Name: For Orpheus by William F. Brooks
Duration: 8 min 41 s
Description: Commissioned by The Crossing as a part of "Jeff Quartets", a concert in memory of Jeff Dinsmore. Original poem by Pierre Joris, also commissioned by The Crossing. Recorded July 8, 2016; Donald Nally, conductor.

For twelve instruments. Recorded in performance in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, on 5 December 2003 by the York New Music Ensemble (now renamed Chimera), John Stringer, conductor.

Canticanon

Teri De Sario, soprano, and Bill Purse, piano. Recorded live in performance in December 1995. Text taken from Gertrude Stein, _Tender Buttons_.

Medley (DeSario and Purse)

Revelation was composed for seven trumpets and timpani, matching the scoring of Altenburg's famous baroque concerto. The title refers to the final book of the New Testament, and in particular the apocalyptic vision '...and I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.' Revelation was commissioned by James Stretton for Orichalcum, who gave the first performance in May 2023. This recording was made by James Stretton, playing all trumpet parts.

Revelation

A setting of Dylan Thomas' lyric poem 'The force that through the green fuse' for tenor and piano. The poetry considers the effect of time on our lives: it enables us to develop and mature but it ultimately leads to our demise; Thomas also recognizes that we are 'dumb' to address the forces of nature or change the course of our destiny.

The force that through the green fuse - for tenor and piano

Canzone Sospesa explores the way that time passes. It was composed in the summer of 2023 when I was also making a song setting of Dylan Thomas' lyric poem 'The force that through the green fuse...' and both are concerned with the passing of time and how it simultaneously creates and destroys us. At times the music presses relentlessly forward but elsewhere movement seems suspended (even though for the performers the tempo remains constant throughout). Canzone Sospesa was completed in Aulus-les-Bains, high in the Pyrenees - where time sometimes seems to stand still - and was first performed in Teatro dal Verme, Milan, in November 2023 by members of Trio Chimera.

Canzone Sospesa

Inspired by the 'Lady and Unicorn' tapestries in the Cluny Museum, Paris, this extended piece comprises six songs separated by electronic interludes. Words are from the poem 'Ausi conme unicorne sui' by Thibaut de Champagne, (for the song, in modern English, and the interludes in the original early French) and Rainer Maria Rilke (for the narration). During the live performances, images of the tapestries are projected onto a large screen behind the performers, and lighting and costume are deployed to emulate the 'island' on which the lady and her retinue stand in the tapestries.

Mon Seul Desir

Amy Neuberg, soprano, and Chris Brown, piano. Recorded live in performance at Mills College on 12 November 1988. Text taken from Gertrude Stein, _Tender Buttons_.

Medley (Neuberg and Brown)

Performance, Krannert Center, UIUC, 21 Jan 1992; John Fonville, fl; Eric Mandat, cl; Morgan Powell, Jim Staley, tbn; Michael Udow, pc. 

The Kitchen Sink

Movements I and II of eight. Katharine DeBoer and Jacqueline Bobak, sopranos; Rachel Rudich, flute; Rob Zimmerman, cello; Susan Allen, harp. Recorded in performance at CalArts, April 17, 2002. Commissioned by Katharine DeBoer with funds provided by the University of Nevada, Reno. 

Movement !:  

(a) The light in your face is not lit in a womb:  Come. 	
And your shape is not made from a father’s seed:  Come. 	
Don’t seek to hide yourself behind your anger, 	
For your rightness, your virtue, cannot be concealed:  Come.  

(b) O you who, like the sun, stand alone:  Come. 
Without your face garden and leaf grow yellow:  Come. 
The world, without you, is dust and powder:  Come. 
This joyful encounter, without you, is cold:  Come.    

Movement II.

(a) In love, except for the taste of eternity’s wine, is nothing. 	  	
Except for giving life, the reason for life is nothing.  	
I said:  “I know you; then I die.” 	
He said:  “Knowing me, dying is nothing.”  

(b) I said:  “You are wine, and I am the cup. 	
I am dead, and you are the life above life. 	
Now open the door of devotion.”  He said:  “Be still! 	
Would anyone let a madman loose in the house?”  

(c) I said:  “You have become my idol, for you are the soul’s motherland.” 
He said:  “Don’t talk of souls if you are with me.” 	
I said:  “Why do you cut me so often with the blades of reason?” 	
He said:  “Still you’re in love with yourself!”  

(d) I said:  “My eyes.”  He said:  “Keep them on the path he walks.” 
I said:  “My guts.”  He said:  “Cut, and keep them apart.” 
I said:  “My heart.”  He said:  “What is in your heart?” 
I said:  “Your sorrow.”  He said:  “Keep it.”  

(e) I said:  “Tell me what to do.”  He said:  “Die.” 
I said:  “I am dissolving in purity.”  He said:  “Die.” 
I said:  “I, a butterfly, will become a candle — 
Oh!  Your face will candle my flame!”  He said:  “Die.”

Rubaiyat, movements I and II

Movement IV of eight. Katharine DeBoer and Jacqueline Bobak, sopranos; Rachel Rudich, flute; Rob Zimmerman, cello; Susan Allen, harp. Recorded in performance at CalArts, April 17, 2002. Commissioned by Katharine DeBoer with funds provided by the University of Nevada, Reno.

(a) Your happiness fills town and valley.
To earth’s face, the sky, you bring happiness. 
No one complains to you except sorrow,
For through sorrow you give freedom to all. 

(b) O pure soul, sorrow refines you.
O holy body, sorrow destroys you.
This fire of love in which you burn
Your garden of paradise will be.

Rubaiyat movement IV

Commissioned by The Crossing as a part of "Jeff Quartets", a concert in memory of Jeff Dinsmore. Original poem by Pierre Joris, also commissioned by The Crossing. Recorded July 8, 2016; Donald Nally, conductor.

For Orpheus

Emeritus Professor, University of York, UK. Emeritus Associate Professor, University of Illinois. Senior Research Fellow and Editorial Officer, Orpheus Institute, Ghent, Belgium. 

That's the heavy stuff. I'm retired now. So how come I'm so busy?

For Orpheus

William F. Brooks

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