Notes and Editorial Reviews
Harold Blumenfeld is a composer given to language, languages and the human voice. Born in Seattle of musical parents, he studied at Yale with Hindemith, in Zurich, and trained with Leonard Bernstein and Boris Goldovsky at Tanglewood. In the Sixties, from his academic base at Washington University, he launched the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, forerunner of the present company, focusing on the production of early and contemporary works. During a 1970 summer residency at Yaddo, he drafted the choral War Lament, converting the forceful World War I poetry of Siegfried Sassoon into a polyphonic protest against the Vietnam War. Though still loosely anchored in a kind of "neo-classicism", this work, with its dramatic outbursts and moments of
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poignancy, engendered textural and coloristic choral procedures going materially beyond a cappella norms. In 1990, Derek Walcott visited St. Louis to offer readings of his work to a literary organization in which Blumenfeld was involved. The composer was swept away by the power and imagery of this poetry and a friendship was forged over shared adoration of Rimbaud. Blumenfeld mustered three Walcott poems into the cycle Mythologies, scored for baritone, flute, clarinet, three celli and percussion - the work featured on this disc. On impetus from the great guitarist David Starobin and with great audacity, Blumenfeld tackled Hart Crane's vast Voyages cycle, setting it for baritone with guitar, viola and percussion. Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Mythologies by Harold Blumenfeld
Performer:
Donnie Ray Albert (Baritone),
Camilla Boatright (Cello),
Harvey Boatright (Flute),
Paul Garner (Clarinet),
Deborah Mashburn (Percussion),
Brad Wagner (Percussion),
Harold Blumenfeld (Voice),
Mitch Maxwell (Cello),
Anthony Atkins (Cello)
Conductor:
Paul C. Phillips
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Voices of Change
Period: 20th Century
Date of Recording: 02/26/2000
Venue: Southern Methodist Univ., Dallas, Texas
Length: 20 Minutes 8 Secs.
Language: English
2.
War Lament by Harold Blumenfeld
Performer:
Alan Rosenkoetter (Guitar)
Conductor:
Gregg Smith
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gregg Smith Singers,
Washington University Madrigal Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1970; USA
Date of Recording: 10/23/1972
Venue: Washington Univ., St Louis, Missouri
Length: 13 Minutes 8 Secs.
Language: English
3.
Voyages by Harold Blumenfeld
Performer:
Louis Oddo (Percussion),
Patrick Mason (Baritone),
David Starobin (Guitar),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola),
Gordon Gottlieb (Percussion)
Conductor:
Arthur Weisberg
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1977; USA
Date of Recording: 11/19/1977
Venue: New York City
Length: 35 Minutes 9 Secs.
Language: English
Sound Samples
Mythologies: No. 1. The Dream
Mythologies: No. 2. Europa
Mythologies: No. 3. Archipelagoes I
War Lament: II. Before the Battle
War Lament: III. Suicide in Trenches
War Lament: IV. The Death Bed
Voyages: No. 1. Above the fresh ruffles of the surf ...
Voyages: No. 2. - And Yet this great wink of eternity ...
Voyages: No. 3. Infinite consanguinity it bears ...
Voyages: No. 4. Meticulous, past midnight in clear rime ...
Voyages: No. 5. Where icy and bright dungeons lift ...
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