This is a six-song set based on Amy Lowell's charming Verses for Children. Each poem is imbued with the magic of a child's imagination: filled with a sense of awe and wonder for the natural world and a spirit of adventure. The same poem, Sea Shell, bookends the set: the final song sung from the prospective of the child grown-up. See Images for texts.
Collection includes:
Sea Shell
The Crescent Moon
The Trout
Climbing
Wind
Sea Shell
Weavers (2020)
When my brilliant neighbor Alma shared with me some Haiku that she had written, I was unsurprised at how delightful they were. I chose two of her texts to combine into this beautiful song. The first describes a mother mending clothing for her children. The second is a gardener watching a spider weave a web.
When the thread is long
the graceful arm arches high.
Each stitch born of love.
Gazing...as I watched
the spider create her web--
Her effort, my joy!
An Immorality (2020)
This short, up-tempo song is a great recital/set opener. The text by Imagist poet Ezra Pound expresses a thinly veiled anti-war (WWI) sentiment. The speaker exalts the act of love over a desire to accomplish heroic deeds. Plenty of scalar runs to showcase an agile voice.
Text
Sing we for love and idleness,
Naught else is worth the having.
Though I have been in many a land,
There is naught else in living.
And I would rather have my sweet,
Though rose-leaves die of grieving,
Than do high deeds in Hungary
To pass all men's believing.
Ann Street Trio
Listen
Ann Street Trio
Watch our recent recital broadcasted live from Emerson Ave. Salon Series
