CIRCLE OF THE EYE, Song Cycle After Tom Mckeown
Harold Blumenfeld
About this work:
CIRCLE OF THE EYE [1979] Eleven Poems of Tom McKeown, Tenor or Soprano, Piano......
Premiered 4 April 1979, Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, Rosalind Rees, soprano, Paul Suits, piano.....
Pub: Columbia Univ Press, Galaxy Music Corp. Out of print. >>>Score available only from composer, blumenf@wustl.edu $30<<<.....
TEXTS of two songs shown below. Sample SCORE PAGES available on this site.....
I. " Watching the Silence"---
I WATCH A BUTTERLY
WORKING ITS WINGS OVER WET MOSS.
THE WINGS MOVE TO MUSIC,
THE WIND PLAYS BACK AS IT HAS EACH DAY, CONTROLLED, PERFECT, TUNED TO THE FLOWERS AS THEY SWAY.
THE BUTTERFLY RISES, HIS ORANGE ELEGANCE
IMPRINTS THE SILK-THIN AIR.......
IX :" What We Cannot Understand"---
A SOUNDING IN THE BLOOD:
THOUSANDS OF DARK BUTTERFLIES
FLOAT UP INTO THE SUN.
IN THE SLOWNESS OF THIS DREAM,
A LOCOMOTIVE ROLLS OVER
LIKE A HUGE HIPPO
AND FILLS THE AFTERNOON WITH FIRE.
BEYOND A STONE WALL, THE SEA
WORKS ITS MUSCLES AGAINST THE ROCKS,
SHOUTS ITS DULL MESSAGE
AGAIN AND AGAIN:
I WILL NEVER GROW TIRED,
I WILL NEVER GIVE UP,
I WILL NEVER CEASE TO LOVE YOU.......
Songs of cycle range from delicate, spare butterfly image of opening poem to rumblings, headlong wild figurations, lyrical, effusions of "What We Cannot Understand", largest of the 11 settings.......
Texts are redolent of the poet's Southwest.......
Pub: Columbia University Press, Galaxy Music Corp. Copyright 1982. Score out of print. Available from composer: see above.
Year composed: 1979
Duration: 00:16:00
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Solo Voice with Keyboard
Instrumentation: ,1 Piano soloist(s), ,1 Medium Voice soloist(s)
Instrumentation notes: Song cycle for mezzo, or baritone / low tenor and piano.
Out of print. Available only from composer, blumenf@wustl.edu