Upon Cycles

Upon Cycles

Track Listings

1. 3 Points...

2. Colour Ballet

3. _Root

4. Desper

5. Oments

6. Next Level of the Tree

7. Take Flight

8. Seperation Definition

9. Coffee Shop Philosophy

10. Group Heartbeat

11. Clockwork Will

12. Turn Indefinately

13. Sexy Stickshifter

14. Kichigai Arukedo

15. All Through

16. Sleep Paralysis

Tracks:

Frédéric Chopin (3:55)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (3:07)
Franz Schubert (4:51)
Johann Sebastian Bach (3:39)
Claude Debussy (3:28)
Giacomo Puccini (2:29)
Robert Schumann (4:36)Songs About Spring (10:45) - DOMINICK ARGENTO
I. who knows if the moon's a balloon (2:11)
II. Spring is like a perhaps hand (2:50)
III. in Just-spring (1:31)
IV. in Spring comes (1:34)
V. when faces called flowers (2:26)To Be Sung Upon the Water (27:22) - DOMINICK ARGENTO
I. Prologue: Shadow and Substance (3:33)
II. The Lake at Evening (3:08)
III. Music on the Water (3:15)
IV. Fair is the Swan (1:38)
V. In Remembrance of Schubert (3:43)
VI. Hymn Near the Rapids (2:43)
VII. The Lake at Night (3:59)
VIII. Epilogue: De profundis (5:00)Three Vocalises for Soprano and Clarinet (4:02) - RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
I. Prelude (1:52)
II. Scherzo (0:40)
III. Quasi menuetto (1:25)selections from Along the Field (10:36) - RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
II. Along the Field (2:49)
VI. Good-Bye (2:24)
VII. Fancy's Knell (3:41)
VIII. With Rue My Heart is Laden (1:33)TOTAL TIME (79:34)

Album Description

The disc includes the world premiere recording of Argento's Songs about Spring for voice and piano, based on poems by e.e. cummings. "This first recording . . . should serve as a model for all future performances," the composer says. Argento composed this song cycle (his first) while still an undergraduate at Baltimore's Peabody Institute of Music. Here, too, is the only available CD recording of Letters from Composers for voice and guitar. Based on letters and fragments of letters written by Chopin, Mozart, Schubert, Bach, Debussy, Puccini, and Schumann, they illustrate a wide range of personal problems having almost no relevance to their compositional careers. The musical settings show Argento's understanding of each composer's expressive style. To Be Sung Upon the Water (Wordsworth settings scored for high voice, clarinet, and piano) is available in only one other version -- a reissue from the 1970s. The cycle is noteworthy for the subtle and sensitive use of clarinet and bass clarinet (performed here by Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal clarinetist Larry Combs). The clarinet reappears in Vaughan Williams' Three Vocalises for Soprano and Clarinet, one of the composer's last works. Vaughan Williams' love of early English folk music is evident in the song selections from Along the Field, his settings of A.E. Housman poems for the unusual combination of voice and violin. These are the only available CD versions of these songs and vocalises. Miss Michaels studied composition with Argento at the University of Minnesota. They share a fondness for intimate vocal forms and a distinct literary sensibility. "Argento's works impress on the listeners a strong musical personality, a result of his being drawn perpetually to the human voice" (New Grove Dictionary of American Music). For her part, Miss Michaels told Fanfare magazine (September / October 1996) in an interview: "I've always been attracted to the literary impulse behind the music." Besides producing musical sounds, she wants to tell stories.

Customer Reviews:

Finally someone sings Argento!.......2001-05-07

Well, I'm sure you recognize me as the serial Patrice reviewer (I promise-I'll branch out a little bit sooner or later!). Oh, but Argento! How fun his works are! I've seen recitalists perform these pieces. The obvious highlight for me is the Mozart letter, especially when sung this well, and with such humor. It is rare to hear such warmth so consistently in interpretation of such contemporary (yet distinctly historical in style) vocal works. Brava to Patrice for continuing to champion the talented underdogs (herself included, I suppose) of the music world.