World premiere: Alice Teyssier, soprano, Steven Beck, piano, Merkin Concert Hall, Manhattan, NY, Sept. 22, 2024
Compositions on Canvas: Two Art Songs takes its title from a slightly larger collection of poetry of similar name by the Boston-based poet Steven Withrow. The two poems on which this cycle is based are themselves inspired by paintings. In the first, Wirthrow comments on John Singer Ssrgent's relationship with his Italian patrons through the lens of Singer's work, San Vigilio: A Boat with a Golden Sail. In the second, the bucolic figures, animals and foliage of Marc Chagall's Hasidic hometown, Vitebsk (now in Belarus), are lovingly described, as they appear in Chagall's I and the Village. My task was simply to reflect upon and amplify the vivid imagery of both the poems and their corresponding visual inspirations.
LK
Review
“Soprano Alice Teyssier, joined by Beck, clearly reveled in the detailed texts… Karchin’s songs supply many coloristic shifts, dynamic gradations, and widely spaced gestures to encompass the imagery found in Withrow’s words. Teyssier navigated these handily, and Beck’s accompaniment glistened persuasively particularly in the impressionist-simulating arpeggiations.”