Duration: ca. 9'
Music by Robert Paterson • Lyrics by David Cote

Instrumentation:  soprano, baritone, and chamber ensemble (wind doubler [flute, B-flat clarinet, oboe], violin, cello, percussion, piano)
Performed by American Modern Ensemble, Marnie Breckenridge, Soprano, and Jorell Williams, Baritone

Purchase Sheet Music (available with In Real Life II and In Real Life II): http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=2778
Extraordinary may be performed as a stand-along work, or with In Real Life I and/or In Real Life II.

For more information:
Version for Soprano,  Baritone, and Chamber Ensemble: https://robertpaterson.com/in-real-life-ii-version-for-baritone-and-chamber-ensemble
Version for Soprano, Baritone, and Piano: https://robertpaterson.com/in-real-life-ii-version-for-baritone-and-piano

PROGRAM NOTE
As a follow-up to our song cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble (or piano), Robert and I  agreed the concept of five characters looking for love online should have a male counterpart. Written for baritone and chamber ensemble, In Real Life II looks at five contemporary men clicking their way to second chances and romance. In “No Frog” we meet a prototypical player, a guy who fluffs his profile, but the truth keeps slipping out. The tone shifts with “Sola Fide,” in which a U.S. veteran of the war in Afghanistan explains the tattoo on his chest and the wounds inside. An older gentleman envisions one last fling in the irreverent “Die with Me.” In “Still Vamping,” a gay man muses on his start-and-stop romantic history. Finally, in “Nice-Plus,” an everyday guy reveals a hidden passion. In Real Life II was commissioned by American Modern Ensemble with funding from the Doctorow Family Foundation.

American Modern Ensemble: In Real Life

In Real Life

Extraordinary (Version for Soprano, Baritone, and Chamber Ensemble)

Slow day.
The holes in the clouds makes the 
dream fade.
The pills will not solve it.
No weekday.
Can ever replace the way friday. 
Can transform your world.
Oh, there's a girl.
A pain in your rib cage.
Is all.

Mind-frame.
Is not looking upwards in cold space.
Unravelling as you freeze in place.
The clock keeps on ticking.
You're blown away.
Out from the whirl.
Oh, there's a girl. a millstone you carry is all.

A down day.
Not looking outward but in.
Waste on the table is blown away. 
Can't make the connection between states.
Put on your act.
For the girl. 
She's all you have left in this world.

Oh, a fugue state.
Another enchantment is laid to waste.
Stare in the mirror.
Confused face,
Staring back outwardly fine.
What's mine is mine.
And the girl?
Becomes all-encompassing.




Slow Day

LYRICS

Like a bullet in the shoulder, laid there bleeding out.
Like a waif when you look in the mirror, staring out.
Like your ankle in a bear trap, oh you're screaming out.
Like another deal to wrangle, hopes are fading out. 

Oh this is no surprise to me.
You wake me from my reverie. 

Oh you wake up in the back seat, oh you're fading out.
There's a rope around your wrists, and you lay there fading out. 
Can't remember how you got there, oh your fading out.
Oh it takes a while to figure out, you're fading out. 

Oh this is no surprise to me.
You wake me from my reverie.


Rêverie [with The Fall of Saigon]

Back In The Holler - Robert Grigg & Combstead

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outro

Marigold

Ocean Rain In Yzterfontein is the 4th piece in a series of piano works which takes the listener to Yzterfontein which is on the west coast of South Africa. I remember the rain on the west coast being peaceful offering a sense of contentment for the soul. I remember the sound of ocean waves crashing on the shore, becoming one with the rain. I remember the happiness and the simplicity of life. Enjoy the music and keep an ear out for more music coming...

Reflections From Home

Ocean Rain In Yzterfontein

Stonewall St Blues - Blind Blake 1927

Duration: ca. 6'
Instrumentation: flute and harp
Performed by:
John Romeri, flute: https://www.broadwaychamberplayers.org/about
Kathryn Andrews, harp: http://www.kathrynandrews.com/
Commissioned by Aletheia Duo, Ann Yeung, harp and Jonathan Keeble, flute
World Premiere: Alethia Duo, American Harp Society's National Harp Conference in New Orleans, June 1, 2014; World Harp Congress International Conference in Sydney, Australia, July 1, 2014.

PROGRAM NOTE
Pegasus is a winged, usually white stallion, and one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is the son of Poseidon, and at birth, sprang forth from the bloody neck of the Gorgon Medusa when she was beheaded by the god Perseus. According to legend, everywhere the winged horse struck his hoof to the earth, a spring would burst forth. The imagery of springs bursting forth and Pegasus flying through the skies are what inspired this piece. Pegasus was commissioned by the Aletheia Duo, Ann Yeung, harp and Jonathan Keeble, flute.

Pegasus for Flute and Harp

Another relentless fusion groove from Mrakobes & Gom Jabbar: a dark and meandering ethno-metal love song for the heavy of heart.

Follow Mrakobes at https://soundcloud.com/oligopod

Не си ми месечина
Не, не си ми блеснала
Най-вече си море безбрежно
Носиш ми само мрак и тъга

Не си ми месечина
И никак не си ми грейнала

Месечина
Месечина

You are not my moon
No, and you don’t glow like one
You are more like a shoreless sea
that brings me only darkness & sorrow

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Mesechina

Soul Transit

American composer Robert Paterson is a true New Yorker—born and bred in Buffalo, he lived in Rochester and Ithaca for over ten years, in New York City for over twenty years, and now lives in Saratoga Springs, near the Adirondacks. Paterson’s colorful music embraces a wide variety of themes, everything from goddesses and online dating to mathematics and the environment. His music is filled with emotion and fierce rhythmic energy, marked by elegance, wit, and meticulous craftsmanship. Named Composer of The Year by the Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie Hall, Paterson is the winner of the Alfred I. DuPont Award, and his opera Three Way won the Grammy® under Best Classical Producer of the Year. His music is often a Best of the Year pick on National Public Radio. His orchestral tone poem, Dark Mountains, regularly airs on NPR’s Performance Today. Three Way premiered with Nashville Opera, then BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and across the United States. Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, The Oratorio Society of New York, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Pro Musica, Albany Symphony, Musica Sacra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and ensembles worldwide perform his works. Paterson gives masterclasses at the Curtis Institute of Music, New York University, the Aspen Music Festival, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and more. He is the Artistic Director and house composer for Mostly Modern Projects. Robert is a lifelong vegan and advocates for animals and the environment, celebrating the natural world with ground-breaking works such as his Triple Concerto, A New Eaarth, Listen, and I Go Among Trees.

Extraordinary (Version for Soprano, Baritone, and Chamber Ensemble)

Robert Paterson Composer