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On the fourth offering in Navona Records’ The Shakespeare Concerts Series, ORPHEUS WITH HIS LUTE MADE TREES, executive director and composer Joseph Summer presents original works and pieces by composers from the 18th through the 21st centuries that celebrate the myth of Orpheus.
A character whose fame goes back to Ovid’s The Metamorphoses, a collection that dramatically influenced Shakespeare’s writing, Orpheus is a representation of the poet, composer, and performer. More than settings of texts about the Greek mythological character, these works illustrate the connection between the three aspects of Orpheus. Summer’s Sonata for Violin and Voice is, as the composer states, “about itself, about the musicians, and about the composer” while his On the Death of Phillips mourns the passing of a 16th-century lutenist by his beloved instrument.
Highlighting the relationship between the performer and the instrument, Karol Szymanowski’s Mythes is an early 20th-century work that explores previously underutilized aspects of the violin’s capabilities, while presenting imagery from Greek mythology. Not only do the works of Summer, Thomas Chilcot, and Ralph Vaughan Williams set the text of Shakespeare’s poem Orpheus with his lute made trees, this collection shows how music brings into unison the performer, poet, composer, and listener.
GODDESSES is the third offering in Navona Records' The Shakespeare Concerts Series, which presents several works by composer Joseph Summer from his collection of settings of Shakespearean scenes, sonnets, and soliloquies, Oxford Songs. These particular works are reflections on feminine divinity, from the literal - as in the triumvirate of Roman goddesses in the piece iHonour, Riches, Marriage-Blessing - by way of the metaphorical - as exemplified by the depiction of women in the sonnets, In The Old Age Black Was Not Counted Fair and Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day - and to the figurative - contained in the idealized, eternal female characters of Juliet, Olivia, and Ophelia, respectively portrayed in the works, Gallop Apace You Fiery-Footed Steeds, If Music Be The Food of Love, and There Is a Willow Grows Aslant a Brook. Summer's deep knowledge of Shakespeare's works and rich compositional technique produce a musical and literary experience that adds layers of insight to Shakespearean characters and themes.
THE FAIR OPHELIA, the second installment on Navona Records' The Shakespeare Concerts Series, features works by composer Joseph Summer that are inspired by Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark! With Shakespeare's texts accompanied with music by Brahms, Strauss, Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, and Joseph Summer, this album for vocal and chamber music consists of diverse settings that present the listener with an opportunity to hear Ophelia in a three dimensional perspective. Summer's works have been described as "[varying] in mood and compositional technique from piece to piece, but always beautifully expressive and deeply emotional" (Shakespeare Matters).
SHAKESPEARE'S MEMORY is the first offering Navona's The Shakespeare Concerts Series. A salmagundi of selections from composer Joseph Summer's The Oxford Songs, this album includes previously unreleased recordings spanning the life of the series. This first volume includes Summer's original chamber and vocal compositions set to Shakespeare's dramas and sonnets and the poetry of Milton and Yeats, performed by a slew of musicians: the Kalmia String Quartet, baritone Chad Sloan, soprano Andrea Chenoweth, mezzo-soprano Kellie Van Horn, tenor Justin Vickers, pianists Miroslav Sekera and Ian Watson, and harpist Lydie Härtelovä.
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