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Daniel Carr - Volume 3 - High Voice and Piano Trio

by Daniel Carr

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1.
Piano Trio - Movement I - Shanty - Opus 19 03:09
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2.
Piano Trio - Movement II - Ritual - Opus 19 02:59
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3.
Piano Trio - Movement III - Hymn - Opus 19 03:15
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4.
Piano Trio - Movement IV - Dance - Opus 19 03:22
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5.
In Memoriam (Bethany Swann) 03:14
lyrics
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New leaves had not yet formed on trees rain made new Season’s recitation of green Underside of boats did calm me - a low stranger tide Water felt new against my skin Even now I feel the gossamer of years staring back ‘cross pages Turning pages revealed distances Weeping willows fringed the harbor threading in and out of silver I wanted more than you could give In the chrysalis of summer shapes hardened into glass Notes grew mossy with the swept rain As the wind unhinged the barn doors And the storms thickened torrents overhead Thunder it shakes our home And I prayed for the storm to take me But you were gone by then And a night that bears down with seven fists Will be shouldered by a meadow Seabirds take their flight in violet They pass wing to wing As if in memoriam Seabirds take their flight they pass wing to wing As if in memoriam Air moves in to caress softly – the ocean vapor that Rises from their wings
6.
Roses Through Barbed Wire (Bethany Swann) 04:43
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When you left a crash of sun-tossed days returned The world it reached for me in earth tones Leaves deepened your silhouette to ochre then mist While I waited memory shot through me like hot stone A crash of sun-tossed days returned Always someone threading roses through barbed wire Phantoms pass through corridors Brush past shoulders Collect the small hurt In exposure Listening I call out for you Someone is threading roses through barbed wire Leaves deepened your silhouette to silver mist Buoyed by garlands tide pours in to mourn time gone Meanwhile music pours in from other rooms Our future less certain now Let us find comfort in what our grace has been shown Let us find grace in cascade of our song No longer strange to this world Purple haze of surrender Etched in the palms of our hands Waves break into surf and we hold Sound of them in our throat Majesty of their timbre Washing away sorrow Sea weaves garlands of emerald Keep tangling In distances Unsettled by our truth
7.
The Somnambulist (Bethany Swann) 04:40
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How’d we get to this place? Kindling bursts to tender flame Tinder-to tinder Trust evening-prisms to shift the light Towards panes of darkness Memory fills the hour Evening of shoulder blades Clouds drape like silk Par’dise blooms toward the sky Angles of wind relax through gray trees Current strengthens against our weak protests Calibrating to the arc of moon How did we get here? This place where the tide never comes in How did we get to this place alone? Kernel of light, bursting Chains of lilac, crossing Unspeakable glint of dead, gestures above While closing their eyes Against darkness like stars that seal Moonlit paths close so dark Evening arranges the Longest day suspended here How’d we get to this place? Kindling bursts to tender flame Tinder to tinder trust evening prisms to shift the light Breaking toward the unspeakable glint of dead Why does the summer tide never come in?
8.
The Struggle (Bethany Swann) 03:38
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I wonder how damn long it will be until I will see the sky again and like this Scattered points of light Blazing silver night Swept into the angles of the burnt trees Clear unframed by cityscape ravaged whole Columns rising across night And I knew the dream by heart Those who came with hunger and hope Pressed into their limbs Wakening to the fragments of a fever dream Blur of days cast into darkened future Softly turning eyes toward the scorched points of light And then they gathered bruised fruit with tenderness of moth’rs And in seasons backlit by the burning of orchards Where our labored breathing means choking through the ash It’s where breathing means a knee on our necks And breath flows out Last breath flowing falt’ring What anthem can we muster toward A country who promised Justice and liberty For all
9.
Stained Glass (Bethany Swann) 04:02
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10.
A Return (Bethany Swann) 02:33
lyrics
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Why don’t why don’t you run away? Fox tail hems forest floor Soles of our feet weaving through gardens Why don’t why don’t you stay with me? Sun pours through live oak Filigree of thorn and briar Incandescent shapes Memories of border towns rising like a mist Thin tiers of border towns vanish like vapor Foxtail hems the forest floor Thistle blooms in summer Amethyst of desire How our childhood filled the (forest) floor Why did I run away? Why did I run? Thin smoke of border towns choking our eyes Voiceless hymn, Ebbing light, Darkening skies Voiceless hymn, Ebbing light, Darkening skies Unfurling fists Why did I stay? Strange boots are breaking through marshes
11.
Song of Returns (Bethany Swann) 04:13
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Song of returns it cycles back as a path through a forest Hand in hand you left them like tarnished bracelets Three syllables in like an amulet The song of returns it cycles back as an echo that falls Wound around woman’s neck Lucid as finches’ movement Song of returns it cycles back like murmurs through forest You hear shifting so delicate In wintered branches beckoning above Song of returns cycles back As a fresh lyric through weathered forest Long, long before sky had changed The track of desire seared Through you while shattering freedoms How to be made whole again After the chime shattered Enchantment wore off so slowly Song of returns flies As a wind through forest Song-of return asks How to be made whole again How made whole again After chime has broke Song of returns cycles back Like a shot gun through forest Fragments of shell on ground smile like broken teeth
12.
Light Sources (Bethany Swann) 03:39
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I outgrew shadow after shadow Some days hallowed Some were days I had none Overhead our sun bore down Mercenary starved of pleasures Even the trees shook out their light And by day filled them with fake gold Where the ocean meets fresh water We cast out nets down At foot of rapids’ shore I outgrew shadow after shadow and I kept them to myself The hands of widows drew candles from tallow Last gleam of evening blaze in their face Dust rose from our feet mistaking stolen breath Like a swimmer bursting through surfaces Body is my testament - of grief’s melodies Mercenary starved - of small pleasure I outgrew shadow after shadow Some days wearied, some days I carried them home Gleam of moon softens blaze in widow’s faces How fragile hands of widows drew candles from tallow Until their end
13.
Northern Boundaries (Bethany Swann) 03:53
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When you followed the bend of the sea Did you find yourself at peace? Humbled by the rush and the ache of her Hushed inside of her ambrosia Nestled in crook of her froth Even then nothing made with your hands Could keep out her phosphorus driving along coast bearing down Tuned radio by the evening Come by tones of blue in the morning Did her rocky trajectory surprise you? Sentimentality of sediment carved by brackish water Salt spray to erode the tenderness We must once have felt lifting like a colored sail Across northern-most boundaries We could not have known then How the seagrasses would weave Across Northern boundaries
14.
Vocalise 03:04
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about

The first movement of Daniel Carr’s Piano Trio, Shanty, evokes the drama of the sea as well as the playfulness
of sailors telling tales to one another. The second movement, Ritual, begins with a meditative mood before
progressing into an aggressive, almost violent middle section. The third movement, Hymn, is lyrical throughout,
offering a reprieve from the more active surrounding movements. The counterpoint of the violin and cello are like
two people who, although destined to meet, repeatedly pass by and just miss each other. The final movement,
Dance, is rhythmic and more dissonant than the prior movements – though it does end in a blaze of pure C major.


In an unusual twist, Carr composed the musical component of Nine Bethany Swann Songs prior to the texts
having been written. The poet, Bethany Swann, listened to his music and through that experience was able to
create the lyrics that so perfectly flow in the songs – an impressive achievement. The nine-movement song
cycle begins with In Memoriam, the most “pop music” sounding of the songs, with a simple lyrical line. Roses
Through Barbed Wire follows – it is more aggressive and percussive with an active accompaniment to the voice.
The third piece of the cycle, The Somnambulist, is in two parts: the first with long melodic lines over a minimalist
accompaniment; the second, more chordal and lyrically active. The Struggle shows influences of “Americana”
and has a purely instrumental middle section. The midway point of the cycle, Stained Glass, makes use of glowing
chords in various modes. The sixth song is A Return, which contains thick textures and chordal accompaniment
in support of the vocal part. Song of Returns introduces a slower pace and is imagined as an “impressionistic
cowboy song” – if such a thing were to exist! The penultimate movement, Light Sources is a multi-part song
having an ethereal middle section and an explosive instrumental ending. The cycle concludes with Northern
Boundaries, which includes a hymn-inspired section at the end.


The final piece on this recording, Vocalise is scored for high voice, violin, cello and piano. This sparsely-textured,
wordless song seemed a fitting conclusion to an album which was recorded and composed during the COVID
pandemic. Its ghost-like sound dissolves into a final single solo melodic line – then silence.

credits

released May 23, 2022

Mindy Ella Chu: Mezzo-Soprano
Benefic Trio:
Misha Vayman: Violin
Cello (Qiele) Guo: Cello
Sunhwa Kim: Piano

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Daniel Carr Seattle, Washington

Daniel Carr is a composer of 21st Century Classical Music.

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