The Pimpleton Procrasturbation Ensemble performs SWAGGERING SOFTIES by Gary Lloyd Noland.

SWAGGERING SOFTIES

Soprano HSIN YI LIN and pianist ASYA GULUA perform GARY LLOYD NOLAND'S setting of ALEXANDER THEROUX'S poem PIMP (Op. 111).

Acclaimed novelist/poet/essayist Alexander Theroux has given the composer permission to set as many of his poems as he wishes from his Collected Poems (published by Fantagraphics in 2015). Noland originally scheduled a recital of a number of these songs to be performed by soprano Hsin Yi Lin and pianist Asya Gulua on April 11th, 2020 at Classic Pianos in Portland, Oregon, but that recital was cancelled in the eleventh hour on account of the (then) escalating pandemic. The recital was finally rescheduled at Lincoln Hall Room 75 at Portland State University on December 4th, 2022 under the umbrella of CASCADIA COMPOSERS (a chapter of NACUSA). This recording is one of the raw takes from the recording sessions immediately following the concert.

Here is Alexander Theroux's poem "Pimp":

As a literary agent
you hustle books like flesh,
a working burke for money,
an English snob in a coat,
2 percent castle, 98 moat.

The difference between
the preening you and a pimp,
since both of you are frauds,
when the arithmetic is done,
is simple: there is none.

Music copyright © 2019 by Gary Lloyd Noland
Text from Collected Poems copyright © 2015 by Alexander Theroux
Permission to set this poem to music has been granted by the author.

GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The December 4th, 2022 recital and recording sessions that took place at Portland State University were made possible in part by the selfless generosity of former co-owner of the Willakenzie Estate Winery and well-known and influential benefactor of the arts in Oregon: Ronni S. Lacroute.

A special heartfelt thanks also goes to my thirteen Facebook friends who responded with incredible kindness and generosity by donating to my Facebook Fundraiser almost three years ago (in the early months of 2020). Some of them are from the Portland (Oregon) region and others from different parts of the U.S., as well as from other countries and continents abroad. They are (in alphabetical order):
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, Randi Botnen, Gerald W. Braden, Michel Bril, Tony Leonardo Cimino, Jean-David Coen, Leonid Korelstein, Huii Hu, Ruta Kuzmickas, David Lasocki, Leslie Sawyer, Johnoscar Nagum Villa, Matt Weiss

A special thanks to my friend Jack Gabel for recording/videographing this event and the scheduled sessions thereafter!

Also a special thanks to the entire Cascadia Board and membership for their help and support with publicity and other particulars related to this event! I would especially like to thank Jeff Winslow for his help and to Nicholas Yandell for assisting in getting the word out.

For more information on composer GARY LLOYD NOLAND, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

For more information on novelist/poet/essayist ALEXANDER THEROUX, please consult the Internet for numerous articles, reviews, interviews, etc.

PIMP for soprano & piano (poem by ALEXANDER THEROUX)

Soprano HSIN YI LIN and pianist ASYA GULUA perform GARY LLOYD NOLAND'S setting of ALEXANDER THEROUX'S poem DESERT SPACE (Op. 113).

Acclaimed novelist/poet/essayist Alexander Theroux has given the composer permission to set as many of his poems as he wishes from his Collected Poems (published by Fantagraphics in 2015). Noland originally scheduled a recital of a number of these songs to be performed by soprano Hsin Yi Lin and pianist Asya Gulua on April 11th, 2020 at Classic Pianos in Portland, Oregon, but that recital was cancelled in the eleventh hour on account of the (then) escalating pandemic. The recital was finally rescheduled at Lincoln Hall Room 75 at Portland State University on December 4th, 2022 under the umbrella of CASCADIA COMPOSERS (a chapter of NACUSA). This recording is one of the raw takes from the recording sessions immediately following the concert.

Here is Alexander Theroux's poem "Desert Space":

I dreamt in my pain
you reckoned with mine
when my heart was broken in two

and hoped to see
as I looked for a sign
for what that happened you'd rue.

Who would deny
that's where you start
in hopes of remaining true?

But then again
if you had a heart
you'd be someone other than you.


Music copyright © 2020 by Gary Lloyd Noland
Text from Collected Poems copyright © 2015 by Alexander Theroux
Permission to set this poem to music has been granted by the author.

GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The December 4th, 2022 recital and recording sessions that took place at Portland State University were made possible in part by the selfless generosity of former co-owner of the Willakenzie Estate Winery and well-known and influential benefactor of the arts in Oregon: Ronni S. Lacroute.

A special heartfelt thanks also goes to my thirteen Facebook friends who responded with incredible kindness and generosity by donating to my Facebook Fundraiser almost three years ago (in the early months of 2020). Some of them are from the Portland (Oregon) region and others from different parts of the U.S., as well as from other countries and continents abroad. They are (in alphabetical order):
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, Randi Botnen, Gerald W. Braden, Michel Bril, Tony Leonardo Cimino, Jean-David Coen, Leonid Korelstein, Huii Hu, Ruta Kuzmickas, David Lasocki, Leslie Sawyer, Johnoscar Nagum Villa, Matt Weiss

A special thanks to my friend Jack Gabel for recording/videographing this event and the scheduled sessions thereafter!

Also a special thanks to the entire Cascadia Board and membership for their help and support with publicity and other particulars related to this event! I would especially like to thank Jeff Winslow for his help and to Nicholas Yandell for assisting in getting the word out.

For more information on composer GARY LLOYD NOLAND, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

For more information on novelist/poet/essayist ALEXANDER THEROUX, please consult the Internet for numerous articles, reviews, interviews, etc.

DESERT SPACE for soprano & piano (poem by ALEXANDER THEROUX)

THE PIMPLETON PROCRASTURBATION ENSEMBLE performs KITSCH PATCH by GARY LLOYD NOLAND (December 25th, 2022). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

KITSCH PATCH

THE PIMPLETON PROCRASTURBATION ENSEMBLE performs A TOP - SECRET INSIDE LOOK AT THE SURREPTITIOUS INTELLIGENCE - GATHERING SURVEILLANCES OF TRUST - FUNDED IN - CROWD WANNABES BY MARGINMAN AND HIS BOX - DWELLING BROHORTS by GARY LLOYD NOLAND. For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

A TOP - SECRET INSIDE LOOK AT THE SURREPTITIOUS INTELLIGENCE - GATHERING SURVEILLANCES OF…

THE PIMPLETON PROCRASTURBATION ENSEMBLE performs NEW YEAR'S TREPIDATION, Op. 143, No. 4, by GARY LLOYD NOLAND (December 31st, 2022). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

NEW YEAR'S TREPIDATION, Op. 143, No. 4

The Pimpleton Procrasturbation Ensemble performs SWAGGERING SOFTIES by Gary Lloyd Noland (January 3rd, 2023). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

ARISTOBOMBASTIC TRIPE DREAM by Gary Lloyd Noland (July 30th, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

ARISTOBOMBASTIC TRIPE DREAM

MIDNIGHT VACUUM CLEANING PHRENZY by Gary Lloyd Noland (July 30th, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

MIDNIGHT VACUUM CLEANING PHRENZY

FRANTICALLY STRIVING TO FEEL OPTIMISTIC by Gary Lloyd Noland. For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

FRANTICALLY STRIVING TO FEEL  OPTIMISTIC

GAUNTLET JAUNT by Gary Lloyd Noland (August 6th, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

GAUNTLET JAUNT

VISPROINTIAMO No. 11 for piano, composed and performed by Gary Lloyd Noland. For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

VISPROINTIAMO NO. 11 for piano

A HOST OF CONFLICTING AGENDAS by Gary Lloyd Noland. To read more about the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

A HOST OF CONFLICTING AGENDAS

PROMENADING PLUTOCRATIC MORONS by Gary Lloyd Noland. For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

PROMENADING PLUTOCRATIC MORONS

AMBIENT MUSIC FOR NEUROTICS by Gary Lloyd Noland. For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

AMBIENT MUSIC FOR NEUROTICS

DEI MADRIGAL for mixed choir by Gary Lloyd Noland (Sept. 18th, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

DEI MADRIGAL for mixed choir

F*CK THE SYSTEM! for mixed choir, two pianos, and objects that can be hit, thrown & banged by Gary Lloyd Noland (September 21st, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

F*CK THE SYSTEM! for mixed choir, two pianos, and objects that can be hit, thrown & banged

Resides in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Berkeley, CA. Born in Seattle.  PhD, Harvard. “Gary Noland is one of the great composers of the 21st century.”—JACK RUMMEL, KGNU 88.5 FM, Boulder CO, “...iconoclastic, stylistic potpourri standards of giddy humor, no holds barred soup to nuts and high spirits.”—ROBERT LEVIN, pianist, musicologist, composer, "...a fleet-fingered, ebullient performer ... bright, witty and engaging.”—CHRISTIAN CAREY, SPLENDID MAGAZINE, “...distinctive, inventive ... subversive ... You can hardly be indifferent to Noland’s music and so I would urge you to try it.” —ROGER BLACKBURN, MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL, “...set in a dizzying harmonic language that loops uncontrollably through a wide-ranging gamut of possible and impossible tonalities ... The general effect is like watching wet paintings of 19th Century musical memorabilia drip into frazzled 21st Century oblivion...” —ALLEN GIMBEL, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, “Mr. Noland writes as a ‘time traveler’ in styles long abandoned by most composers as well as styles so new as to not have been imagined but by him. This he accomplishes naturally, convincingly, with originality and true passion. His command of all musical languages and his ability to traverse musical time is nothing less than remarkable. Listen!”—DONALD MARTINO, Pulitzer Prize winning composer, “...mind-bending spiraling of focus which is truly breathtaking ... spectacular...”—CHARLES AMIRKHANIAN, composer, sound poet & radio producer, “I'm amazed at your harmonic skill. Haven't seen or heard anything like it from any one else—except yours truly—certainly not from your generation. It falls somewhere between Strauss and Mahler. Especially like how you are able to slip in and out from the tonal to the atonal—or near atonal...”—GEORGE ROCHBERG, American composer, Pulitzer Prize finalist, “...court jester to the classical establishment...”—PAYTON MACDONALD, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, “...florid and juicy...” —RICHARD BUELL, THE BOSTON GLOBE, “...an incredible aural web ... a great ostinato of American kitsch. Sul pont never sounded so good.”—RUSSELL STEINBERG, composer, conductor of the LOS ANGELES YOUTH ORCHESTRA, “...I am bowled over by the expertise of your music: you use certain elements from the 19th century and from jazz, etc., and just at the moment when I am about to say, OK, what else is new?, you do a number of things, such as speeding up, becoming wildly dissonant, modulating to a distant continent, stopping completely and throwing some kind of total surprise ... you seem to know exactly when to do what and how much. I don’t know anybody else who can do it!” —ANDREW IMBRIE, American composer, Pulitzer Prize finalist, “... remarkable stuff...”
—MAX MORATH, American ragtime pianist, composer, actor & author, “...a loony composer from Oregon...” —MAX SHEA, WMUA 91.1FM, Amherst, MA, “Gary Noland is one of those 21st Century composers seeking to forge a new aesthetic based on older models that do not traffic in serialism or minimalism ... Zany waltzes, ragtime riffs, chorales, toccatas, and much else romp and tear through these depictions of superheroes and villains from his ‘chamber novels’; other pieces spoof serial music ... to grand operas ... and Jewish guilt.” —JACK SULLIVAN, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, “...Paranoid Ravel...”—ALEX DUNN, KZSU FM90.3, Stanford, CA, “...It’s a romantic romp, rhythmically robust yet melodically flirting with the nostalgia of cabaret, minus the sleazy diminution of spilled drinks and smelly ashtrays. Its elegance recalls Elgar, and the serious sides, a synthesis of those strange bedfellows Schubert and Ives. Composers hate it when their music reminds you of someone else’s, but writing within a tradition, Noland has incorporated divergent styles that, woven together, work. Cosmopolitan without snobbery, it’s intelligent, pleasurable and convincing.” —ROCKY LEPLIN, THE BERKELEY VOICE

PIMP for soprano & piano (poem by ALEXANDER THEROUX)

Gary Lloyd Noland, composer

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