MUSIC REVIEWS Kathleen Roland-Silverstein

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 shaku­hachi, 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 wom- an’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. The first moments after birth; “Five Days of 2015, with performances sold out opening “The Song Rehearsal” has a (Birth Three),” a heartbreaking account far in advance of the summer season. gentle honky-tonk feel to it, with a of carrying a dead fetus to term (“five The composer cites such disparate direction to the pianist for “bar room days, while heartbreaking, were also a influences as Bob Dylan, reggae, pop noodling.” The scene conveyed is the gift”); and the exultant duet, “I Did It!” music of the ’60s and ’70s, and blue- biblical annunciation scene between with its constant meter changes and grass as important influences in her Mary and the angel, set here in a New triumphant E major heralding the compositional approach. There is an b Orleans bar. The song, “Pregnant,” birth of twins. ease and wonderful vocalism in these with text by Cheryl Strayed (author The Birth Project is a thoroughly songs. Love Sweet is an eminently of the best selling book Wild), is an engaging set of songs, and goes on approachable and singable song cycle, amusing quiet tale of one woman’s to further augment the solid body of although the five songs are sometimes inability to keep a happy secret, with work by one of America’s most tal- the harmony hovering in a beautifully ented composers for the voice. arpeggiated D major. The composer includes breath marks to aid in the clarity of the text, always important Higdon, Jennifer (b. 1962). Love in a Larsen vocal score. “Ultrasound” Sweet: Poems of Amy Lowell. Five is a delicately rendered telling of a Songs, for soprano, violin and cello. early moment in pregnancy, with the Co-commissioned by Songfest and voice required to float in the passag- the Sorel Foundations. Premiered gio and above in a luminous A minor at Songfest, 2014, by Yungee Rhie, key, with tonal shifts. “Due Date” soprano, Peter Myers, cellist, Itamar uses major 7ths in one hand of the Zorman, violinist, and Liza Stepanova, piano to express the “elephantine” pianist. Lawdon Press, 2014. Tonal; gait of the woman whose due date C4–B5; varied tempi; about 15 minutes. has come and gone, discrete sec- Medium difficulty. DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC onds in the other hand to express the anxiety, and large leaps in the vocal For this commission, composer Florida Atlantic University’s Dept. of line to convey the pain and fear of Higdon selected the poetry of Music announces the 2016/17 labor. “Alone,” calling for a piano Georgina Dieter Dennis Foundation American poet Amy Lowell (1874– Vocal Scholarships, $6,000 annual accompaniment of small semitone 1925). Lowell was a New England poet awards available to vocal students gestures and sustained chords, con- included in the coterie called imag- who have graduated from Florida high sists of a quietly desperate and rising istes, who sought to distance them- schools and plan to attend FAU. recitative, “distanced by pain,” and selves from what they deemed bucolic Visit www.fau.edu/music. sung by the two singers in alternating poetry of too much sentimentality. Audition Registration at: Japanese and English. “Mia” is the Imagistes like Lowell favored a kind of www.fau.edu/music/auditions.php

January/February 2016 401 Kathleen Roland-Silverstein perhaps too alike in mood, and more quietly, again in a minor mode in the tor and vocal coach at the Tanglewood contrast might be desired. lowest registers. Music Center. His compositions Although the voice is required to for voice and piano have been per- soar above the staff—to A and B formed in Carnegie Hall, Wigmore b 5 b 5 in the third song, “Absence,” and to Smith, Alan Louis. Five Psalms from Hall, Music Academy of the West, B and B in the last song, “A Fixed Jonathan to David. For counter- Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, with 5 b 5 Idea”—most of the songs may be sung tenor or mezzo soprano with piano. commissions from Tanglewood, the Classical Vocal Reprints, CVR4211, by a voice of medium range; the few Chamber Music Society of Lincoln 2008. Traditional keys with modula- lines that ascend above the staff are, Center, and the Boston Symphony tions; A 3–F5; tessitura in the middle for the most part, given alternative b Orchestra. In the summer of 2014, ossias that lie a third below. The first range throughout; frequent metric Dr. Smith served on the faculty of song, “Apology,” begins with clear, shifts. Moderately difficult. Songfest, where three of the five songs damped pitches played by the pianist reviewed here were performed by on the strings inside the piano, soon These songs of composer and pia- countertenor Collin Shay and pianist joined by the voice in dance-like, nist Alan Louis Smith are included Dimitri Dover. Recent song publica- infectious rhythms, and then by here although not commissioned by tions available through Classical Vocal the strings, which often answer and Songfest, because Smith has been a Reprints include “I’m Memorizing imitate each other in all the songs. presence there as a faculty member You,”premiered at Tanglewood this It is the song of an ecstatic pilgrim, and a featured composer. He is a pro- past summer, and “To the Muse,” shyly apologizing to the beloved for lific writer for the voice, and a frequent premiered this year at Virginia Tech wearing her heart on her sleeve as she collaborator with such world class in Blacksburg, Virginia. goes through the streets, with the ac- singers as soprano Barbara Bonney, In Five Psalms from Jonathan to companiment of the piano and strings bass baritone Thomas Stewart, and David, the composer has set poetry providing a pointillistic counterpoint baritone Rod Gilfrey. His songs are a of his own creation, and the effect is that never overwhelms the vocal line. favorite of mezzo soprano Stephanie marvelous. The poet’s voice here be- “The Giver of Stars” is a moody piece Blythe and dramatic soprano longs to Jonathan, rather than to his that goes from minor to major with Christine Brewer, a testament to his beloved friend, the well known psalm- the poet’s joyful acceptance of her ability to create a space for even the ist David. The text evokes a wonderful role as an instrument, “tightly strung largest voices to explore the intimacy sense of place, of heat, sensuality, and and in tune,” that brings the beloved’s required for a song recital. eroticism, borrowing from the mood beauty to the world. “Absence” offers Smith has set many interesting of the biblical Song of Songs. The more liberty for the voice to soar, texts, one of the earliest and most songs are not overly taxing range-wise with many excursions above the staff. well known being Vignettes: Letters for the singer, remaining in a low to Open damped fifths in the piano from George to Evelyn (World War II), middle voice tessitura throughout, but interior contrast with barely moving settings of a young soldier’s letters to require a great and mature sensitivity cello and violin lines and frequent use his bride, which have been performed to text. Smith, himself a superb pianist, of pizzicati, adding to the anxiety ex- at Songfest. His many arrangements writes beautifully for the instrument, pressed by the text. “A Gift” is a slow of folk and popular songs are always never making awkward or ignorant and sensuous treatment of the poem beautiful additions to any song recital. demands of the pianist. expressing ultimate sacrifice, and the An important figure in the world of art The first song of the set, “Psalm I— last line shocks with its “But I shall be song and collaboration in the United Your sunburned fingers,” begins with dead” and an almost inaudible resolu- States, Dr. Smith as an outstanding a harp-like thrumming in the piano, tion in B minor in the low registers vocal coach serves as musical director which device continues to appear b of all three instruments. The last song, with Stephanie Blythe of Fall Island throughout the cycle. The text speaks “A Fixed Idea,” begins with a percus- Vocal Arts Seminar, as director of key- of the lover’s scent of “new lambs, of sive piano left hand and beautiful fluid board collaborative arts for the USC sand, of sage, of leather, of blood, of lines for violin and cello. The vocal Thornton School of Music, and for two stars,” and is interspersed with a word- line and all three instruments end decades, as piano program coordina- less modal melisma. Instructions are

402 Journal of Singing Title or Department given to the pianist to “always shape beloved before the famous story of pianist, displays a special sensitivity to with the voice,” and Smith shows a David’s battle with the giant Goliath. the needs of the voice. The demands great sensitivity throughout to the The melodic line here is the most on either a countertenor or mezzo weight of the piano against the voice. demanding in the piece, relentlessly soprano are not overwhelming; the The mood here, as in much of the po- chromatic and ascending to its high- melodies are usually step-wise, avoid etry, is frankly erotic and, at the same est notes for the voice. The rhythmic large leaps, and share material with the time, very spiritual. The second song, play of the hemiola between voice and accompaniment. “Psalm II—Oh! To be a constellation piano creates a sense of urgency, with These are a handful of the creative together with you!” begins quickly the chromaticism mirrored in the fruits of Songfest’s commissioning and brightly, with sharp, trumpet-like piano, and finally ends with a sense of program. Thanks to a partnership that figures in the piano. A slowrallentando disquiet as the piano hovers around a began with the Hampsong Foundation ensues and carries to the end of the D in the low and middle registers. The (founded in 2003 by American bari- song, with the piano’s figure from the final song, “Psalm V—Hide with me tone Thomas Hampson) in 2012, past beginning of the song slowly trans- here,” begins again with the harp motif materials of Songfest, including video formed by the last measure. “Psalm that is heard earlier in the cycle. The and audio recordings, may be viewed III—I kiss your hair” contains that poetry, which speaks prophetically of at http://hampsongfoundation.org. characteristic thrumming of the harp David’s kingship to come, is intimate A note about the scores published throughout this ecstatic song, ending and reverential. Slight tempo changes, by Classical Vocal Reprints; the pub- with the familiar harp-like arpeggios frequent changes of meter, and a lisher, Glendower Jones, is now print- that recur throughout the cycle. “Psalm gradual descent of the vocal line bring ing in a 9x12 inch format for all new IV—The headlong rush of star to star” the piece to a quiet close. Smith, him- items and reprints, for increased ease recounts the fears of Jonathan for his self a singer as well as a collaborative of reading for musicians.

January/February 2016 403