Selections of the original score composed and produced by Samuel Beebe for Angela Carter's The Fall River Axe Murders, adapted for the stage by Imaginary Beasts. The production received a month-long run at the Plaza Black Box Theater at the Boston Center for the arts, and was directed by Matthew Woods.

Featuring:
Samuel Beebe, organ, piano, various sounds
Olga Patramanskaya Bell, violin
Tom Klodenski, bass, polynesian ukulele, various sounds

Illustration by Harriet Staniforth

Stillness, Mortal Stillness

Meanderer

Motherless

"The Woods", composed by Samuel Beebe, adapted from selections by Henry David Thoreau. 
Performed by Calliope's Call: Deborah Selig Zavracky, soprano; Megan Roth, mezzo; Alex Nishibun, tenor; Clare Longendyke, piano.
Recorded live at Old West Church in Boston, MA on 04/08/2017.

Conclusion

We Must Learn

I Went To The Woods

Introduction

Music by Samuel Beebe. Libretto by Liss Lafleur, Brittney Balkcom, and Samuel Beebe.

Morgan Horning, Dolores [soprano]
Brittney Balkcom, flute
Urszula Rucka, harp

Recording produced by Samuel Beebe

Program Note:

TALK IN TECHNICOLOR is an opera in two parts, created by
performance/media artist Liss Lafleur, flutist Brittney Balkcom,
and composer Samuel Beebe. Integrating visual storytelling, in
the form of projected short films and a responsive lighting
design, into each musical composition, the work combines
performance, vintage radio content created by J. Kent Hackleman,
and visual storytelling to reflect not only on the culture and
events that occurred throughout the 1960’s, but also the ways in
which information was transmitted, changing both family values
and structures. Embedded into the score is a host of archival
radio fragments and assemblies of Hackleman’s candid interviews,
piecing together a collage of the social and political landscape
of the times, featuring the voices of Marlene Dietrich, Virginia
Prince, Timothy Leary, Malcolm Boyd, Andre Previn, Christine
Jorgensen, Sybil Leek, and Liberace.

In "Well, I Just Couldn't," we encounter our protagonist, Dolores, at a strange moment. This is Houston in 1962, and Dolores has volunteered as a research subject for a clinical study of the effects of LSD on "normal people," and her trip is starting to peak. She perseveres through the doctor's interview, but ultimately is at a loss for words.

samuelbeebe.com
lisslafleur.com
brittneybalkcom.com

"Well, I Just Couldn't" from TALK IN TECHNICOLOR

Music by Samuel Beebe.

The Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, Susan Deaver, conducting.

Inspired by a Roberto Ifill poem of the same name, THE REST IS SILENCE was initially conceived as a choral work. The poem was written following the death of the poet’s sister, Gwen Ifill, and makes reference to Hamlet’s final words just before he dies. Ifill’s lyrical lines of verse consider the moment of passing from life to death, and relate this mysterious transition to imagery such as a person plunging into a frigid lake, and the moment when a baby’s head droops into sleep.

The phrasing and textures in the orchestral score still very much resemble the original sketches from the choral setting, particularly the rests (silences) between the phrases, originally designed to offer the singers an instant to take a breath before heading into the oncoming line. These pauses were left intact, allowing the orchestra to have the feel of a choir, breathing between phrases. As the music moves throughout the orchestra, each choir in the orchestra brings out its own expressive interpretation of the original choral material, highlighting particularly the four horns and the strings. The expansive, shimmering opening, along with its reprise later on as climactic closing section, were added later in the composition process, framing the internal, restrained material, lending additional depth to the emotional narrative of the work.

THE REST IS SILENCE

Voice as Movement
FOR MEZZO-SOPRANO, VIOLIN, CELLO, AND ELECTRONICS
Music by Samuel Beebe.

“Just as silence is the ground of all sound, so stillness is the ground of all movement…”

Voice as Movement: Stock-Still is part of an ongoing collaboration between mezzo-soprano Natasha Nelson and composer Samuel Beebe to create a score for a new work that integrates elements of opera and dance, intended as a dialogue between sound and movement, designed to explore how the extension of sound into movement can alter an audience’s perception of the work and can activate a space differently than with sound alone.

The score calls for the ensemble to be amplified, not only to boost the overall dynamic level of the group, but also to allow for simple live electronic processing techniques; namely, delay and reverb.  These effects augment the live performance, complicating rhythmic textures and creating space. Instead of literal text, each phrase of the electrified vocal part is abstracted into varying combinations of consonant and vowel sounds, resulting in a wide variety of tone colors and timbral qualities traversed in this winding, reflective vocalise. 

Natasha Nelson, mezzo-soprano
Stephanie Liu, violin
Stephen Moran, cello
Samuel Beebe, electronics

Voice As Movement: Stock-Still

Samuel Beebe is a Brooklyn-based composer, sound designer, and producer.

To reach out, contact: beebe.sa@gmail.com