Dream-Land
Instrumentation soprano voice, soprano saxophone and piano (the soprano saxophone can be substituted with clarinet in Bb or violin, for which parts are available) |
Other Information Poem by Edgar Allen Poe set to music for soprano voice, soprano saxophone and piano (the soprano saxophone can be substituted with clarinet in Bb or violin, for which parts are available). Commissioned by ´Saxtet´, with funds from West Midlands Arts, and first performed by Antonietta Pelosi (soprano), Nigel Wood (saxophone) and Caroline Costello (piano) in the Recital Hall of Birmingham Conservatoire on 7th December 1988. Numerous subsequent performances by different artists have taken place in Birmingham, London, other UK venues and the USA. The US premiere was given on 2nd November 2003 in New York by New York Metropolitan Opera soprano, Deborah Saverance, with Paul Cohen, saxophone, and David Maiullo, piano, in a concert entitled ‘Poe as Parlor Music’, in honour of the publication of Edgar Allan Poe - Poems and Poetics by the Library of America, produced by the New York Literary Roundtable for the New York Historical Society and presented by TimeOut New York. ‘The most striking examples of otherworldliness were in Andrew Downes’ Dream-Land (US premier), sung by Deborah Saverance with Paul Cohen on saxophone and David Maiullo on piano, and Leonard Bernstein’s Israfel… These two pieces, in their emotionally astute and beautifully sung arrangements, took Poe’s words far into the realm of the spirit.´ PLYMOUTH STATE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, FALL 2003 (Volume IV, no 2) The first performance with violin (instead of soprano saxophone) was given by Paula Downes (soprano), Anna Downes (violin) and David Trippett (piano) on October 26th 2005 at Adams House, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
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