| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
The Metropolitan Tower and Other Songs — for soprano and piano (priced for 2 copies)
Classical/Song • 1991 • Lyricist: Sara Teasdale
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
The Metropolitan Tower and Other Songs — for soprano and piano (priced for 2 copies)
Instrumentation |
Piano, Soprano |
Scored for |
Solo, Accompanying piano |
Type of score |
Piano-vocal score |
Publisher |
Enchanted Knickers Music |
Language |
English |
Difficulty |
Medium |
Duration |
12'0 |
The Metropolitan Tower, the first art song that I ever composed, was written at the request of Lauren Wagner for inclusion on her debut CD. I listened to many art songs for guidance, and read a lot of poetry. I was happy to discover Sara Teasdale, whose simple lyricism had an immediate appeal. I was also attracted to the music of Paul Bowles, and patterned The Metropolitan Tower on his song Secret Words — by using melody as the primary force with a simple accompaniment that often doubled the vocal line. The opening textural sparseness and dissonance of the accompaniment in A Winter Night sets the mood for the winter imagery of the poem. The use of sustained pedal in Old Tunes creates an blurred sound atmosphere, conjuring the image of a fragrances floating in the air or sounds recalled through memory. The shifting harmonies and meters of The Strong House create a feeling of instability as a commentary on the text. Lush harmonies are the hallmark of The Hour, which, like The Metropolitan Tower, is a reflection on a woman's first discovery of love (and which is also dedicated to my husband). The syncopated rhythms and chromatic harmonies in the piano part of To A Loose Woman set a sly background for the dramatic vocal line.
There are various recordings of these songs, which can be found on Spotify or YouTube.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|