Judith Weir:  King Harald’s Saga, Act I

Judith Weir: King Harald’s Saga, Act I

I was twenty-three and living in Cambridge, England. My new soprano friend Amanda Dean introduced me to the music of Judith Weir through a wonderful performance of her 1979 monodrama King Harald’s Saga. “Harald” is described as a grand opera in three...
Burke/Webster:  Black Coffee

Burke/Webster: Black Coffee

“Love’s a hand-me-down brew” in these blues. Who would spurn Peggy Lee when she sings so languorously? Born Norma Deloris Egstrom in North Dakota, Peggy Lee had a voice that to me could do just about anything. But be sexy. At least to me. Not even in...
Rachmaninoff:  Daisies

Rachmaninoff: Daisies

Okay, perhaps on another beautiful day in Berkshires I shouldn’t wave goodbye so quickly to summer.  Igor Severyanin’s poem beholds daisies in perfect summer bloom, and Rachmaninoff doesn’t hold back.  I got to know the music when I was fourteen,...
Schumann:  Des Sennen Abschied

Schumann: Des Sennen Abschied

This week I am in the Berkshires, preparing for a performance at Tanglewood of my Variations on a Summer Day, songs which in part were previewed on the NYFOS Next series two years ago.  Songs about summer, and about mountains, spring to mind.  I am numbering these...
Kurt Weill:  Muschel von Margate

Kurt Weill: Muschel von Margate

I met Cyndia Sieden outside her voice lesson at Marlena Malas’s studio in 1982. She was a breath of fresh air—guileless and smart, an unbeatable combo. We seemed to fall into one another’s confidence instantly. I was fascinated by her name, which happens to be the...