Vocalisms

Vocalisms, the new two-CD set featuring my music as well as works by Harbison, Rorem, and Daniel Crozier, has been released by Albany Records. Soprano Mary Mackenzie and pianist Heidi Louise Williams perform my Shadow Memory (text by Susan Orlean), Waltzing the Spheres (Susan Scott Thompson), Three Folk Hymns (based on How Can I Keep From Singing?, Be Thou My Vision, and What Wondrous Love is This?), and the first recording of the piano version of Holy the Firm, (various authors) the 1999 cycle I wrote for Dawn Upshaw and Gilbert Kalish. There’s a complete track listing at the Albany website.

The album makes a fine survey of contemporary American piano-and-voice song, with a mix of pieces by two senior composers (Rorem and Harbison) along with music by two mid-career types (Dan and myself.) The title comes from the opening piece, Harbison’s Vocalism, a Whitman setting that was commissioned by SongFest, the same organization that commissioned Shadow Memory.

I met Mary when she did my Three Sacred Songs about ten years ago, and she has been a wonderful advocate for my music ever since. Heidi came to my attention through her collaboration with Mary, and, as with Mary, I’ve been thrilled to hear her performances. It’s a wonderful combination of two smart artists who each have a gorgeous sound and superb musicianship. Their partnership is impeccable and they command every mood, whether serene or playful, mysterious or exuberant, often with no small emotional wallop, whether it’s the melancholy of Shadow Memory or the devastating deathbed scene that closes Holy the Firm. I’m profoundly grateful for their work.

I am delighted with the quality of the recording as well, as realized by producer Peter Henderson and engineer Paul Hennerich.

This is Mary’s fourth release on Albany, which says something for their well-justified belief in her merit. I can’t provide a direct link, but go to the Albany website and do an artist search to see her complete list of Albany albums, including the 21st Century Consort’s Cathedral Music, featuring my Sacred Songs and Meditations. And do the same for Heidi, whose Albany releases include a wonderful disc of contemporary American piano music called Drive American. You’ll want to browse the Albany catalog in general - the firm is admirable for its commitment to new music.

While there is a brief soundclip from the new album at the Albany page, you can see videos of Mary and Heidi doing two of the songs from the album here. That page also includes material from the Cathedral Music cd.

The score of Holy the Firm is available from the Theodore Presser Co., while the other songs are available from me directly - just send me a message.

Here are the three of us - Mary on the left - after a 2015 coaching session.

Late Advent Miscellany

- I’ve been listening to the Andrew Hill album Point of Departure. It’s an all-star session, with Eric Dolphy, Joe Henderson, Kenny Dorham, Richard Davis and Tony Williams along with Hill on piano. The music is richly polyrhythmic, thanks both to Hill’s writing and to the contributions of the performers. Dolphy’s playing is simply electric - there is something so alive in his playing - and Williams is endlessly and astonishingly inventive. The track called Dedication captures the emotional impact of the blues without using blues vocabulary.

– Mary Mackenzie and Heidi Williams have wrapped up the recording sessions I recently mentioned. But I want to add some words of acknowledgement for piano technician Anne Garee who made frequent crucial adjustments to the Fazioli, and for producer Peter Henderson and engineer Paul Hennerich - Heidi describes them as a “dream team”, and reports they knew just how to draw out of the musicians their very best.

– if you are in need of a little holiday humor, try re-visiting this and this.