THE NEW RIVER

Solo highlights include:

"Evening" (1921); "Serenity" (1930), Charles Ives

Récitation 10b", Récitations (1978), Georges Aperghis

"Nanna's Lied" (1939), Kurt Weill

Our Father (1989), Julius Eastman

"Dank", 2 Gesänge, Op. 1, No. 1 (1903), Arnold Schoenberg

‍

EARTH

Under the Cover of Dense Leafy Clusters... a journey begins, unsettled and shrouded in mystery

The Journeyer... is vexed by the message of the nightingale, not meant for his ears. His is not to linger and enjoy, but to trod on and never, never rest. Yet he must stop, and because he has betrayed his purpose, the nightingale pities him

Eccentric Flint... the restless pursuit of meaning, over and under, through the undulations of perception and experience in a vast world

The Face of Nature... is calm, until the end of the world, when spring days smell of vague memories. The forest was destroyed by barbarians. The song of the extinct birds is heard in the wind

The Voice of the Rain... speaks of her inevitable, unending purifying and seeding of life... thus, song regenerates the soul

Evening... twilight, silence, sleep, the nightingale accompanies...

Recitation... as if the nightingale's trope were captured, imprinted, transformed, mechanized, and exploited, for both fancy and folly

‍

WORK

Evening Fantasy... the journeyer comes upon the ploughman, the fisherman, the merchants, all comrades in work and friendship... but he longs for rest, for peace, for relief from the grief of toil and strife.

Charlie Rutlage... was another good cowpuncher gone to meet his fate, beneath his trusty steed, in a profession for the joyous, heedless brave

The New River... what's that sound? It's a new industrial age, and the passing of the River Gods.

West London... passersby shun the beggar, whose child may hold hope for a better way This City was Named for the Angels... and these angels are everywhere, servicing the sycophants and glitterati at Hollywood pool parties

Nanna's Song... she's been in this business for a long time... clear eyed, she considers where her youth has gone, and is grateful for the quick passage the years

The Illuminated Factory... exploited workers struggle to be heard, wondering how many hours must we work for a minute's worth of wages. Amidst the ashes rises a song of hope that their deaths were not in vain

‍

GRATITUDE

Serenity... drop Thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease...

How Georg von Frundsberg Sang About Himself... bitterly, as a humble servant of God, as a custodian of his people, and having received no earthly recognition or reward for his labors.

Our Father... a stark prayer in times of darkness

Afterglow... at the quiet close of day, every lightest fantasy lovelier grows in memory Elevation... how the blooming of the earth lifts us over the clouds into the sun Thanks... for the greatness you have given me, for the beauty we have given each other, for the sharp sorrow, the wintry brightness, for all I could never have anticipated - I thank you!

When my soul touches yours... a great chord sings

O’Rourke… hallelujah!

‍