This performance will be broadcast live to the audience of the 2020 Texoma Regional Conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Program, Notes and Translations are available on the Recitals page of this site.
VOYAGE invites listeners on an exotic journey with songs featuring the unusual combination of voice, bassoon, and piano, and rarely-heard music from France and Latin America.
The program begins with Chabrier’s unique setting of “L’invitation au voyage,” a nine-minute scène chantée in which the voice leaps across registers to heights of ecstasy and depths of intimacy. Another French rarity, Massenet’s “Amours bénis” reveals glimpses of the development of life-long love. In this performance, the bassoon takes the cello line and offers a new color to the piece.
The journey continues to Latin America with Brazilian composer Francisco Mignone’s unpublished Five Songs for Soprano and Bassoon. Based on folk melodies, Mignone’s songs offer us a window into everyday life in the countryside. This unique composition allows both the bassoon and the voice to “wail,” recalling qualities of authentic Brazilian choro.
From Venezuela, we have an award-winning song cycle by Modesta Bor, Tres canciones para mezzo-soprano y piano. Not widely known outside of Venezuela, Ms. Bor’s art songs are notable for their sophisticated harmonic language and neoclassical techniques.
The voyage concludes with two songs by Maria Grever, the first female Mexican composer to achieve international acclaim. She wrote more than 800 songs, many of which were featured in films of the 1930s and 40s. “Te quiero, dijiste” and “Júrame” are among her most popular, though still largely unknown in the United States.
