California Dreamin': the Songs Of

Kathleen Roland-Silverstein MUSIC REVIEWS Martin Katz, Alan Louis Smith, and Jesse Malgieri, and pianist Gloria Kim. Margo Garrett to L.A. to inspire and Frequent meter and tempo changes; educate the young musicians chosen fluid tonality. Soprano range G3-B 5; b to be participants through national baritone range F2-C 4, falsetto and b auditions. Master classes and perfor- Sprechstimme. Tessitura is medium to mances are free and open to the pub- medium high for both voices. Difficult. lic. A notable and important special feature of Songfest has been its regular Radiant Depth Unfolded: Settings of commissions and premieres of new Rumi was one of two commissioned works by outstanding living American pieces for Songfest in the summer of Kathleen Roland-Silverstein composers, in addition to the superb 2015, and was included on the concert, learning and performance opportuni- “A Celebration of LA Composers,” CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: ties offered to the participants. This which featured area composers both THE SONGS OF SONGFEST creative facet of Songfest’s mission more and less well known. That has been made possible by the gener- same weekend, Ms. LeBaron’s opera Of the many young artist programs osity of a number of individuals and LSD: The Opera also was presented dotting the American musical land- organizations. One such organization across the street at REDCAT. Anne scape in the 21st century, the art song is the Sorel Foundation (http://sorel- LeBaron, who serves on the faculty at training program and festival known music.org), which has partnered with California Institute of the Arts as the as Songfest stands out as a pioneer and Songfest to commission vocal works by Roy E. Disney Family Chair in Musical model for all such programs. Since it Anne LeBaron (2015), Jennifer Higdon Composition, has attracted national was brought into being in the ’90s by (2014), Ben Moore and Gabriela Lena attention for her groundbreaking California collaborative pianist and Frank (2013), William Bolcom and compositional approach. Other recent coach Rosemary Hyler Ritter, Songfest Ben Moore (2012), Libby Larsen vocal works demonstrating the far- has grown by leaps and bounds, and (2011), Lori Laitman (2010), Tom reaching experimentalism of the com- from venue to venue in California, Cipullo (2009), and John Harbison poser’s work include Breathtails (13 going from its first incarnation at (2005 and 2007). Another wonderful Songs in 21 Breaths) for baritone, UCLA, then to Chapman University, “angel” for Songfest has been the late shaku hachi, and string quartet, and Pepperdine University, and finally to artist and author Marcia Brown, who the one-woman cyborgopera, Sucktion. its present home at the state-of-the-art was responsible for underwriting many These settings of texts by the ex- Colburn School of Music in downtown commissions for the Festival over the traordinary Persian poet, scholar, and Los Angeles, at that nexus of L.A. cul- years. In this column, I would like Sufi mystic of the 13th century quite tural life that includes Disney Hall and to introduce readers to a few of the aptly catch the sense of the quotidian the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, home outstanding works that were either and the ecstatic contained in Rumi’s of Los Angeles Opera. Every June, this created for or premiered at Songfest poetry. LeBaron calls on the singers to song festival and training program in recent years, the scores for which encompass many challenging technical brings musical luminaries such as sing- are currently available. vocal demands, to play cowbell and to ers Frederica von Stade, Lucy Shelton, drop walnuts, or, says the composer, Jessica Rivera, Sanford Sylvan, Dawn “something similar, without too much Upshaw, and Suzanne Mentzer, com- LeBaron, Anne (b. 1953). Radiant bounce (no ping pong balls!)” on the posers John Musto, William Bolcom, Depth Unfolded: Settings of Rumi. strings inside the piano. Jake Heggie, Lori Laitman, and Ben Five songs for soprano, baritone, The first song is introduced by the Moore, and pianists Graham Johnson, and piano. Golden Croak Music, 2015. sound of the cowbell off stage, carried Premiered at Songfest, 2015, com- in by the singers. The poem, “The Guest Journal of Singing, January/February 2016 missioned jointly by Songfest and the House,” is sung mostly in tandem by Volume 72, No. 3, pp. 399–403 Sorel Organization, and performed by Copyright © 2016 the soprano and baritone, sometimes National Association of Teachers of Singing soprano Melanie Henley Heyn, baritone in thirds and fifths, sometimes in close January/February 2016 399 Kathleen Roland-Silverstein seconds. In the brief “Empty Page,” dynamic changes. The cycle as a whole the work) while the three were faculty the second song, the soprano soars is very effective, with lush, interesting, together at Songfest. Song literature, above a translucent, “floating, airy” sonorities, and in the right hands and they agreed, is replete with songs piano, while the baritone whispers voices, provides an aural soundscape about death, lost love, found love, and phonates in a “slightly pitched that transports the listener. marriage, war, children—all of human falsetto.” LeBaron calls for a meterless, experience expressed in poetry and free piano part in the beginning of the set by composers. The three women third “Song,” where the baritone sings Larsen, Libby (b. 1950). The Birth surmised, however, that one topic had the text and the soprano comments Project. 11 Songs for two sopranos largely escaped the notice of Western with a wordless “Ah” at the beginning and piano, on the words of Phoebe musical minds over the centuries, and and ending. The pianist then sustains Damrosch, Lauren Groff, Heidi Pitlor, that had been the actual experience of the final cluster chord for the beginning A.E. Stallings, Cheryl Strayed, Akik childbirth. Thus the idea for The Birth of the fourth song, while the baritone Yosano, Gina Zucker. Premiered at Project began. The evolution of the text drops the walnuts from a short dis- Songfest, 2015, by sopranos Audrey grew from consideration of the poetry tance onto the strings, a gold chain is Hannah, Gwen Colman Detwiler, and of Maya Angelou and others, finally laid upon the strings, and the soprano pianist Lydia Brown. Libby Larsen rejected because of copyright and per- retrieves the walnuts. This serves to Publishing, 2015. Tonal, with shifting mission difficulties. A second libretto # highlight the aural effect for the thirsty key centers; D4–C 6. Tessitura is high, was begun and dropped, and the final man of the poem, who wishes only to with some demanding upper passaggio source for the libretto was decided hear the music of the walnuts, not to eat work and high lying phrases for both upon: Labor Day: True Birth Stories by them! The final “The Music We Are” is singers. Medium difficulty. Today’s Best Women Writers, edited intense and even wild; the song ends by Eleanor Henderson and Anna with Rumi’s observation that “Poems This song cycle by American com- Solomon, along with one poem by are rough notations for the music we poser Libby Larsen grew out of an Japanese writer Aikiko Yosana and are,” and the singers and pianist pro- ongoing conversation between the two more by A. E. Stallings. Texts vide a lushly textured and harmonically composer and singers Audrey Hannah range in subject from the comic to the adventurous duet, the piano keeping and Gwen Colman Detwiler (who with tragic, with each told in an undeniably pace with rapid-fire metric, tempo, and the Sorel Foundation, commissioned strong voice. The creators of The Birth Project desired that the work reflect not just an upper-class, white woman’s experience of the birth process, 30-Day but that it be a universal expression of Free the experience for all women, express- Trial! ing loss, joy, amusement, discomfort, and elation. • Over 11,500 IPA transcriptions and The eleven songs differ greatly word-for-word translations from works in six languages. in range and feeling, with six of the songs set for solo voice (“Pregnant!,” • More than 1,500 arias! “Ultrasound,” “Mia,” “Superhero,” • Virtually all the standard teaching repertoire. “From the Start,” “Five Days”), four duets, the firsta cappella (“The Song • Yearly institutional subscriptions starting at $250. Rehearsal,” “Due Date,” “Alone,” “I Did It”); and one movement for piano • Join the more than 300 schools worldwide that solo (“First Miracle”). The piano solo subscribe to IPA Source. precedes the final four birth stories, “Superhero,” “From the Start,” “Five Days,” and “I Did It!,” which are www.ipasource.com strung together with an attacca given 400 Journal of Singing Music Reviews after each song, as the cycle rushes name of the expected daughter, and free verse form that was still shaped, headlong from the first story to the the song is accompanied through- really a precursor of modern poetry. last. The songs may be individually out with ascending and descending Metaphors, or images, as seen in excerpted, but even so, it might be best figures in both piano and voice, as these five poems, were highly valued. to maintain the continuity of the final the suggestion to “try stairs” comes Higdon has chosen five poems from four, which make up four different from the one soprano, the midwife, two of Lowell’s most important collec- “birth stories.” to the other, the soon-to-be mother. tions, A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass The cycle as a whole is vocally de- After the piano solo midway, “First and Sword Blades and Poppy Seed manding, like much of Ms. Larsen’s Miracle,” a succession of four songs (both 1912). She is a Pulitzer Prize songs, but reflects the texts so adroitly follows; “Superhero (Birth One),” a winning composer, whose opera, Cold that the listener is conscious only of sweet expression of confidence; “From Mountain, enjoyed its world premiere the humor, the pathos, or the sincerely the Start (Birth Two),” recounting the at the Santa Fe Opera in the summer expressed emotion of each text.

Load more