DANIEL SCHLOSBERG
1. Not Quite Stars
music by Juhi Bansal
lyrics by Julie Baber
2. Wind, Carry Me
music by James Primosch lyrics by Susan Stewart
3. Prometheus’s Monster
music by Myron Silberstein
lyrics by Karen Poppy
4. Thanks a Latte
music by Lori Laitman
lyrics by Caitlin Vincent
5. At Spring’s End
music by Tom Cipullo, lyrics by Li Po, translated by Ezra Pound
6. Saint music by Scott Wheeler
lyrics by Jeffrey Harrison
7. E-mail to Odessa
music by Dennis Tobenski
lyrics by Elizabeth Seydel Morgan
8. Peony
music by Ed Windels
lyrics by C.L. O’Dell
9. This Ode is Mine
music and lyrics by Bess McCrary
10. Woman Walking
music by Nell Shaw Cohen
lyrics by Megan Cohen
11. anew
music by Joseph Jones
lyrics by Christina Ramirez
12. The Mother Who Died Too
music by Eugenia Cheng
lyrics by Edith M. Thomas
13. Sun of the Sleepless
music by Felix Jarrar
lyrics by Lord Byron
14. Let Us Remember Spring
music by Andrea Clearfield
lyrics by Charlotte Mew
15. Las palmeras
music by Reinaldo Moya
lyrics by Pamela Rahn Sánchez
16. The Solitary Reaper
music by Evan Fein
lyrics by William Wordsworth
17. My song is sung
music by Jodi Goble
lyrics by Yone Noguchi
18. Benediction
music by Daron Hagen
lyrics by Christina Ramirez
19. Two Old Crows
music by Juliana Hall
lyrics by Vachel Lindsay
20. Song of Solitude (Alone...)
music by H. Leslie Adams
lyrics by Nikos Valance
LAURA STRICKLING sopranoArt songs are simultaneously intensely personal and intrinsically collaborative. As a singer who works mainly in the “classical” tradition, I am not the original creator of the things that I sing. In most cases, a song begins with words: A person writes or speaks words of importance. A composer intersects with those words and is moved to illuminate them with their musical response. A singer and a pianist work together to create a musical and physical interpretation of the words and notes on the page in the hope that they will intensify an audience’s understanding of them. These relationships and collaborations have become the driving force behind my passion for this art form.
In November 2019 I had the thought that I should commission a new song cycle for upcoming recitals. I’d premiered many new works, but it had never occurred to me until that moment that I could be the instigator and commission something myself. My list of composers kept growing and I grew more conflicted – I couldn’t possibly choose just ONE. Each composer’s unique voice held promise for an exciting new work, and so many of them had played an important role either actively or passively in my development as an artist. At the time I was thirty-eight years old, and I’d begun to feel resentment for the uneasiness with which I was conditioned to greet my approaching 40th year. I did not dread turning forty; doing so was entirely preferable to the alternative. I am the artist, wife, mother, daughter, friend that I am because I am fortunate to continue to experience a vibrant life on this planet. With these two thoughts on my mind, I was soon struck with the realization that I should commission 40 songs from 40 composers to celebrate my 40th birthday in the most joyful, authentic, public way possible. My first composer inquiries were met with enthusiastic approval, and it was only a matter of weeks before my “forty” were settled and my Big Idea had become a reality.
Then the Covid-19 pandemic descended. While everyone in the world was “socially distancing” I was further steps removed –living on an island in the Caribbean from which I could no longer simply fly away. The conversations with composers and poets that resulted in the songs of the 40@40 Project were a musical and creative lifeline to me during those months of separation and uncertainty. I could not make music in the way I was accustomed to, but I could be a part of bringing new songs to life through this commissioning journey. In collaboration with my friend, pianist Daniel Schlosberg, this recording presents the first twenty songs from the 40@40 Project. — Laura Strickling, 2023
Produced by Laura Strickling. Engineered and mastered by Ryan Streber.
Recorded at Oktaven Studios, Mount Vernon, NY, August 2021.
Published by Enchanted Knickers Music(4), Tobenski Music Press (7), Faraway Nearby (10), Angelfire Press (14), Peer Music(18), EC Schirmer (19), American Composers Alliance (20).
Cover art by Marian Holmes, design by Haeg Design.
Thanks to
Ann Strickling
The Composers and Poets of the 40@40 Project
Joy Schreier
Mike and Beth Dixon
Lawrence Strickling and Sydney Hans
Taylor and Elizabeth Strickling
Kiki and Phillip Schlosberg
Zelene and Suzy Schlosberg
Carrie Sykes
Ryan Streber
Louis Levitt
Jessica Medoff
Stephen Lancaster
Kiera Duffy
Oliver Camacho
#teamartsong
1. Not Quite Stars
music by Juhi Bansal, lyrics by Julie BaberThe time will come, as it has done and passed Where songs our eyes sing to one another Must turn kissing mouths to other things. For it is no victory to last It is no victory to stand, stubborn on the path, Refusing that parting of mouths, releasing of hands, It is no victory to refuse our promised lands. Even as the gloaming begins to spark, Our messenger of the dark –Odd little flames we are to dot that horizon line, Even as it begins to drip, tar-black, Air hums that distant lullaby back.
We flit our tiny battles, our storming tiny spars, Free to choose our night path
We who are not yet ashes, not quite stars, We lightning bug singers, we fireflies sing, Ignite, we leap – and into the night we fly.
2. Wind, Carry Me
music by James Primosch, lyrics by Susan StewartThe sea has reached the fields, the fire is cold, the wall is gone. I said to the elm shelter me, shelter me I cannot tell the distant past or make a tool I’ve never held. I said to the grass comfort me, comfort me I cannot step across the waves or stand a ladder in the air I said to the wind, carry me, carry me Wind, I am within you, carry me I cannot dig with my hands or find my way without a flame I said to the moon turn to me, turn to me I said to the star send for me, send for me I said to the night harbor me Then I said to my love I’ll come to you, wait for me like the moon, like the star, turn to me, send for me I am with you and within you, wait for me
I am with you and within you, oh wind, carry me
3. Prometheus’s Monster
music by Myron Silberstein, lyrics by Karen Poppy
There’s this cat
Called Prometheus
Who wants to Skunk up my tree. Gave me fire, Creativity, Then backed away… Afraid of it, of me. Prometheus, return to me.
I am your useful monster. Set aflame So prettily.
4. Thanks a Latte
music by Lori Laitman, lyrics by Caitlin Vincent
Today’s the day. Today I’m taking a stand. Making an impression. Changing my coffee order!
Every day, it’s the same. My standard. Regular. Habit.
Every day at the hipster café.
Every day with the cute barista. For three whole seconds, I have his complete attention. (Not to mention, his dreamy smile.)
But every day, I waste it on routine. You aren’t what you eat, but what you order. And I’m predictable.
Forgettable.
But not today.
Today, I’ll be spontaneous. Complex.
Today, he’ll wonder what I do, who I am, where I’m going. Today, I’ll order…a macchiato.
Edgy and stylish and chic. Or maybe a cappuccino.
Peppy and frothy and fun. A flat white to show that I travel. A long black to show I’m well-read. I need to find the perfect blend to best espress-o myself. Would a filter be too trendy? A triple shot too high strung?
What’s the message in non-fat or skinny? No foam? Extra whip? Light ice? My keep cup is full of potential For a drink that’s quintessentially me.
This is the moment. I’m next in line. Ready with my order. And there he is in a beanie. Brewing and foaming and grinding. Never minding my racing heart. He turns to me with a smile.
Turns to me and says… “The usual?”
Uh huh.
5. At Spring’s End music by Tom Cipullo, excerpted from Exile’s Letter by Li Po, translated by Ezra Pound
And then the crowd broke up, you went north to San Palace, And if you ask how I regret that parting: It is like the flowers falling at Spring’s end Confused, whirled in a tangle. What is the use of talking, and there is no end of talking, There is no end of things in the heart.
7. E-mail to Odessa music by Dennis Tobenski, lyrics by Elizabeth Seydel Morgan
Love watches the weather of where you are, Checks every channel and paper to know When your skies are cloudy or full of snow, When your moonless night holds no bright star. If love’s hot sun can reach so far Love wants to melt your wintry blow, Wrap its warm breezes around you, so Love watches the weather of where you are.
8. Peony music by Ed Windels, lyrics by C. L. O’Dell
6. Saint music by Scott Wheeler, lyrics by Jeffrey Harrison
I find you where I found you years ago, stone saint from 15th century France whom I can count on always to be here in this church-like corner of the museum. Forgive me for not visiting in so long. Now I want to tell you everything that has happened to me since I last saw you, but I can see by your deeply shadowed eyes that you already know. I place myself directly in your warm and comprehending gaze. I want to lose myself in the thick folds of your stone robe, in the ripples of your beard. The smooth dome of your bald head is the firmament of your compassion. Put down your heavy book and lay your hand gently on top of my head. Pray for me.
From Incomplete Knowledge, © by 2006 Jeffrey Harrison. Four Way Books, New York. All rights reserved. Used by permission
I am ready for the next thing: rows and rows of wings lifting off the earth and telling me to stay. The sky wriggles with life and still, the air is gray like any rock above a grave. So let me have this now before the blossoms take my absence from the yard and I am again only one-sided, a living thing responsible to live, finding myself in tall grass, whispering back.
From Exile’s Letter ©1915 Ezra Pound. Administered by New Directions Publishing. All rights reserved. Used by permission.9. This Ode is Mine
music and lyrics by Bess McCrary
Dear Daughter, I’d like you to meet, Fall down at her feet, A concept unknown to you, A queen long dethroned when you came to be. I know you’ve grown accustomed to The songs I sing each day for you, but… This ode is mine,
Won’t share a bite.
In fact, I’ll fight your tiny hands (with appropriate might). You’ll never know pure magic me
Won’t see her through the Goldfish crumbs or milk or pee.
I buried her in diapers, I covered her in slime, I pumped and dumped and patted rumps, Went hoarse from nursery rhymes
And I did it all for you, Sweet Baby (B), but: What’s left for me?
This ode is hers
The me I was
The sparks my fingers carried, Oh the brains I buzzed.
I lived so hard
I died each day
Each small death lovingly entombed my former ways.
I buried her in diapers, I covered her in slime, I pumped and dumped and patted rumps, Went hoarse from nursery rhymes
And I did it all for you, Sweet Baby (B), but: What‘s left for me?
This ode is mine
(Shhhh! I just got her down!)
Mine, all mine
(Can’t you play quieter?!)
Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, MINE!
(Mommy needs a time out.)
10. Woman Walking music by Nell Shaw Cohen, lyrics by Megan Cohen
A pair of men, walking. Another man, walking. Oh, look: a man. Walking. A woman! ... jogging.
Why are the women always jogging gotta get someplace, lose five pounds, yoga mat, never stop, work the job then jog home clean the house paint the nails do it all on hard cement. Oh, look: a man. Standing. Watching the woman jogging. Watching the woman jogging. I do not go jogging. I take my time. I take my time. Dallying on every corner; cars stop for me. In the window my reflection; I stop for me. Sensual pleasure of a worn awning, painted sign, a crowded place then sudden quiet on another block. Miles and elevation
Cannot map the living city. I live with, in, on, the city. Smell it like a lover’s neck
Except the perfume of garbage. Oh look, some men walking. And there’s a man walking. He watches me walking. He says “Where you goin’?”
But I just keep walking. Look down and just keep going. I’m going everywhere before I go home, Before I go home.
Taste the pavement like an oyster under every step. A bit of sky between two buildings; it has time and so do I.
11. anew
music by Joseph Jones, lyrics by Christina Ramirez there is still there is still there is still all things go whether silently or with the roar of our worst and shining fearall things go arms linked with the best of our love and lilting hopeall things go swiftly in the witching hour amidst the applause of our whimall things go in order that we, the frail and forgotten, might be remade.
13. Sun of the Sleepless music by Felix Jarrar, lyrics by Lord Byron Sun of the Sleepless! melancholy star!
Whose tearful beam glows tremulously far, That show’st the darkness thou canst not dispel, How like art thou to Joy remembered well! So gleams the past, the light of other days, Which shines but warms not with its powerless rays: A night-beam Sorrow watcheth to behold, Distinct, but distant – clear – but, oh, how cold!
14.
May, 1915 (Let Us Remember Spring)
music by Andrea Clearfield, lyrics by Charlotte Mew
Let us remember Spring will come again
To the scorched, blackened woods, where the wounded trees
12. The Mother Who Died Too music by Eugenia Cheng, lyrics by Edith M. Thomas
SHE was so little – little in her grave, The wide earth all around so hard and cold –She was so little! therefore did I crave
My arms might still her tender form enfold. She was so little, and her cry so weak
When she among the heavenly children came –She was so little – I alone might speak
For her who knew no word nor her own name.
Wait, with their old wise patience for the heavenly rain, Sure of the sky: sure of the sea to send its healing breeze, Sure of the sun. And even as to these Surely the Spring, when God shall please Will come again like a divine surprise
To those who sit to-day with their great Dead, hands in Their hands, eyes in their eyes, At one with Love, at one with Grief: blind to the Scattered things and changing skies.
From The Rambling Sailor by Charlotte Mew. Administered by Carcanet Press. All rights reserved. Used by permission.15. Las palmeras
musicby Reinaldo Moya, lyrics by Pamela
translated by Reinaldo MoyaHacía tiempo que no lloraba Fueron las palmeras
El peso de su sombra
Rahn Sánchez16. The Solitary Reaper
music by Evan Fein, lyrics by William Wordsworth
Behold her, single in the field, Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Me obligo a alzar la cabeza para mirar su verde filoso contra el azul del cielo Estaban allí Pero no sabía caminaba debajo de ellas todos los días inerte a su belleza a la posibilidad de no volver a verlas pero estuvieron allí siempre sólo que no las veía Nunca las vi. --
It had been a while since I cried
It was the palm trees the weight of their shadows
It forced me to raise my head and look at the sharp green against the blue sky
They were there
But I didn’t know I walked under them every day oblivious to their beauty to the possibility of never seeing them again but they were there always it was just that I didn’t see them I never saw them.
©2020 Pamela Rahn Sánchez, from El radio de pilas y otros poemas, Fondo Editorial Fundarte. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Reaping and singing by herself; Stop here, or gently pass! Alone she cuts and binds the grain, And sings a melancholy strain; O listen! for the Vale profound Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands Of travellers in some shady haunt, Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird, Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?—
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been, and may be again?
Whate’er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work, And o’er the sickle bending;—
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill, The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more.
17. My song is sung
music by Jodi Goble, lyrics by Yone Noguchi
My song is sung, but a moment…
The song of voice is merely the body, (the body dies,)
And the real part of the song, its soul, remains after it is
sung:
Yea, it remains in the vibration of thy waves of heart-sea
Echoing still my song…
And through my soul thou soarest out of thy dust and griefs.
18. Benediction music by Daron Hagen, lyrics by Christina Ramirez a new song one that is honest one that speaks without script or measured breath the unnerved and shaking but determined stance of a woman who is due warmth due joy due the gifts so often bestowed and so rarely believed to be deserved sing, now, and do not be troubled should your lungs require a bit of practice and your mouth a month to recall confidenceit will come as will you as will the beautiful rest that envelops those who spend their energies, not in the haggard pursuit of performance, but rather in that blessed and sweet entanglementunhurried, unafraid, unashamed.
19. Two Old Crows
music by Juliana Hall, lyrics by Vachel Lindsay
Two old crows sat on a fence rail.
Two old crows sat on a fence rail, Thinking of effect and cause, Of weeds and flowers, And nature’s laws.
One of them muttered, one of them stuttered, One of them stuttered, one of them muttered.
Each of them thought far more than he uttered.
One crow asked the other crow a riddle.
One crow asked the other crow a riddle:
The muttering crow
Asked the stuttering crow,
“Why does a bee have a sword to his fiddle?
Why does a bee have a sword to his fiddle?”
“Bee-cause,” said the other crow,
“Bee-cause,
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B-cause.”
Just then a bee flew close to their rail:—
“Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ZZZZZZZZ.”
And those two black crows
Turned pale, And away those crows did sail. Why?
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B-cause.
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B-cause.
“Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
ZZZZZZZZ.”
20. Song of Solitude (Alone…)
music by H. Leslie Adams, lyrics by Nikos Valence
A tender light lights the night;
The moon high above
The ev’rything of my feelings:
The rivers of passion
The song of emotions
The chorus of destinies
Below the surface
Making me breathe, Famished, I search
Insatiable, I crave
Lovingly, I look up
To the moon
Its light falling on my head. ...The moon,
High above the ev’rything of my feelings, Alone... (alone...)
LAURA STRICKLING was nominated for 2022 GRAMMY® award for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album for Confessions – her debut solo recording of American art song with pianist Joy Schreier. Recognized by The New York Times for her “flexible voice, crystalline diction, and warm presence,” she is celebrated for her work performing and promoting art song, with an emphasis on new additions to the canon. She curated The NewMusicShelf Anthology of contemporary art songs for soprano and recently announced her second collaboration with the publisher for The NewMusicShelf Anthology of New Music for Beginning Singers. Her “powerful and expressive voice across a large range, her variety of timbre and character,” (Classical Scene), have made her a welcome guest soloist for a range of oratorio and concert works, from Handel to Britten and beyond with orchestras and chamber series around the country. Ms. Strickling created the role of Fanni Radnòti in the world premiere of Tom Cipullo’s opera The Parting with Music of Remembrance, and the role of Dr. Slade in the world premiere of Everything for Dawn with Experiments in Opera. Her discography also includes The Parting by Tom Cipullo, Times Alone (James Matheson), The Vineyard Songs (Glen Roven), Edna St. Vincent Millay (Jake Heggie), and Of a Certain Age (Tom Cipullo). A Chicago native, Ms. Strickling currently makes her home in St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands where she cultivates an extensive collection of orchids and enjoys Caribbean life with her husband Taylor, daughter Elizabeth, and Dido the Maltese Poodle. laurastrickling.com
DANIEL SCHLOSBERG leads a kaleidoscopic musical life. He has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in numerous chamber music concerts and new music concerts, and was a featured soloist in subscription performances of Messiaen’s “Trois Petites Liturgies”, for which John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Daniel Schlosberg played the daunting piano part splendidly”; and Lawrence A. Johnson of the Chicago Classical Review wrote of “a prominent, challenging piano part, played here with great fire and conviction by Daniel Schlosberg in a notable CSO debut.” He has a passion for contemporary music, collaborating frequently with Eighth Blackbird and Third Coast Percussion. He has given the world premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’s “Starlight Ribbons” for solo piano and the US premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Calices for violin and piano with violinist Austin Wulliman. He has recorded for the Albany, Bridge, Centaur, New World, Nimbus, Jacaranda and Permelia labels. His latest solo release is “Gaul Me Maybe: French Baroque Keyboard Music.” In the art song realm, he has been on staff at Ravinia’s Steans Institute vocal program, and he is founder and director of the Baltimore Lieder Weekend, held each October. Recent projects include Mahler/Zemlinsky: Symphony No 6 (arr. 4-hands) at the National Gallery of Art, DC, and appearances at Bargemusic’s “Here and Now” festival. He is on faculty at the University of Notre Dame, where he is also advisor to the Table Tennis Club. danielschlosberg.com
