Piano Trio: American Avenues
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(4:47)
Third movement performed by James Tocco (piano), Yehonatan Berick (violin), and Yehuda Hanani (cello). This work was commissioned by the Richard and Deborah Felder Foundation for Close Encounters with Music.
See the press page
for the review.
Euterpe: Muse of Lyric Poetry
- (5:56)
Performed by the ASU Symphony Orchestra, Timothy Russell, conductor. This is one in a series of short orchestral pieces devoted to the ancient Greek muses. Others include Polyhymnia: Muse of Sacred Song; Terpsichore: Muse of Dance; and
Erato: Muse of Love Poetry. All the pieces in the Muses series so far have been premiered by Music in the Mountains, Durango, Colo.
Echoes of New York
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(3:21)
First movement of three. Performed by Robert Spring, clarinet, and Eckart Sellheim, piano. This sonata explores the similarities between jazz and the harmonic vocabulary of mainstream modernism.
Chance
for Love
- ( 2:57)
Lyric by Robert Kastenbaum. This pop song, heard over an onstage jukebox, leads off LaFave and Kastenbaum's cabaret opera, Closing Time. Vocalist: Shana Bousard. Synthesizer: Kenneth LaFave.
Duet from Closing Time -
(4:52)
The plot of LaFave and Kastenbaum's 1999 lyric theater piece centers on two men, an aged bartender and a younger client, who meet late one night and discover a common goal: To end it all as soon as possible. In this scene, they explore their feelings about life and death. Performed by Stan Krugel, tenor, and Mark Jarvis, baritone; conducted by Enrique Lasanski.
Selections from American Gothic
This second Kastenbaum-LaFave cabaret opera, which originated as a companion piece to Closing Time, is set in Kansas during the Great Depression. Alvin and Agnes run a farm and feud constantly, while their young son Lester just wants to be a painter. Bugs - (2:10)
Alvin complains humorously of his constant battle to keep the farm going. Robert Barefield, baritone, and David Murray, piano.
Kansas Sky (Lester's Aria) - (5:05)
Lester sings of his desire to match the beauty of his surroundings on canvas. Ken Goodenberger, tenor, and David Murray, piano.
Bible Girl - (1:35)
Reconciled to their differences in the end, Alvin and Agnes sing a little waltz from their youth. (In the middle, you can hear Lester exclaim, "They like each other!") Michelle Murray, soprano; Robert Barefield, baritone; and David Murray, piano.
Pastorale Notturno - (2:24)
Michael Long, guitar. This melody was first composed for an Arizona Theatre Company production of Death of a Salesman. Played on flute and harp, it was Willy Loman's music as he stood in the backyard of his Brooklyn home. When guitarist Michael Long needed an encore piece for a concert in France, I supplied him this arrangement.
Picasso at the
Lapin Agile - (1:19)
Another Arizona Theatre Company connection, this little take on a Paris sidewalk song was written for ATC's production of Steve Martin's play of the same name. The performer is the composer on synthesizer.
Daphne and Apollo
- ( 2:36)
For choir, text by Timona Pittman, performed by the Phoenix Bach Choir, Charles Bruffy, director. This piece evokes the breeziness and boldness of the young woman who, according to Greek mythology escaped Apollo's embrace in order to remain a girl. You can click to play, or right click to "save as".
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