Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Scored for: soprano, oboe, string quintet. Also available for soprano, oboe, clarinet or soprano saxophone and piano; soprano and piano Text: Walt Whitman Language: English Duration: 8 min. Premiere: 12/13/09 Tamara Matthews with members of Orchestra 2001 Dedicated to: James Freeman, Artistic Director, Orchestra 2001 on his 70th birthday Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press
Contact Andrea Clearfield for score and parts:
It was an honor to have been asked to write this piece in celebration of Maestro James Freeman’s 70th birthday. After requesting some of Jim’s favorite texts, I fell immediately in love with “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” by Walt Whitman. Truly a marvel of poetic language, it is a coming of age of the artist, cradled by the timeless waves of the ocean; a young boy’s journey to comprehending the mysteries of life, love and death. The setting (to an excerpt from the poem) is simple, with a recurring lilting rhythm reminiscent of slowly undulating waves, a heartbeat or ticking of a clock. The lyrical melodies and arching form evolved from the elegant music inherent in the poem itself.
REVIEW
Cleanly constructed, the music flows and sways, the soprano line taking on a glow from the ensemble.
Daniel Webster, The Phildelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, December 15, 2009
TEXT
Excerpt from “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” by Walt Whitman
Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight,
Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child
leaving his bed wander’d alone, bareheaded, barefoot,
Down from the shower’d halo,
Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as if
they were alive,
Out from the patches of briers and blackberries,
From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,
From your memories sad brother, from the fitful risings and fall-
ings I heard,
From under that yellow half-moon late-risen and swollen as if with
tears,
From those beginning notes of yearning and love there in the mist,
From the thousand responses of my heart never to cease,
From the myriad thence-arous’d words,
From the word stronger and more delicious than any,
From such as now they start the scene revisiting,
As a flock, twittering, rising, or overhead passing,
Borne hither, ere all eludes me, hurriedly,
A man, yet by these tears a little boy again,
Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves,
I, chanter of pains and joys, uniter of here and hereafter,
Taking all hints to use them, but swiftly leaping beyond them,
A reminiscence sing
A reminiscence sing
Andrea with Maestro James Freeman at premiere
Scored for: soprano, oboe, string quintet. Also available for soprano, oboe, clarinet or soprano saxophone and piano; soprano and piano
Text: Walt Whitman
Language: English
Duration: 8 min.
Premiere: 12/13/09 Tamara Matthews with members of Orchestra 2001
Dedicated to: James Freeman, Artistic Director, Orchestra 2001 on his 70th birthday
Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press
Contact Andrea Clearfield for score and parts:
See preview score pages: A REMINISCENCE SING Vocal Score Excerpt (PDF)
A_REMINISCENCE_SING Sop-Cl-Pno Excerpt (PDF)
LISTEN
Sasha Leinster, soprano with Joseph Rosen, clarinet and Miriam Brickman, piano, St. Peter’s Church, NYC
Susan Hellman, soprano, Teresa Ancaya, piano & Brian Moorhead, clarinet, St. Petersburg Opera Building
PROGRAM NOTES
It was an honor to have been asked to write this piece in celebration of Maestro James Freeman’s 70th birthday. After requesting some of Jim’s favorite texts, I fell immediately in love with “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” by Walt Whitman. Truly a marvel of poetic language, it is a coming of age of the artist, cradled by the timeless waves of the ocean; a young boy’s journey to comprehending the mysteries of life, love and death. The setting (to an excerpt from the poem) is simple, with a recurring lilting rhythm reminiscent of slowly undulating waves, a heartbeat or ticking of a clock. The lyrical melodies and arching form evolved from the elegant music inherent in the poem itself.
REVIEW
Cleanly constructed, the music flows and sways, the soprano line taking on a glow from the ensemble.
Daniel Webster, The Phildelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, December 15, 2009
TEXT
Excerpt from “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” by Walt Whitman
Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight,
Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child
leaving his bed wander’d alone, bareheaded, barefoot,
Down from the shower’d halo,
Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as if
they were alive,
Out from the patches of briers and blackberries,
From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,
From your memories sad brother, from the fitful risings and fall-
ings I heard,
From under that yellow half-moon late-risen and swollen as if with
tears,
From those beginning notes of yearning and love there in the mist,
From the thousand responses of my heart never to cease,
From the myriad thence-arous’d words,
From the word stronger and more delicious than any,
From such as now they start the scene revisiting,
As a flock, twittering, rising, or overhead passing,
Borne hither, ere all eludes me, hurriedly,
A man, yet by these tears a little boy again,
Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves,
I, chanter of pains and joys, uniter of here and hereafter,
Taking all hints to use them, but swiftly leaping beyond them,
A reminiscence sing