Far Song

Mysteria Incarnationis, by David M. Gordon. Kayleen Sánchez, soprano; Eka Gogichashvili, violin; Paul Sánchez, piano. Live in Charleston, South Carolina, September 2018.

Paul Sánchez presents premiere performances of new piano music by Graham Lynch: Absolute Inwardness (world premiere) The Couperin Sketchbooks (U.S. premiere) White Book 3 (world premiere) Co-presented by the San Francisco International Piano Festival and the International Piano Series. NOTES BY THE COMPOSER, GRAHAM LYNCH Absolute Inwardness was Hegel’s definition of the true content of Romanticism (‘infinite subjectivity’). This piece draws on elements of late romantic style, and fragments them until the work disintegrates into a constellation of ideas that look inwards. There are echoes of chorales, of late Brahms, and at the end the piece dissolves into a chord that covers the entire range of the piano. This work is something of a companion piece to The Couperin Sketchbooks, being its opposite in many respects. The Couperin Sketchbooks is about ten minutes long, and is made up of many short sections which have ‘Couperinesque’ titles, and share something of the spirit of Couperin’s music. In a number of places these fragments are linked by short passages from the Couperin ordres. The music moves seamlessly between the different styles, and passes through a wide range of moods and textures. The final bars of the piece are taken from the opening of a harpsichord piece Lynch wrote a number of years ago, Pastorale, which in itself was a response to the idea of the unmeasured prelude. White Book 3 is unified by the work of the artist Christopher le Brun, whose paintings and woodcuts have inspired these five pieces. The first three pieces of the set have surface qualities of colour and light, and move easily from one to the next. Seria Ludo has a playful, free-wheeling energy, spiced with syncopations and a devil-may-care attitude to every gesture that rushes past. The Hesperides tunes into the magical and enigmatic zone of imagery created by Le Brun’s painting of the same name, at times conjuring translucent harmonies from the piano that counterpoint the balanced tread of the opening and closing sections. And finally, Glow, where constantly shifting foreground rhythms are framed within a more regular, formal architectural structure. These pieces reveal Lynch’s predilection for the qualities of French music, but with The Rhine a new world opens out, one of a Northern European sensibility. This work is by far the longest of the set and the individual ideas are subordinated within the textures, sometimes breaking the surface of the music before falling back again - the abundance of the notes threatening to blur the distinction between line and decoration, dragging the music into the world of the unconscious. This is music of a much darker nature, its primal energy gathering weight as it moves towards a climax, before concluding, with a nod to the Wagnerian Rhine, on a series of hushed E flat chords. Before the last sounds have died away, the lustrous opening of Landscapes with Angels begins. This is the one piece in the set in which the title is not from a specific Le Brun painting, instead reflecting a number of his works, including the studies for the Parables at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral as well as ‘Travellers in a Landscape’. Angels walk among men, and the world is momentarily transformed by a heavenly presence.

A Hymn, from "Dunbar Songs," by Edward Hart. Saundra DeAthos-Meers, Soprano; Paul Sánchez, piano. Text by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Recorded at the Sottile Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina. 2020.

0:00 Introductions 1:05 The Lowcountry 2:33 A Musical Heritage 7:06 “Is it supposed to sound like that…?” 8:40 An Early Success 10:34 A Charleston Concerto - for string quartet and orchestra 13:20 A Charleston Concerto - I. Discovery 14:55 A Charleston Concerto - II. Tragedy and Reconciliation 19:00 A Charleston Concerto - III. Tomorrow 20:45 Gullah Spirituals 25:58 Paul Laurence Dunbar 28:36 A Hymn 32:56 On Song Writing 35:13 Text and Music 39:57 “Sometimes… I have to write in the cracks.” 40:52 DNA 45:12 “It’s clever… but…” 49:22 “I want my music to move somebody.” 53:18 Questions for Far Song 56:32 A New Song… 58:49 Parting Thoughts Composer interview with Edward Hart. Stay tuned next week for the release of Paul's performance of Edward's song setting of Paul Laurence Dunbar's "A Hymn," in collaboration with soprano Saundra DeAthos-Meers. We will be posting a video on Fridays, where our goal is to share our real-life everyday experiences making a life in music. We'll try to feature artist interviews, behind the scenes footage, performances, travels, and other things that we're up to! __________________________________________________________________________________________ Edward Hart http://blogs.cofc.edu/harte/ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Our website: https://www.farsongduo.com __________________________________________________________________________________________ Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farsongduo/

Franz Liszt: Funérailles, from Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses. Paul Sánchez, live performance, October 2018, Greenville, South Carolina. We will be posting a video on Fridays, where our goal is to share our real-life everyday experiences making a life in music. We'll try to feature artist interviews, behind the scenes footage, performances, travels, and other things that we're up to! __________________________________________________________________________________________ Our websites: https://www.farsongduo.com https://www.paultsanchez.com __________________________________________________________________________________________ Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farsongduo/

0:00 Introduction 1:12 The basics... 5:59 Rhythm 9:58 Schooled 14:49 David is writing a piano concerto for Paul… 14:59 Introducing Mysteria Fidei 16:48 The artwork of Mysteria Fidei 21:03 The works contained therein… beginning with “Fader stilla våra andar" 24:18 An Origin Story… “Fader stilla våra andar” 26:20 Meeting Far Song through “Fader stilla våra andar” 32:36 The Hamburger of Languages 34:17 "Consolation New" - Or - "He's a simple-minded fellow..." 37:00 An Origin Story - “Consolation New” 40:12 On Shape Note Hymnody - Or - Sacred Harp Singing 45:47 On Learning “Consolation New” 47:39 Prophetic 50:53 Mysteria Incarnationis: Texts 57:35 An Origin Story: Mysteria Incarnationis 1:00:01 Mysteria Incarnationis: “It’s a big piece.” 1:02:58 Mysteria Incarnationis: "This may be the piece that I'm most proud of." 1:05:06 Mysteria Incarnationis: "to a time and a space very different..." 1:08:18 credit where credit is due… 1:12:32 "amidst the pain there's also a great amount of beauty" 1:17:40 "these are not easy pieces..." - Or - Plaudits for Far Song Composer interview with David M. Gordon, with a focus on the upcoming release of his CD "Mysteria Fidei" on the Innova Recordings label (scheduled for November 13, 2020). For a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the "Mysteria Fidei" album, check out "Our CRAZIEST project so far!" https://youtu.be/neCxc3FaGb0 We will be posting a video on Fridays, where our goal is to share our real-life everyday experiences making a life in music. We'll try to feature artist interviews, behind the scenes footage, performances, travels, and other things that we're up to! __________________________________________________________________________________________ David M. Gordon http://davidmgordon.com Eka Gogichashvili https://www.baylor.edu/music/index.php?id=952984 __________________________________________________________________________________________ Our website: https://www.farsongduo.com __________________________________________________________________________________________ Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farsongduo/

Far Song (Kayleen Sánchez, soprano; Paul Sánchez, piano) performs "La Tierra," by Yiorgos Vassilandonakis. Text by Pablo Neruda. Live performance in Charleston, South Carolina, March 9, 2019.

We will be posting a video on Fridays, where our goal is to share our real-life everyday experiences making a life in music. We'll try to feature artist interviews, behind the scenes footage, performances, travels, and other things that we're up to! __________________________________________________________________________________________ Yiorgos Vassilandonakis https://music.cofc.edu/faculty-and-staff-listing/vassilandonakis-yiorgos.php __________________________________________________________________________________________ Our website: https://www.farsongduo.com __________________________________________________________________________________________ Follow us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farsongduo/