Berlitz: Introduction to French
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Elegant music that is reminiscent of Poulenc.

Joseph Fennimore lives, composes and performs in the Albany, New York area. This release is the perfect introduction to his music. As the title suggests, Berlitz: Introduction to French has a text which is taken from the "Berlitz: French for Travelers." As a song cycle, the songs depict the adventures of an American tourist in France. As music, they show Fennimore's absolutely delightful sense of humor. Inscape is defined by Hopkins as the particularity and essence of any object or occasion discovered by the poet after keen emotional involvement and careful scrutiny. The Seven Songs of Inscape are not a cycle but a group of settings that sprang from Fennimore's admiration for Hopkins' poetry and sympathy with Hopkins' belief that our sorrows mainly spring from within, while joy is to be found in spiritual harmony with the beauties of the physical world. The settings were composed in 1973 and 1977. The Six Songs were composed in 1976, 1977 and 1984. Eventide is based on a short story of the same name by James Purdy. The composer adapted the libretto. The opera occurs during the interval from dusk to nightfall. The action takes place in a sitting room of a modest cottage in the depression South and tells a sad and poignant story of a mother's loss of her children; to death and circumstance.
Contents:
Joseph Fennimore, composer
Berlitz: Introduction to French
Joyce Castle, mezzo, Joseph Fennimore, piano


Joseph Fennimore, composer
Inscape
Joyce Castle, mezzo, Joseph Fennimore, piano


Joseph Fennimore, composer
Six Songs
Karen Williams, soprano, Joseph Fennimore, piano


Joseph Fennimore, composer
Eventide
Karen Williams, soprano, Hillary Johnsson, mezzo, Philip Creech, tenor, Chelsea Chamber Ensemble, Timm Rolek, conductor

Review:
"...his music is a disarming mix of spare lyricism, poignancy and gently nose thumbing irreverence. His Eventideis a one-act chamber opera, based on James Purdy's short story of the same name; the richly evocative music takes up where Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 leaves off. Karen Williams and Hillary Johnsson sing lusciously, and Williams does well, too, by the six miscellaneous songs. Joyce Castle makes a lively case for the sassy settings of lines form a Berlitz language primer...Fennimore himself accompanies tellingly in the songs." (Kansas City Star)
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