects, in some dark and silent place Or Jane Elliot (not George Eliot) (2002) explores the writings and relation- That doesn’t resonate when your depths Emerson & Eyre Not by Ellis Bell, E.B. (Charlotte’s sister ships of the Brontë sisters. These excerpts resound. Inspired by two great poets, these song Emily) reveal the inner thoughts of pious Anne and Yet everything that touches us, me and you, celebrate music and literature. Each a Yorkshire governess and tutor, passionate Emily. Takes us together like a violin’s bow, L.L., myself a Yorkshire granddaughter, Which draws one voice out of two separate Sky-born music sings Though no orphan a teacher too, Penitent (Anne Brontë) strings. (Ralph Waldo Emerson) And a Brontëite through and through. I mourn with thee, and yet rejoice Upon what instrument are we two spanned? Let me go where’er I will, An eager, gentle reader That thou shouldst sorrow so; And what musician holds us in his hand? I hear a sky-born music still: Seeking Edward Rochester With angel choirs I join my voice Oh sweetest song. It sounds from all things old, Or Edward Cullen, either! To bless the sinner’s woe. (used with permission by Stephen Mitchell) It sounds from all things young, On the misty moors with Cathy From all that’s fair, from all that’s foul, Saving Edgar, Heathcliff, Nelly, Though friends and kindred turn away, To give you up (Peter McWilliams) Peals out a cheerful song. With no Bertha, Adele, or Blanche, And laugh thy grief to scorn; To give you up. Although a French ward could entrance. I hear the great Redeemer say, God! What a bell of freedom It is not only in the rose, Saving her love from the fire “Blessed are ye that mourn.” That rings within me! It is not only in the bird, Whilst igniting his desire. Hold on thy course, nor deem it strange No more waiting for letters, Not only where the rainbow glows, To Thornfield Manor let me go That earthly cords are riven: Phone calls, postcards that never came. Nor in the song of woman heard, To bask in Edward’s afterglow. Man may lament the wondrous change, No more creative energy wasted But in the darkest, meanest things Not a plain Jane, But “there is joy in heaven!”

Lister_1725_book.indd 9-10 4/17/18 11:22 AM Stars (Emily Brontë) There is not room for Death The Perfect Love Poem Berry blast popsicle Ah! why, because the dazzling sun Nor atom that his might could render void Every time Is heavenly. Restored my earth to joy Since thou art Being and Breath I see your face Have you departed, every one, And what thou art may never be destroyed. It reminds me The Cheese Poem And left a desert sky? Of you. “Poets have been mysteriously silent on the All through the night, your glorious eyes B is for Bad Poetry (Pamela August Russell) subject of cheese.” Were gazing down in mine, (used with permission) Kiss Me Quick —G.K. Chesterton And with a full heart’s thankful sighs Composed in 2010 for Emily Tweedy, this Kiss me quick I blessed that watch divine! set was inspired by Carrie Jacob Bonds’ Before I have that dream again, Gouda, Brie, Fontina, Why did the morning rise to break Half-Minute Songs. The one where I’m Feta, Parmesan, Cow’s milk, So great, so pure a spell, Riding a zebra naked Limburger, Roquefort, Havarti, And scorch with fire the tranquil cheek B is for Bad Poetry Through Chelsea during rush hour Blue, Romano. Cottage. Where your cool radiance fell? Bad poetry! And you go whizzing by There. I’ve milked it O Stars and Dreams and Gentle Night; You can just On a shiny silver scooter yelling something for all it’s worth. O Night and Stars return! Sit in the corner like, And hide me from the hostile light Until you learn “I love you!” Singer’s Amnesia (Linda Lister) That does not warm, but burn— How to rhyme. But I can’t be sure This pastiche encore piece was created in That drains the blood of suffering men; Because of the police sirens homage (and with apologies) to Gounod, Drinks tears, instead of dew: Motto So I yell back “I love you too!” Mozart, and Wagner. It premiered at Spivey Let me sleep through his blinding reign, When one door closes When a nun carrying Hall in 2012. And only wake with you! Another one opens A huge red bong Onto a cliff. Comes up and says, Sometimes when you sing a song No coward soul is mine (Emily Brontë) “He didn’t say ‘I love you.’ The text comes out all wrong. No coward soul is mine I Became a Fabulous Opera He said, ‘You have toilet paper You can’t recall what the words are No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled I became Stuck to your shoe.’ ” After the aria’s begun. sphere A fabulous opera It certainly is no fun. I see Heaven’s glories shine The day the fat lady Nietzsche and the Ice-Cream Truck It’s what we call singer’s amnesia. And Faith shines equal arming me from Began to sing God is dead. Ah, I fear it is forgotten. Fear Completely out of tune. But this atomic In my head there is a cloud.

Lister_1725_book.indd 11-12 4/17/18 11:22 AM In my head there’s just a cloud. Even if you skip around. Voice Secrets: 100 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Singer and Red Rock Mantras. Lister Sometimes you forget the pitches; Oh how lovely when just in time is Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Opera Theater at the University of Nevada, From your mouth comes not a sound. The right words come to mind! Las Vegas. Beat yourself up if you want to Once more! Encore! But it won’t help you remember. Heiajaheia! Canadian collaborative pianist Amanda Johnston is Associate Just keep going, just keep going Professor of Music at the University of Mississippi where she acts as Music Director/Vocal Coach for the Opera Theatre; teaches courses in advanced diction; and coaches students at the undergraduate and graduate level. She is also on faculty at Musiktheater Bavaria (Ober- Soprano and composer Linda Lister is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of audorf, Germany) and the Druid City Opera Workshop (Tuscaloosa, Vassar College. She received her M.M. from the Eastman School of AL). She is author of English and German Diction for Singers: A Com- Music and her DMA in Voice Performance from the University of parative Approach, 2nd edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), highly North Carolina at Greensboro. The Durham Herald-Sun has described praised in the Journal of Singing for “enlivening the study of diction”. her singing as “gloriously refulgent, with a brightly etched sound that She has released two CDs with MSR Classics: Mahler: Rückert-Lieder enchanted,” while The Buffalo News praised her “strong, shimmering with Julia Morgan (mezzo-soprano) in 2012; and Métissage with Adam Estes (saxophone) in soprano.” Her solo credits include performances with the Washington 2017. Her research on comparative diction and lesser-known composers of German lied has Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Evansville Philhar- been presented at conferences held by the International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT), monic, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Piedmont Opera Theatre, Opera College Music Society (CMS), National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Theatre of Rochester, Sin City Opera, Greensboro Oratorio Society, National Opera Association (NOA), and Song Collaborators Consortia (SCC). Johnston Cambridge Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and Maine State Music Theatre. She created the has given masterclasses at the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), University of South role of Madge in the world premiere of Libby Larsen’s opera Picnic and sang Savannah in Dakota, Queen’s University, Harding University, Bucknell University, Virginia Tech, Indiana the world premiere concert version of The Prince of Tides with the Carolina Master Chorale. University South Bend, University of South Carolina, and the University of Nevada, Las Lister is a featured soloist on the Albany Records CDs The American Soloist and Midnight Vegas. She has held positions at the University of Toronto, York University, Taos Opera Tolls, and sings with the Prague Radio Symphony on the Centaur Records release Moments Institute, and Lied Austria. She has been broadcast on CBC Radio 2 and NPR, and has per- of Arrival. Besides the works on this CD, her other compositions include the one-act opera formed in Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, Germany, France, Austria, and Scotland. State of Grace and Flags: Summer of 2015, a song cycle for bass-baritone commissioned by She was educated at Queen’s University, the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” (Weimar, Paul Houghtaling. She is author of the books Yoga for Singers: Freeing Your Voice and Spirit Germany), and the Janáček Academy of Music (Brno, Czech Republic). through Yoga and So You Want to Sing Light Opera: A Guide for Performers and co-author of

Lister_1725_book.indd 13-14 4/17/18 11:22 AM Described by the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin as “one of the most talented young musicians I have ever seen,” Wei-Wei Le, a native of Shanghai, graduated high school from Yehudi Menuhin School in England. She then went on to receive her Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music degree from Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Graduate Diploma from New England Conservatory of Music. Le has firmly established herself as Acknowledgments one of the most gifted violinists in her generation. She has won many = important international competitions, including the Yehudi Menuhin Recorded August 13-14 and October 8, 2015 in Dr. Arturo International Violin Competition (England), the Kloster Schontal Rando-Grillot Recital Hall, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. International Violin Competition (Germany), and the Starling International Violin Com- Recording, Editing, and Mixing: Chuck Foley petition (USA), among others. Her studies have taken her to renowned violin pedagogues, such as Yehudi Menuhin, Donald Weilerstein, Almita and Roland Vamos, and Dorothy Mastering Engineer: Gil Kaupp DeLay. As a solo performer, Le has given recitals and concerts all over the world, performing Recording Engineer: Ron George solo concertos with noteworthy orchestras such as the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Royal Cover art: Sophie Gengembre Anderson, Take the Fair Face Philharmonic Orchestra (London), Queensland Symphony (Australia), Bermuda Symphony of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, Orchestra, and the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra. As a devoted chamber musician, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Le has collaborated with great musicians and quartets in North America, Europe, and Asia, including Richard Stoltzman, William Preucil, Sarah Chang, and Eliot Fisk, as well as the Things (1869) Ying Quartet and St. Petersburg Quartet. Le is Associate Professor of Violin at the Univer- sity of Nevada, Las Vegas. This recording is made possible in part by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Lister_1725_book.indd 15-16 4/17/18 11:22 AM LINDA LISTER: PLEAS TO FAMOUS FAIRIES TROY1725 A Sonnetress Enamored 14 Courtship [2:58] LINDA= LISTER 15 Consummation [3:14] 16 Consequence [2:41] Wei-Wei Le, violin Pleas to Separate Strings 17 Oh sweetest song [2:26] Famous Fairies 18 To give you up [1:26] Linda Lister, soprano Emerson & Eyre 19 Sky-born music sings [2:11] Amanda Johnston, piano 20 Eyre to Jane [2:43]

Bring Me the Wine of Love from How Clear She Shines! 1 Free my heart [0:49] 21 Penitent [2:22] 2 I am hopelessly in love with you [1:08] 22 Stars [2:44] 3 There is no wine without You [0:54] 23 No coward soul is mine [1:58] 4 What a loss [1:21] TROY1725 5 O lovers [2:10] B is for Bad Poetry 6 I am love’s musician [1:31] 24 B is for Bad Poetry [0:21] 25 Motto [0:18] Pleas to Famous Fairies 26 I Became a Fabulous Opera [0:31] 7 Ariel Ambitions [1:32] 27 The Perfect Love Poem [0:18] 8 Queen Titania [2:08] 28 Kiss Me Quick [0:37] 9 Fairy Godmother [2:13] 29 Nietzsche and the Ice-Cream Truck [0:29] 10 Tink [1:35] 30 The Cheese Poem [0:51] 11 Rusalka [2:35] 12 Sookie Stackhouse [0:58] 31 Singer’s Amnesia [3:21] 13 Fairy Thank You Miscellany [1:54] Total Time = 51:46

Lister_1725_inlay.indd 1 4/17/18 9:17 AM