Mary, Mary
Andy Cohen
About this work:
Mary, Mary was inspired by a painting by Maxfield Parrish, a well-known early 20th-century artist and illustrator. The painting depicts a young girl in a gardening costume coyly gazing in the direction of the observing audience; underneath her is a text advertising Ferry's Seeds, the company who commissioned this work. I had always admired Parrish's work, and wrote this piece in an unsuccessful attempt to win a composition contest sponsored by a Pennsylvania art museum which was showing an exhibition of his paintings and (commercial) illustrations.
Parrish was and still is a controversial figure in the art world, since many of his works blur the lines between art and commerce. Consequently, my piece was written as a fun exercise in blurring the lines between art (classical) and commercial (pop) music; the musical styles which influenced this work the most were those of Gershwin, Wagner, and 60's rock music (as transformed by a late 90's electronic music style known as Big Beat -- Fatboy Slim, The Low-Fidelity All Stars, etc. ) These styles could be seen as a reflection of three artistic components of the Parrish work (the rustic Americana atmosphere of the painting, the psychological portrait of the young girl, and the advertisement which serves as a caption to the painting) as well as a musical analogy to three artists who were influenced by Parrish's work: Norman Rockwell, Edward Hopper, and Andy Warhol.
Towards the end of the piece there is a text which is sung by the performers; this text is the advertising copy for Ferry's Seeds which is so prominent in the Parrish's painting. (Interestingly enough, this text is often cropped out in reproductions of the work which appear in scholarly art journals and textbooks.) I decided that in creating this work, I would incorporate the advertising text into the musical composition. The musicians are instructed in the music to sing this text in a style similar to that of a club diva or a singer in a commercial jingle; however, given the often conservative nature of classical musicians, I never entirely know what to expect in performance!
Year composed: 1999
Duration: 00:08:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 6-9 players
Instrumentation: ,1 Flute soloist(s), ,1 Clarinet soloist(s), ,1 Percussion (General) soloist(s), ,1 Piano soloist(s), ,1 Violin soloist(s), ,1 Cello soloist(s)
Instrumentation notes: Percussion consists of Marimba and "Rock" Drum Set.