Monday, November 28, 2011

Monica's Waltz ("The Medium" - Menotti)


MONICA'S WALTZ

Bravo! And after the theatre, supper and dance. Music! Umpapa, umpapa,
Up in the sky, someone is playing a trombone and a guitar.
Red is your tie, and in your velvetine coat, you hide a star.

Monica, Monica, dance the waltz; Monica, Monica, dance the waltz.
Follow me, moon and sun; keep time with me; one, two, three, one.

If you're not shy, pin up my hair with your star, and buckle my shoe.
And when you fly, please hold on tight to my waist; I'm flying with you. Oh,
Monica, Monica, dance the waltz; Monica, Monica, dance the waltz.

Follow me, moon and sun,
Follow me, follow, follow me, follow me, follow, follow me.

What is the matter, Toby? What is it you want to tell me?
Kneel down before me, and now, tell me...

Monica, Monica, can't you see, that my heart is bleeding, bleeding for you?
I loved you, Monica, all my life, with all my breath, with all my blood.
You haunt the mirror of my sleep; you are my night.
You are my light, and the jailer of my day.

How dare you, scoundrel, talk to me like that! Don't you know who I am?
I'm the Queen of Aroundel! I shall have you put in chains!
You are my princess, you are my queen, and I'm only Toby, one of your slaves,
And still I love you and always loved you with all my breath, with all my blood.
I love your laughter; I love your hair; I love your deep and nocturnal eyes.
I love your soft hands, so white and winged; I love the slender branch of your throat.

Toby, don't speak to me like that! You make my head swim.

Monica, Monica, fold me in your satin gown.
Monica, Monica, give me your mouth;
Monica, Monica, fall in my arms.

Why, Toby! You're not crying, are you?
Toby, I want you to know that you have the most beautiful voice in the world!




Soprano: Pamela Andrews
Pianist: Alan Hicks

Filmed and recorded in Llewellyn Hall, Canberra, by the Australian National University, November 2010, on behalf of Pamela Andrews.

Edited for YouTube by JRR4FILM Productions.

© JRR4FILM Productions 2011

Monday, November 21, 2011

The Trees on the Mountain ("Susannah" - Carlisle Floyd)


The trees on the mountains
are cold and bare.

The summer jes' vanished,
an' left them there

Like a false-hearted lover,
jes' like my own

Who made me love him,
then left me alone.



The coals on the hearth
have turned gray and sere.

The blue flame jes' vanished
an' left them there,

Like a false-hearted lover,
jes' like my own

Who made me love him,
then left me alone.



Come back, o summer,
come back, blue flame.

My heart wants warmin',
my baby a name.

Come back, o lover,
if jes' fer a day.

Turn bleak December
once more into May.



The road up ahead lies lonely an' far.

There's darkness around me
an' not even a star

To show me the way,
or lighten my heart.

Come back, my lover,
I fain would start.



The pore baby fox lies all cold in his lair.

His mama jes' vanished
an' left him there,

Like a false-hearted lover,
jes' like my own,

Who made me love him,
then left me alone.



Come back, o summer,
come back, blue flame!

My heart wants warmin',
my baby a name.

Come back, o lover,
if jes' fer a day.

Turn bleak December
once more into May.

Come back! Come back! Come back!



Soprano: Pamela Andrews
Pianist: Alan Hicks

Filmed and recorded in Llewellyn Hall, Canberra, by the Australian National University, November 2010, on behalf of Pamela Andrews.

Edited for YouTube by JRR4FILM Productions.

© JRR4FILM Productions 2011

Monday, November 14, 2011

Ain't It A Pretty Night ("Susannah" - Carlisle Floyd)


Ain't it a pretty night!

The sky's so dark and velvet-like
and it's all lit up with stars.
It's like a great big mirror
reflectin' fireflies over a pond.
Look at all them stars, Little Bat.
The longer y' look, the more y' see.
The sky seems so heavy with stars
that it might fall right down out of heaven
and cover us all up in one big blanket of velvet
all stitched with diamon's.
Ain't it a pretty night.
Just think, those stars can all peep down
an' see way beyond where we can:
They can see way beyond them mountains
to Nashville and Asheville an' Knoxville.
I wonder what it's like out there,
out there beyond them mountains
where the folks talk nice,
an' the folks dress nice
like y' see in the mail-order catalogs.
I aim to leave this valley someday
an' find out fer myself:
To see all the tall buildin's
and all the street lights
an' to be one o' them folks myself.
I wonder if I'd get lonesome fer the valley though,
fer the sound of crickets an' the smell of pine straw,
fer soft little rabbits an' bloomin' things
an' the mountains turnin' gold in the fall.
But I could always come back
if I got homesick fer the valley.
So I'll leave it someday an' see fer myself.
Someday I'll leave an' then I'll come back
when I've seen what's beyond them mountains.
Ain't it a pretty night.
The sky's so heavy with stars tonight
that it could fall right down out of heaven
an' cover us up, and cover us up,
in one big blanket of velvet and diamon's.

Soprano: Pamela Andrews
Pianist: Alan Hicks

Filmed and recorded in Llewellyn Hall, Canberra, by the Australian National University, November 2010, on behalf of Pamela Andrews.

Edited for YouTube by JRR4FILM Productions.

© JRR4FILM Productions 2011

Monday, November 7, 2011

Youth, Day, Old Age, and Night (Ned Rorem)


Youth, large, lusty, loving--youth full of grace, force, fascination,
Do you know that Old Age may come after you with equal grace,
force, fascination?

Day full-blown and splendid-day of the immense sun, action,
ambition, laughter,
The Night follows close with millions of suns, and sleep and
restoring darkness.



(Walt Whitman)



Soprano: Pamela Andrews
Pianist: Alan Hicks

Filmed and recorded in Llewellyn Hall, Canberra, by the Australian National University, November 2010, on behalf of Pamela Andrews.

Edited for YouTube by JRR4FILM Productions.

© JRR4FILM Productions 2011