Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Three Songs for Violin and Double Bass (after poems by Pablo Neruda)
Scored for: violin and double bass (also arranged for oboe/soprano sax or violin and bassoon/cello or double bass) Duration: 7 min. Premiere: 11/98 Heide Sibley, violin and Edgar Meyer, bass, The Banff Center for the Arts, Faculty concert For: Edgar Meyer Published by:International Opus
The three movements can be heard on youtube with Heide Sibley and Edgar Meyer here:
LISTEN
REVIEWS
“Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass (1996) are intricate and atmospheric, and they evoke the lyrical spirit of the Pablo Neruda poems that inspired them. They are also fascinating on purely technical grounds – for the way the oboe and bass lines fit together like puzzle pieces.”
Portland Press Herald, Allan Kozinn, November 6, 2016
“Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs after Poems by Pablo Neruda easily provided the most artistic depth of the evening.”
–Roger A. Cope, Classical Voice of North Carolina, June, 2005
“McNerney appeared with noted double bass player William Blossom, in “Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass, after poems by Pablo Neruda,” by Andrea Clearfield (b. 1960). The combination of instruments, as unusual as it is, was ideal for exploring the interplay of male and female as portrayed in Neruda’s erotic poems: “Body of a Woman,” “The Light Wraps You,” and “Every Day You Play.”
Main Classical Beat, Christopher Hyde, October 30, 2016
“The newest of the pieces heard revealed that chamber music continues to be a sturdy vehicle for poignant emotionalism and intimate expression. Dialogue of another kind marked Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs for oboe and double bass (1997).These three delicate miniatures, musical depictions of poems by Pablo Neruda, featured fine playing from oboist Nancy Dimock and double bassist Randall Zigler. The two musicians curved melodies around each other for soft silhouettes of phrases in first of the set, “Body of a Woman.” The melodies of the second, “The Light Wraps You,” unfolded in gentle waves. The duo found a groove in the finale, “Every Day You Play,” which was toe-tapping in its rollicking 7/8 meter.”
–By Aaron Keebaugh, Boston Classical Review, February 2, 2015
“I would have thought Andrea Clearfield’s (b. 1960) Three Songs after Poems by Pablo Neruda to be the only piece written for oboe and double bass, but research informs me it’s but one fine example of a genre. The three songs (inspired by “Body of a Woman”, “The Light Wraps You”, and “Every Day You Play”) have different characters: the first evolves out of an ostinato; the second is brief and more spacious; the third playful with a touch of Milhaud in its opening. Each is brief and spare, and none overstays their welcome. They have in common an intimacy that comes from the musical material being constantly and intensely shared, sometimes in strict imitation, sometimes with considerable transformations…After the density of the Prokofiev it was good in this clearer air, to hear Dimock’s melodic readings full of flexibility and subtlety, Zigler’s musicianship equally audible in this music of much greater introspection.”
–by Brian Schuth, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, February 1, 2015
“These pieces have a variety, creativity and inner logic…”
–The Double Reed, November, 2008
“Andrea Clearfield uses the unusual combination of oboe and double bass in a work composed for a married couple, bassist from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Robert Kesselman and his wife, oboist Jennifer Kuhns. The pieces take their inspiration from Pablo Neruda poems, and the music has sensuality and charm.”
–MusicWeb International, Carla Rees
RECORDINGS
The Light Wraps You: New Music for Oboe
Michele Fiala & Friends
MSR Classics, MS1217
www.msrcd.com
“It Takes Two…”
Vecchione/Erdahl Duo
Centaur Records, CRC 2942
www.centaurrecords.com
PROGRAM NOTES
Three Songs for Violin and Double Bass (After poems by Neruda)
Inspired by three sensual love poems of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, this set of three musical tableaux was originally composed for Philadelphia Orchestra bassist, Robert Kesselman and his wife, oboist Jennifer Kuhns in 1996. The movements are loosely based on the images and energy emanating from Neruda’s passionate and evocative texts. The double bass and oboe represented not only two different instrumental families and musical registers, but also contrasting instrumental shapes, colors and sizes. These complementary opposites resonate with elements of Neruda’s love poetry, which plays on images of dark and light, night and day, masculine and feminine.
In 1998 the composer arranged this work for violin and bass duo for renowned bassist Edgar Meyer, who premiered and recorded the arrangement with violinist Heide Sibley in Banff, Canada. It has been performed by duos internationally and choreographed by Group Motion Dance Company as part of the Fringe Festival in Philadelphia. In 2014 Clearfield created another set after Neruda poems for Oboe and English Horn, Daughter of the Sea commissioned by the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, incorporating lighting and stage movement for the performers. In 2016 she wrote an additional set of poetic duos for violin and bass commissioned and premiered by Martha Walvoord and Jack Unzicker, after poems by Pablo Neruda, Mary Oliver and Rumi entitled A Dream of Trees.
TEXT
Poems can be found in 20 Love Poems And A Song Of Despair by Pablo Neruda
I. Body of a Woman
II. The Light Wraps You
III. Every Day You Play
Three Songs for Violin and Double Bass (after poems by Pablo Neruda)
Scored for: violin and double bass (also arranged for oboe/soprano sax or violin and bassoon/cello or double bass)
Duration: 7 min.
Premiere: 11/98 Heide Sibley, violin and Edgar Meyer, bass, The Banff Center for the Arts, Faculty concert
For: Edgar Meyer
Published by: International Opus
See preview score pages:
3 SONGS I EXCERPT (PDF)
3 SONGS III EXCERPT (PDF)
YOUTUBE
The three movements can be heard on youtube with Heide Sibley and Edgar Meyer here:
LISTEN
REVIEWS
“Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass (1996) are intricate and atmospheric, and they evoke the lyrical spirit of the Pablo Neruda poems that inspired them. They are also fascinating on purely technical grounds – for the way the oboe and bass lines fit together like puzzle pieces.”
Portland Press Herald, Allan Kozinn, November 6, 2016
“Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs after Poems by Pablo Neruda easily provided the most artistic depth of the evening.”
–Roger A. Cope, Classical Voice of North Carolina, June, 2005
“McNerney appeared with noted double bass player William Blossom, in “Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass, after poems by Pablo Neruda,” by Andrea Clearfield (b. 1960). The combination of instruments, as unusual as it is, was ideal for exploring the interplay of male and female as portrayed in Neruda’s erotic poems: “Body of a Woman,” “The Light Wraps You,” and “Every Day You Play.”
Main Classical Beat, Christopher Hyde, October 30, 2016
“The newest of the pieces heard revealed that chamber music continues to be a sturdy vehicle for poignant emotionalism and intimate expression. Dialogue of another kind marked Andrea Clearfield’s Three Songs for oboe and double bass (1997).These three delicate miniatures, musical depictions of poems by Pablo Neruda, featured fine playing from oboist Nancy Dimock and double bassist Randall Zigler. The two musicians curved melodies around each other for soft silhouettes of phrases in first of the set, “Body of a Woman.” The melodies of the second, “The Light Wraps You,” unfolded in gentle waves. The duo found a groove in the finale, “Every Day You Play,” which was toe-tapping in its rollicking 7/8 meter.”
–By Aaron Keebaugh, Boston Classical Review, February 2, 2015
“I would have thought Andrea Clearfield’s (b. 1960) Three Songs after Poems by Pablo Neruda to be the only piece written for oboe and double bass, but research informs me it’s but one fine example of a genre. The three songs (inspired by “Body of a Woman”, “The Light Wraps You”, and “Every Day You Play”) have different characters: the first evolves out of an ostinato; the second is brief and more spacious; the third playful with a touch of Milhaud in its opening. Each is brief and spare, and none overstays their welcome. They have in common an intimacy that comes from the musical material being constantly and intensely shared, sometimes in strict imitation, sometimes with considerable transformations…After the density of the Prokofiev it was good in this clearer air, to hear Dimock’s melodic readings full of flexibility and subtlety, Zigler’s musicianship equally audible in this music of much greater introspection.”
–by Brian Schuth, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, February 1, 2015
“These pieces have a variety, creativity and inner logic…”
–The Double Reed, November, 2008
“Andrea Clearfield uses the unusual combination of oboe and double bass in a work composed for a married couple, bassist from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Robert Kesselman and his wife, oboist Jennifer Kuhns. The pieces take their inspiration from Pablo Neruda poems, and the music has sensuality and charm.”
–MusicWeb International, Carla Rees
RECORDINGS
The Light Wraps You: New Music for Oboe
Michele Fiala & Friends
MSR Classics, MS1217
www.msrcd.com
“It Takes Two…”
Vecchione/Erdahl Duo
Centaur Records, CRC 2942
www.centaurrecords.com
PROGRAM NOTES
Three Songs for Violin and Double Bass (After poems by Neruda)
Inspired by three sensual love poems of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, this set of three musical tableaux was originally composed for Philadelphia Orchestra bassist, Robert Kesselman and his wife, oboist Jennifer Kuhns in 1996. The movements are loosely based on the images and energy emanating from Neruda’s passionate and evocative texts. The double bass and oboe represented not only two different instrumental families and musical registers, but also contrasting instrumental shapes, colors and sizes. These complementary opposites resonate with elements of Neruda’s love poetry, which plays on images of dark and light, night and day, masculine and feminine.
In 1998 the composer arranged this work for violin and bass duo for renowned bassist Edgar Meyer, who premiered and recorded the arrangement with violinist Heide Sibley in Banff, Canada. It has been performed by duos internationally and choreographed by Group Motion Dance Company as part of the Fringe Festival in Philadelphia. In 2014 Clearfield created another set after Neruda poems for Oboe and English Horn, Daughter of the Sea commissioned by the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, incorporating lighting and stage movement for the performers. In 2016 she wrote an additional set of poetic duos for violin and bass commissioned and premiered by Martha Walvoord and Jack Unzicker, after poems by Pablo Neruda, Mary Oliver and Rumi entitled A Dream of Trees.
TEXT
Poems can be found in 20 Love Poems And A Song Of Despair by Pablo Neruda
I. Body of a Woman
II. The Light Wraps You
III. Every Day You Play