Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Scored for: baritone, chorus and piano. Also available for baritone and piano. Transformed by Fire Choral Suite is a larger work for soprano, baritone, chorus and piano. Both texts are below. Text: Ariana Kramer Language: English Duration: 20 min. (Choral Suite is 40 min.) Premiere: August 30, 2017 Mark Jackson, Baritone, Andrea Clearfield, Piano, Taos, NM Community Chorus For: The Leopold Writing Program Choral Suite Commissioned by: Two anonymous New Mexico residents Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press More info and complete text:here.
Contact Andrea Clearfield for score and parts:
Andrea with Mark Jackson, baritone and Ariana Kramer at the premiere, Harwood Museum, Taos, NM, August 30, 2017
In 2017, Ariana Kramer and composer Andrea Clearfield were awarded an Aldo & Estella Leopold Writers Residency through the Leopold Writing Program. The residency was held at Aldo Leopold’s Mi Casita 1912 cabin in Tres Piedras, NM where Andrea lived and worked during the summer of 2017. As their collaborative project, Ariana wrote a poetic text which Andrea set to music for baritone, piano and chorus. “Transformed by Fire” is a five movement song cycle exploring Aldo Leopold’s changing perception of wolves and the necessary role they play in our ecosystems.
”Transformed by Fire” was presented at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico in August 2017 with baritone Mark Jackson, pianist Andrea Clearfield and members of the Taos Community Chorus. An encore performance was offered in September 2017 in response to audience request. “Transformed by Fire” was presented by SOMOS on April 25, 2018 at 7 p.m. at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos as part of National Poetry Month events.
Ariana and Andrea are currently seeking funding to expand their collaborative piece into a twelve-movement evening-length work for baritone, chorus and chamber orchestra.
Transformed by Fire
FireSpirit Wolf
www.MiaBosna.com
Scored for: baritone, chorus and piano. Also available for baritone and piano. Transformed by Fire Choral Suite is a larger work for soprano, baritone, chorus and piano. Both texts are below.
Text: Ariana Kramer
Language: English
Duration: 20 min. (Choral Suite is 40 min.)
Premiere: August 30, 2017 Mark Jackson, Baritone, Andrea Clearfield, Piano, Taos, NM Community Chorus
For: The Leopold Writing Program
Choral Suite Commissioned by: Two anonymous New Mexico residents
Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press
More info and complete text:here.
Contact Andrea Clearfield for score and parts:
See preview score pages:Transformed by Fire II. Spark
ABOUT
Andrea with Mark Jackson, baritone and Ariana Kramer at the premiere, Harwood Museum, Taos, NM, August 30, 2017
In 2017, Ariana Kramer and composer Andrea Clearfield were awarded an Aldo & Estella Leopold Writers Residency through the Leopold Writing Program. The residency was held at Aldo Leopold’s Mi Casita 1912 cabin in Tres Piedras, NM where Andrea lived and worked during the summer of 2017. As their collaborative project, Ariana wrote a poetic text which Andrea set to music for baritone, piano and chorus. “Transformed by Fire” is a five movement song cycle exploring Aldo Leopold’s changing perception of wolves and the necessary role they play in our ecosystems.
”Transformed by Fire” was presented at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico in August 2017 with baritone Mark Jackson, pianist Andrea Clearfield and members of the Taos Community Chorus. An encore performance was offered in September 2017 in response to audience request. “Transformed by Fire” was presented by SOMOS on April 25, 2018 at 7 p.m. at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos as part of National Poetry Month events.
Ariana and Andrea are currently seeking funding to expand their collaborative piece into a twelve-movement evening-length work for baritone, chorus and chamber orchestra.
Read Andrea’s article on Transformed by Fire published in the Blue Mountain Center Commons.
Mi Casita, Aldo Leopold’s 1912 cabin in Très Piedres, NM
ANDREA’S PRE-CONCERT REMARKS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoW7Dk0jM30
LINKS
Mi Casita Writing Residency
Evoking Aldo Leopold’s Life Through Music And Poetry by Nell Shaw Cohen, October 24, 2017
Background on Transformed by Fire at www.arianakramer.com
TEXT
“Transformed by Fire”
Poetry by Ariana Kramer © 2017
I. Encounter
A mother plays
at the river bank,
crosses water.
Her yearlings
frolic.
She raises her head.
I see her eyes.
They burn
with a green fire.
My shot a thought ringing out.
My bullet the force
of Man against Wolf.
I am young.
I stand on rimrock,
look to dark mountain skies.
My thought:
fewer wolves, more deer;
no wolves, hunter’s paradise.
I still see her eyes – still.
They burn me
with a fierce green fire.
II. Spark
A spark
smolders, ignites,
passes through wingtips
of migrating cranes.
I kneel
to small green stems of white stars
I catch their tiny flash in my hands.
III. Bowstring
I have drawn my bowstring
across my heart. I have found my love.
We have taught our children
to swim, to fish, to track, to hunt,
to learn the land.
We have taught them to love
the smell of campfire supper-smoke.
Around the dancing flames
we sing our songs. I whistle along.
We plant trees
to restore the lonely land.
I have drawn my bowstring
across my heart. I have found my love.
We have taught our children
to feel, to see, to hear, to know,
to love the land.
We have taught them to listen
when the wild geese call.
We have taught them to love
the wild places in their hearts.
Together we have learned to love.
IV. Consequence
No wolves. Hunter’s paradise?
A foolish thought. A foolish thought.
I walk in a wolfless wilderness.
I see deer – dead,
thin from starvation.
Too many to feed.
Trees stripped bare.
What have we done
to the wilderness?
V. Understanding
I am older.
I know, now.
A green flame
burns in each of us.
Wolf enlivens the land
like a fragrant fire.
Wolf runs deer
like water over mountains.
Saplings grow strong.
Bird song fills their branches.
I know, now. I know, now –
a green fire, the green fire.
Everything on, over and in
the land belongs together.
__________________________________________________
TRANSFORMED BY FIRE Choral Suite
Text by Ariana Kramer, 2018
Prologue: Frolic – soprano solo
A mother plays
at the river bank,
crosses water.
Her yearlings
frolic.
She raises her head.
1. Encounter – baritone solo
I see her eyes.
They burn
with a green fire.
My shot a thought ringing out.
My bullet the force
of Man against Wolf.
I am young.
I stand on rimrock,
look to dark mountain skies.
My thought:
fewer wolves, more deer;
no wolves, hunter’s paradise.
I still see her eyes – still.
They burn me
with a fierce green fire.
2. Spark (baritone, soprano and chorus)
A spark
smolders, ignites,
passes through wingtips
of migrating cranes.
I kneel
to small green stems of white stars
I catch their tiny flash in my hands.
3. Bowstring (baritone and chorus)
I have drawn my bowstring
across my heart. I have found my love.
We have taught our children
to swim, to fish, to track, to hunt,
to learn the land.
We have taught them to love
the smell of campfire supper-smoke.
Around the dancing flames
we sing our songs. I whistle along.
We plant trees
to restore the lonely land.
I have drawn my bowstring
across my heart. I have found my love.
We have taught our children
to feel, to see, to hear, to know,
to love the land.
We have taught them to listen
when the wild geese call.
We have taught them to love
the wild places in their hearts.
Together we have learned to love.
4. Family – soprano and SA
Wolf is mother, father, sister, brother.
Wolf is not alone, not a—lone, not a—
lone. Wolf is a playful family
rambling across the land.
Over the land we roam, we roam.
We chase rabbits, run with deer.
We follow elk and buffalo.
Strong – we hunt
Wise – as one body.
With twists and turns,
we dart, we bite.
Oh, how we feast
shoulder to shoulder –
my love and I
my love and I.
Our pups growl, and suckle.
Our pups sleep.
We have taught our children
to swim, to fish, to track, to hunt,
to learn the land.
Our den smells of ancestors
a thousand years old.
Wolf fits the land
like a thumbprint fits the thumb
knowing
knowing
each hill, each valley.
Wolf mothers
grow
Wolf families
grow
Wolf traditions
grow
knowing
knowing
each hill, each valley.
What Wolf knows, what I know, reaches back –
far into memory, deep into the land (we roam).
Wolf is mother, father, sister, brother.
Wolf is not alone, not alone
5. Extermination – soprano, baritone and chorus
Now, Wolf’s howl
Poison. Trap. Snare. Bullet.
Now, Wolf’s howl
Poison. Trap. Snare. Bullet.
Now, Wolf’s howl
no longer
straightens my spine
in the early morn.
6. Consequence – baritone
I walk in a wolfless wilderness.
I see deer – dead,
thin from starvation.
Too many to feed.
Trees stripped bare.
7. Questions – baritone, soprano, chorus and
solos within Chorus
What have we done to the wilderness?
What have we done to the wilderness in us?
How can they love deer and hate Wolf?
We are two parts of one whole.
What have we done to the wilderness?
What have we done to the wilderness in us?
How can we love deer and hate Wolf?
We are two parts of one whole.
In the early morning hours, what will my children hear?
8. Understanding – Finale, tutti
I am older.
I know, now.
A green flame burns in each of us.
Wolf enlivens the land
like a fragrant fire.
Wolf runs deer
like water over mountains.
Saplings grow strong.
Bird song fills their branches.
I know, now. I know, now
a green fire, the green fire.
Everything on, over and in
the land belongs together.
Composing Transformed by Fire at Aldo Leopold’s cabin in Tres Piedras, NM
Ariana Kramer and Andrea, winners of the Aldo Leopold Writing Residency Fellowship, in front of Aldo Leopold’s cabin, “Mi Casita”
Mi Casita, Aldo Leopold’s cabin, Tres Piedras, NM
Volcanic rock fireplace, Mi Casita