Reflections (on 3 poems of Ilsa Gilbert)
Daniel Burwasser
About this work:
I. How to Be St. Francis in Bryant Park
II. Dreams Die When the Dreamer Does
III. Party
The three poems presented in Reflections were chosen for their varied dramatic and emotional content. The music shifts from peaceful solitude in the first song, to impending doom in the second, to dark sarcasm in the final song.
The first performance of Reflections took place on February 26, 1994 at The Greenwich House in New York City.
“Little Fanfares for the Common Man and Woman”
...composer Daniel Burwasser forms quite an acceptable union with the words in his Reflections, perhaps Ms. (Ilsa) Gilbert’s most searching and insightful poem of the evening sung with taste and assurance by mezzo soprano Oreen Zeitlin...
--The Music Connoisseur, Vol.2, No.1 Winter-Spring, 1994
“I Hear America Singing” (On The Occasion of American Independence Day)
... (a) series of extraordinary songs. The music is sunshine brilliant, its rays are reflected in the crystalline notes of the piano (like Debussy’s songs).
-- Haik (translated)July 11, 1996
Year composed: 1993
Duration: 00:09:00
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Solo Voice with Keyboard
Instrumentation: 1 Piano, 1 Mezzo-Soprano
Instrumentation notes: Mz, pno