nstrumentation: Piano/Vocal
I’ve had many requests over the years for a piano/vocal version of my song cycle, "Winter Morning Walks," composed to the stunning poetry of Pulitzer Prize-winning and U.S. Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser, with poems selected from his book of the same title. I’m happy to say that the piano/vocal version is now complete, including some transcription of pianist, Frank Kimbrough’s, elegant improvisations from our original multiple Grammy-winning recording with Dawn Upshaw. Sopranos familiar with the music may know that there are a few spots in the song cycle that go quite low in tessitura, so we’ve created alternative notes that present a good option. Another performance limitation in the past has been the “improvised" piano part from the original score. This version of these songs no longer requires an improvising pianist. While it’s nice to perform the entire song cycle, any individual song or songs can be performed in recital as well. The poetry is very stirring, and hopefully this music will be a wonderful addition to people’s solo recital repertoire.
Songs included in "Winter Morning Walks (piano/vocal version)"