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The Indian Parrot

by W. A. Mathieu

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1.
The Indian Parrot 07:32
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2.
The Three Fish 06:01
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3.
A Song About A Donkey 08:21
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4.
Where Everything Is Music 05:24
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5.
Gourd Music - Movement 1 03:18
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6.
Gourd Music - Movement 2 07:48
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7.
Gourd Music - Movement 3 04:28
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8.
Gourd Music - Movement 4 07:31
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9.
The Blind Beekeeper - Scene 1 03:34
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10.
The Blind Beekeeper - Scene 1 04:58
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11.
The Blind Beekeeper - Scene 2 02:40
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12.
The Blind Beekeeper - Scene 3 04:05
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13.
The Blind Beekeeper - Scene 4 01:14
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about

Mutable Music is pleased to announce this latest release by William Allaudin Mathieu, pianist, composer, teacher, recording artist, and author. A Parrot, Three Fish, and a Donkey is a modern piece with a medieval text, and medieval sensibilities have worked their way into the musical fabric: the small percussion instruments, the instrumental range lying (for the most part) within the range of the human voice, and, most of all, the harmony, which is a kind of modulating modality. Inspired by the universality of Rumi¹s poems, Mathieu felt especially free in this piece to borrow from many centuries of Eastern and Western harmonic practice.

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore's The Blind Beekeeper is a wonderful poem. It asks the soloist-narrator to simultaneously play so many roles. His first line is spoken: "I'd like to make a movie called The Blind BeekeeperŠ" and from then on he is above all a movie pitch-man -- and we are producer-angels deciding if we are going to invest in this guy's nutty movie. But he is also telling a dramatic and compelling story, empathizing with a diverse array of characters. And, since (at least in live performance) he will lead an audience of angels in transformative acts of bee-participation, he becomes our conductor as well. Finally, of course, he's a concert baritone giving a performance of a contemporary art song, a circumstance true even for the most post modern of us.

The piece is divided along the lines of a standard three-reeler: In the expository first reel (parts 1 and 2 of the text), we see Henry's history and very special talent; then we are inside the hive, and meet the bee protagonists. The second reel (part 3) is all action and adventure: the lover-bees get into serious trouble. The third reel (parts 4 and 5) is the triumphal rescue and final celebration. By the end we have seen a bee-movie about very small events as well as very large ones. Like a good children's story, it is at the same time a slightly silly tale and a noble miracle play.

credits

released November 15, 2006

Thomas Buckner (baritone); Joseph Kubera (piano); Devi Mathieu (soprano); Suzanne Elder-Wallace (alto); Bob Afifi (alto flute); Shira Kammen (viola); Daniel Kennedy (frame drums)

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Mutable Music New York, New York

Founded in 2000 by baritone Thomas Buckner, Mutable Music builds on the legacy of his legendary 1750 Arch Records (1974- 1984) by introducing current artists and repertoire, as well as re-issuing important historic material, previously unavailable in CD format. ... more

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