Employing words from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” from “Leaves of Grass,” that, though written a century-and-a-half earlier, sound hauntingly prescient in their pertinence to the present-day disaster…As set by Adler, Whitman’s lines—“I am the mash’d fireman with breast-bone broken,/Tumbling walls buried me in their debris,/Heat and smoke I inspired, I heard the yelling shouts of my comrades,/I heard the distant click of their picks and shovels,/They have clear’d the beams away, they tenderly lift me forth”—resonate chillingly anew in the recording. — Bruce-Michael Gelbert, [Q]onStage.com
The performance is wonderful; Kate Moroney sings with fervor, Virginia Brewer and James Adler accompany brilliantly. The whole is recommended, a fine, moving piece. — Paul Turok, Turok’s Choice
This work for Mezzo-Soprano, Oboe/English Horn, and Piano was written on 03/11/02 and premiered in April 2002. The text, written in the 19th century by Walt Whitman, has a particular poignancy today as well. Watch the NY Premiere on YouTube.
Movements
- Agonies are one of my changes of garments
- Sounds of the city
Purchasing Information
Complete sets of performance parts (2 piano/vocal scores and 1 Oboe/English Horn part) are available from our online store.