In the Primal Garden
Ensemble
High Voice (Soprano or Tenor) and Piano
Duration
Two-song cycle, approx. 10 minutes.
I. Planting Tulips by Neil Aitken (Approx. 5 minutes)
II. Song by Geoffrey Nutter (Approx. 5 minutes)
Recording
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Score
Notes
In 2013, when Jason Weisinger and I were paired together as students at New Music on the Point, I never anticipated the embrace he’d give my music and the familiarity I’d feel in his presence. I learned that Jason approaches life with voracity and draws upon eclectic influences as both a singer and pianist. When Jason approached me to compose a piece for his graduate recital, I immersed myself in lyrical poetry exploring lifecycles, the natural world, and the subconscious.
Jason and I were enamored by the two contrasting ways each poet encourages readers to forge a deeper connection to their surroundings. Neil Aitken’s “Planting Tulips” grants us a vulnerable glimpse into an intimate ritual, while Geoffrey Nutter’s dreamlike “Song” gently unfolds into a blossom of hope and solace. I hope In the Primal Garden provides the listener with a refreshing and reflective moment.
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Texts
Planting Tulips by Neil Aitken
Before my father dies
I should like to dig once more
in the back garden behind the old home
where I spent so many summers,
striking a rhythm with dirt clods breaking
against a shovel’s blade, pressed firm to the earth.
Should like to cradle each bulb in my stained hands,
as if to bless it before burial, or to peer into its opaque skin,
wondering at the rough beauty of unseen roots,
then tamp down a small mound and pray for rain
and wait for the slow green signs of birth.
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Song by Geoffrey Nutter
Nevertheless, the cardinals practice
their speech above the Saugerties,
the white elms listen.
Cranes come down from
the gables, rare and wet
as cresses washed by rain
in the primal garden.
So you wandered there
with the wild birds
your breasts like yellow plums
your whole hair-raising childhood,
and listened to them sing for you:
A dark blue one for
the Past. One speckled
brown and green for the Present.
A sky-blue one for the Future.
World Premiere
March 22, 2014 by Jason Weisinger and Robert McDonald, The University of Texas at Austin.
Commissioned by
Jason Weisinger
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