HIGH COOS, LOW SHRIEKS

By Dr. Helmut Christoferus Calabrese ©2004

Phillip Schroeder: 'Songs of My Affinities.' Robert Best, baritone; Steven Becarft, clarinet; Stephen Feldman, cello; Rick Dimond, percussion; Jeri-Mae G. Astolfi, piano; Mr. Schroeder, synthesizer. Recording dates: May 22-24 & 26-29, 2003. Capstone CPS-8726

Eight Songs on Poems by Ogden Nash (1996) for baritone, clarinet, violoncello, percussion & piano are haiku texts with highly condensed music adaptations. From eleven seconds to one minute and thirty-six seconds are the durations of these songs. The music manifests the whimsical content of the text using imitative settings that mimic inherent characteristics of the subject matter with thematic parodies that augment the hilarious content.

Spirits of the Dead (1999) for baritone and piano, which sets five poems by Edgar Allan Poe, is very successful in its use of the inside of the piano to orchestrate, with a multiplicity of textures, the profound message of the texts. The performance by the baritone Robert Best is magnificent. The songs are continuous in form with no interruptions using a recurring celestial thematic idea that appears in variations.

Songs of My Affinities (1998) for baritone, clarinet, violoncello & piano sets six poems by Walt Whitman. The settings are polyphonic with a consonant harmonic palate. The music has an American nostalgic elegance. The violoncello's thematic ideas, which seem to quote fragments of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time , add to the ethereal qualities of the composition.

The Infinite in Repose (2002) is a recitative for baritone and synthesizer that sets the opening paragraph of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays: First Series , “Spiritual Laws.” The opening words, “When the act of reflection takes place in the mind,” begin the sonic exploration of textures that are free from thematic encumbrances. The unity is created by a continuity of reiterating timbres with variations occurring in the intervallic content of the vocal line.

These compositions are truly gems of the American repertoire. The settings are spontaneous and inextricably linked to the linguistic nature of the words; that is, the vocal line manifests the phonetic and semantic elements of the text while the ensemble orchestrates its content. The performances are all brilliant.