Informationen zu "Eric Funk Four Songs on Poems by Sara Teasdale Solo Songs"
Verlag: Recital Music
Verlagsnummer: RM958
EAN: 9790570459582
ISMN: M-57045-958-2
Beschreibung
Eric Funk writes: 'My philosophy around setting pre-existing texts to music
is that a poem is already a complete work of art. When I consider setting a
poem to music, I must feel that somehow music will enhance the poetry,
framing it and holding it 'high' for the listener. I never alter a poem,
expand, or in any way do anything that may 'damage' the poem. I simply let
the natural rhythm and inflection of the poem as it is spoken drive the shape
of the composition. These poems by Sara Teasdale have a lovely connection
around love and relationship. My interest was to connect them, each poem
leading to the next, and the last poem acting as a profound declaration of
love in the form of an expected goodbye upon death. The choice of soprano and
piano was inspired by wanting the singer's voice to be that of the poet., as
if she were singing them. They are delicate, lyrical and tender songs. I was
asked to create a version for young female choir and, while I first retracted
against the possibility of losing the intimacy of the solo voice, found
ultimately that a group of young women singing these songs could be very
powerful and equally tender. Much of what lay in the piano accompaniment
becomes sung by Soprano 2, Alto 2 and 2, the piano part tracing the melodies
in the 1st Soprano part.' Four Songs on Poems by Sara Teasdale have been
recorded by Sarah Poole (soprano) and Derek Harris (piano) for Prima Facie
Records. ERIC FUNK was born in Deer Lodge, Montana in 1949 and studied
composition with Tomas Svoboda, Sandor Veress and Krzysztof Penderecki. Since
1985 he has lived in Bozeman, Montana and was Music Director and Conductor of
the Helena Symphony Orchestra from 1994 until 2002. In 1994 he co-founded the
Gallatin Chamber Orchestra and combines a busy career as composer, conductor,
jazz pianist, teacher and television presenter, having taught music theory at
college in Oregon, Washington, Texas and Montana. Eric Funk is a prolific and
successful composer, writing in almost every genre, and has received
commissions from leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists from throughout
the world. He writes in an independent and confident style, producing
large-scale works alongside music on a smaller and more intimate scale, but
always with a strong desire to communicate to audiences and performers alike.
Five symphonies, 14 concertos, 6 ballets and 3 operas are at the heart of
Eric Funk's orchestral output alongside much vocal and chamber music. His
symphonies have been performed and recorded in America, Russia, Czech
Republic, Poland and Latvia and he was Composer-in-Residence at Bass-Fest
2005 in England. SARA TEASDALE was an American lyric poet and was born in
St. Louis, Missouri on 8 August 1884. She suffered poor health as a child and
was not well enough to begin school until the age of 9. She visited Europe
numerous times from 1905 onwards, which she counted as an influence on her
poetry, as were the works of Christina Rossetti, and the major themes in her
work were love, nature's beauty and death. In 1918 she won the Columbia
University Poetry Society prize (the forerunner of the Pulitzer Prize for
Poetry) and the annual prize of the Poetry Society of America. She married
the businessman Ernst Filsinger in 1914 and the following year moved to New
York, which became her home for the rest of her life. Sara was very much a
product of her Victorian upbringing and she was never able to experience in
life the passion that she expressed in her poetry. She was not happy in her
marriage and, against her husband's wishes, divorced him in 1929. Her health
further declined and she died in New York City on 29 January 1933.
