VOCALISSIMUS

To the Roaring Wind

What syllable are you seeking, Vocalissimus, 
In the distances of sleep? 
Speak it.
                                  -Wallace Stevens



"Currier’s instrumental writing in Vocalissimus is never short of inventive, even orchestral (though there are only six instruments)……….In all, Vocalissimus made for a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to Sunday’s program, a concert that was filled with the sense of musical discovery often sought in contemporary music settings but not always found."

-The Art Fuse

                                                          Program Note

My aim in Vocalissimus is to explore the wealth of possible interpretations of a single text.  It is unusual in that all 18 songs of the cycle set the same text - each, however, set from a different point of view.  Basically, whenever a composer sets a text, the musical choices he or she makes cannot but form an interpretation of the text.  There is no such thing as an objective setting of a text.  Whether consciously or unconsciously, every word, every phrase, and every idea in a poem must be affected by the composer's highly subjective interpretation before it can take on a musical shape.  Vocalissimus is a fantasy on this inherent subjectivity of setting words to music.  It uses a short Wallace Stevens poem, To the Roaring Wind, and sets it from multiple vantage points, each with a title suggesting the particular point of view.  

Entitlement
Recluse
Formalist
Optimist
Pessimist
Satirist
Introvert
Extrovert
Chameleon
Somnambulist
Scientist
Mystic
Interrogator
Lunatic
Child and Dying Woman
Poet
Last Call

Scoring
sopr-fl.cl-vln.vlc-pft-perc(1):glsp/vib/mar/t.bells/crot/3susp.cyms/4tom-ts/SD/temple blks/wind chimes(glass)/tri/tamb/claves/BD. 

Territory
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