No no, last night, it was not exactly like this. I'll tell you later what happened, it maybe quite long.

Performed at West Chester University, April 14, 2022, New Music Concert Series. Dr. Emily Bullock, mezzo-soprano; Christine McCloskey, piano.

Love Songs for Ada is a setting of three poems written by American poet Amy Lowell (1874-1925). First published in 1922, these sensual and vivid texts are a testament to Lowell’s romantic relationship with
actress Ada Dwyer Russell.

VESPERS
Last night, at sunset
The foxgloves were like tall altar candles.
Could I have lifted you to the roof of the greenhouse, my Dear,
I should have understood their burning. 
 

IN EXCELSIS 

You—you— 

Your shadow is sunlight on a plate of silver;
Your footsteps, the seeding-place of lilies;
Your hands moving, a chime of bells across a windless air.
The movement of your hands is the long, golden running of light from a rising sun;
It is the hopping of birds upon a garden-path. 
As the perfume of jonquils, you come forth in the morning.
Young horses are not more sudden than your thoughts, 
Your words are bees about a pear-tree,
Your fancies are the gold-and-black striped wasps buzzing among red apples.
I drink your lips,
I eat the whiteness of your hands and feet.
My mouth is open,
As a new jar I am empty and open.
Like white water are you who fill the cup of my mouth,
Like a brook of water thronged with lilies.

You are frozen as the clouds,
You are far and sweet as the high clouds.
I dare reach to you,
I dare touch the rim of your brightness.
I leap beyond the winds,
I cry and shout,
For my throat is keen as a sword
Sharpened on a hone of ivory.
My throat sings the joy of my eyes, 
The rushing gladness of my love.
How has the rainbow fallen upon my heart? 
 

How have I snared the seas to lie in my fingers
And caught the sky to be a cover for my head?
How have you come to dwell with me,
Compassing me with the four circles of your mystic lightness,
So that I say “Glory! Glory!” and bow before you
As to a shrine? 
 

Do I tease myself that morning is morning and a day after?
Do I think the air a condescension,
The earth a politeness,
Heaven a boon deserving thanks?
So you—air—earth—heaven—
I do not thank you,
I take you,
I live.
And those things which I say in consequence
Are rubies mortised in a gate of stone.  
 

PRIME
Your voice is like bells over roofs at dawn
When a bird flies
And the sky changes to a fresher color.

Speak, speak, Beloved.
Say little things
For my ears to catch 
And run with them to my heart.

Love Songs For Ada

An anxiety dream is an unpleasant dream which can be more disturbing than a nightmare. Anxiety dreams are characterized by the feelings of unease, distress, or apprehension in the dreamer upon waking. General anxiety is a negative effect of anxiety dreams. However, Anxiety dreams have an important function. When the ego has been overworked, often the only way it can reset is when one wakes up. Anxiety dreams will build until the dreamer is forced to wake and thus let the ego refocus.

Anxious Dreams is musical depiction of this very process. The piece begins with an ethereal solo motif that cycles between the flute line and the oboe line providing a dream like essence that slowing devours itself into a prominent baseline. This pattern continues throughout the course of the piece with different presentations of the beginning motif as well as varying melodic material diverging into both a development and a coda. Furthermore, the notion of the distorted dream is contrapuntally depicted throughout Anxious Dreams in all the voices of the trio.

"Anxious Dreams"  Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Piano

Raznick's 2017 album release, Memory Maze, is musical journal detailing pivotal life experiences, musically influenced by the regions he has lived in: Argentina, Spain and Colorado. Much like mazes, Raznick's pieces have twists and turns throughout intricate passages. Many songs are designed like a puzzle, becoming increasingly challenging throughout, but with a solution at the end.

Memory Maze

Memory Maze (Album Theme)

New Directions Ensemble / Christopher Lees
Amy Beth Kirsten, composer

Drink Me

An Evening With Mother Julian

Sweet Is The Night Air (live)

Between Heaven And Hell... Alive!

Between Heaven And Hell... Alive !

Sometimes you have to drop all your leaves before you can regrow new ones. 

In loving memory of my grandmother.

Jonathan's Coat -- for flute quartet

I'm a composer, pianist, and music theory prof in Philly.
www.sabrinaclarkemusic.com

Love Songs For Ada

Sabrina Clarke, composer

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