songs
from
liquid
days
Philip
Glass’ album Songs from liquid days
contained six characteristic solo songs to
words by Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega, David Byrne and Laurie Anderson.
Ranging from the poignant and personal to the grand and exciting, the songs provide a
panorama of contemporary American life.
This new Songs from liquid days is a significant addition to the small body
of Glass choral music outside the operas. It has been made with the support and
encouragement of Philip Glass and of his publisher.
The study score and parts are now available for perusal and hire from the publisher.
Also available are versions of the songs for soloist, mixed chorus and
ensemble.
There are strong advantages in staging the cycle as a whole, but it is also feasible to perform a selection of the songs.
I used my considerable experience of choral singing - including concert performances of Glass’ Satyagraha, act 2 and Three songs - and (I hope) a natural empathy with the music of Philip Glass to create a successfully idiomatic style for these songs.
The bottom line is that I endeavoured to produce a score which the casual listener, familiar with Glass, would not be able to distinguish from pure Glass. There are one or two touches which might be found in works of the 90s such as the Heroes symphony, but not in Glass's music of the 80s (from which time Songs from liquid days originated).
orchestration mixed choir . 4 flutes/piccolos . piano . organ . 6 percussion . strings duration 42 mins
1 Changing opinion
(8½ mins)
chorus (satb) . 2×2 flutes . piano .
strings
2 Lightning
(6¾)
chorus (smatbb) . 2×2 flutes/piccolos .
6 percussion
(crotales . woodblock . triangle . tambourine . snare drum . kick drum) .
piano . strings
3 In liquid days
(5¼)
chorus (smatbb) . 2×2 flutes . piano .
strings
4 Open the kingdom
(8)
men’s chorus (ttbbb) . 2×2
flutes/piccolos . piano . organ . strings
5 Freezing
(3½)
small women’s semichorus (s) . strings
(front desks only)
6 Forgetting
(10)
chorus (ssaattbb) . flute×2 . piccolo×2
. percussion
(crotales . tamtam) . piano . organ . strings
The suffix ×2 in the woodwind
is solely to indicate that almost invariably the four players perform in
two relays of two players. However, there are occasions when the all
four players are stipulated.
Songs 1, 3 and 5 could easily be performed by small choirs using reduced
instrumental forces, in which case two relays of one flute/piccolo would
suffice.
Indeed, for chamber choirs a string quintet would suffice for songs 3 and
5.
All the songs are suitable for chamber choirs, but songs 2, 4 and 6 are
big and loud, and they require more body of string tone and sheer volume
than five string players can produce.
A word on the use of soloists. Silva Screen wished to have soloists on their CD in four of the Songs. I have therefore produced versions of all the songs with soloist.. Personally, I would encourage all-choral performances of all the songs, but in practice this leaves a good deal of choice to prospective performers who not only may choose to perform some but not all of the songs, but also have the option to do any of them with a soloist, if they have one.
In producing this choral version of Songs from liquid days, I have essentially sought to transcribe the version commercially recorded to produce a viable and exciting concert work for choirs.
I did not set out to make arrangements, still less undertake a Heroes Symphony treatment of the cycle! I hope that what I have produced sounds like quintessential Philip Glass, and not someone else’s idea of how to ‘improve’ the music. My experience of singing Glass’s a capella Three songs was an invaluable guide to an appropriate choral style for this music.
The challenges the various songs offer, though, have meant that the closeness of the transcription varies. Freezing is lifted, shorn of its incidental decoration, into a work for two part women’s choir and string quintet with no material changes at all.
Changing opinion, however, essentially a one voice narrative, required rather more reworking and some cuts of repetitions have been made, with the consent of Philip Glass, to tighten it up for choral presentation.
In making these versions, it was important to me to use an instrumentation which was realistic and affordable by choirs seeking to be more adventurous in their repertoire.
I recognised the pre-eminence in the original of the string quartet, plus double bass, flutes and keyboard player (usually piano) and, on the whole, retained their music. The brass and wind ensemble music has been shifted to the choir. I did a certain amount of rearrangement of music between the remaining forces.
However, I never lost sight of my goal to produce a choral version of these songs. This certainly isn't a transcription: all the songs have been rethought. There are many little 'islands' where the chorus is a capella - not least at the very opening. Indeed, rather than employ a lot of decoration, I made a virtue of my self-imposed modest orchestral forces and thinned out or removed instrumental accompaniment where I could (eg in the opening of In liquid days, or in Freezing, where the strings of the National Sinfonia on the CD produce a feathery, snowflakes are falling sound which is perfect for this shivery song).
As a consequence, the choir not only has to fulfill the many interpretational demands described by the composer in his choice of a highly varied group of soloists, but also has to be the orchestra!
Songs from liquid days
was recorded by Crouch End Festival
Chorus, the National Sinfonia, conductor David Temple, in November
1999 at Whitfield Studio, London. James Fitzpatrick produced and
Mike Ross-Trevor was the engineer. I acted as associate producer for these sessions. Najma
Akhtar and Wills Morgan separately recorded their contributions to four of the
songs.
The album was released on the Silva Classics label lin October 2000 by Silva
Screen. It is coupled with the
premiere recording of Philip Glass's contemporaneous a capella Three songs, and Vessels from Koyaanisqatsi:
these were recorded in Whitfield Studio in June 1999 by the same team,
plus Nic Raine, producer.
Jim Keller at Dunvagen Music can be contacted on +1 212 979
2080.
Hire material is available through G Schirmer.
In Europe, Dunvagen and Schirmer are represented by Chester Music (part of the Music Sales Group). Contact Catherine Manners at Chester’s Promotions Department on +44 (0) 20 7432 4218 for more information on this and other music by Philip Glass (particularly, for choirs, the Three songs).
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