baritone and piano
13 minutes
2001

As a young musician, I was afforded the wonderful opportunity to enjoy some proximity to baritone Dan Sullivan. His generous musicianship, vitality, and open-mindedness made a significant impression on me, and I could not help thinking of him when composing these songs. The first is a somewhat surrealist adventure setting Frank O’Hara’s “Music.” An optional piano interlude, equal parts Scott Joplin and Arnold Schoenberg, is followed by a setting of Jack Kerouac’s “Hymn.” I hope that second song manages to bring together some kind of stasis and some kind of narrative directionality in order to capture the tension that so dramatically—and really quite unexpectedly—infuses Kerouac’s poem.