A Brightness and a Quickening (2014)

Song cycle in three movements for baritone and piano (17’) - Text by Ashley Seitz Kramer

I. Final Curtain for the Cornfield

II. Breathing Down the House

III. Something Went Bang Inside Me

"A Brightness and a Quickening" was written for my friend, baritone David Tahere, for his first recital on the faculty of Lee University in Cleveland, TN. The texts are by Ashley Seitz Kramer, a poet whom I’ve had the pleasure to work with over the years, and feature a consistent theme of brightness, introspection and poignant vernacular language. Though the language is simple, the message is potent and complex. The musical materials mirror these texts in their simplicity, potency and buoyancy in order to show the very sincere, but subtle message inherent in each poem. The sublime and often peculiar metaphors of each text provide a tantalizing palette of colors that are reflected in the music, allowing the composer and listener to simply move through the text in a series of images and emotions that are conjured by the poet.