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Summer Rising by paul f. page [Email]
Genre: Classical

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SONG STATS:
Hits: 969
Comments: 7
Votes: 5
Plays: 115
Last Played: Jul 23, 2008 - 04:30:40 PM
Downloads: 63
Fans: 5
Uploaded: Mar 30, 2007 - 10:08:26 PM
Last Updated: Mar 30, 2007 - 10:12:59 PM
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Description:
My friend Judith Lyn Sutton and I have collaborated on some 25 or so poems that she has written and Summer Rising is one of a quartet about a rider and her Pale Horse, each piece suggesting one of the seasons. I don't know what genre this falls under as it is really something of a contemporary art song. Please follow her wonderful poem when you listen as the text is what drove my composition. I am curious as to how this will be received.

Lyrics:
SUMMER RISING
Poem by Judith Lyn Sutton
Music by Paul F. Page

Soaring sun slips
Behind blue hills.
Shadows curl over waves of heat
Bid day goodbye.
My horse and I
Cross the meadow
In cooling light.
Earth breathes under his hooves,
Pounding the dust,
Parting golden grass.
In sultry air
I grasp his sides.
They breathe with heaving earth.

I slide my fingers through his mane,
Slide them strong on his damp neck.
And so we fly,
My horse and I,
In welcome shade
To the slopes of spruce.
Then up we climb.
He strives; he strains.
I feel his surge,
Lean with his rise
To leafy ridge
Until, two as one,
We breathe summer splendor.
The august god
Shoots flames across the sky.
We blaze triumphant,
My horse and I.

Poem © 2003 Judith Lyn Sutton.
All rights reserved.


Hardware:
A bunch of Roland stuff

Software:
ditto
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Contemporary Art Song &mdash 03/31/07 - 01:30:21 AM
Yes..
Contemporary art song sounds right.
What a lovely piece!

As I listened to this, I was reminded of Ralph Vaughan Williams' "The Water Mill," an art song I sang in college and one that I fell in love with when I first heard it, with its lovely verse and beautiful accompaniment.

This has the same sort of captivating, descriptive words and lilting accompaniment.
Beautiful!

Thanks for sharing this piece here :)


[ Reply to This ]
This is indeed art. &mdash 03/31/07 - 11:49:34 AM
Paul, you and Judith have painted a beautiful picture of an equestrian love affair. I must share this with my daughter, who loves horses.

God bless,

Rick


[ Reply to This ]
Very nice &mdash 03/31/07 - 02:58:30 PM
The poetry is really fine, and evokes a very strong picture for me. I'm not a 'horse person' , but my daughter is, and as I listened to this, I couldn't help but think that it would be really nice if performed by a girl's voice - a light mezzo soprano, probably. Most of the people I know who really feel intensely about horses and the freedom they bring are girls in the 10 - 20 age bracket, so that's where I get that feeling from, I suppose.
The melodic composition is definitely in the 'Art song' category. I love how you through-compose it to bring it to 'triumphant, my horse and I'.

[ Reply to This ]
Farther and farther... &mdash 04/01/07 - 08:32:38 PM
...from anything I'm well-versed in...

So I compare it with the little bits of things I know... It reminds me of a musical theater piece, and I can see someone delivering this in a theater... It reminds me a little bit of 'Green Finch and Linnet Bird' from Sweeney Todd... and on the other end of the spectrum, your delivery reminds me a little of a higher pitched Robert Goulet phrasing 'If Ever I Would Leave You'... another one about the seasons, that, in a way, and not a bad song, either...

I could also hear this with a woman's voice, AND I could hear it with the lyric simply spoken over the music...

You continue to stretch my ears and mind, Paul...

Ed

[ Reply to This ]
Stephan foster ! &mdash 04/18/07 - 03:06:27 AM
indeed a delightfull words ..the piano
reaching you to the mood of peace .
as lil hints from the backings insteruments
specialy the flute floating to the answers
remarkable singing splended as the word.
wonderfull classic ..Contemprary is a humble
word to describe classic ..thank you for
the sweet gem .. !

[ Reply to This ]
beautiful... &mdash 05/05/07 - 02:08:25 AM
simply beautiful.....wonderful voice...is that you singing Paul?

[ Reply to This ]
Summer Rising... &mdash 02/12/08 - 04:08:29 PM
Really nice piece. Well crafted.

My critical comment is only the last 30 seconds; the mood overall is indeed contemporary art song, broad, impressionist, with shifts of color (great)... then at the end it goes into a more musical-style type ending, and then adds kind of a 2nd finale. I think the words drive to the "triumphant" ending without the 'extra theatre' in the music, and the more subdued mood could be retained.

[ Reply to This ]
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