Hear rewritten songs – many using the same text, but new melodies - in tunes from composer/vocalist/banjo player Rhiannon Giddens, vocalist/violinist/composer Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, jazz singer-songwriter Kat Edmunson, and the late composer William Duckworth.
Singer, fiddler, banjo player, and composer Rhiannon Giddens sings Nina Simone's arrangement and revision of the aria, “Black Swan” from Gian Carlo Menotti's opera, The Medium. Also, Sō Percussion and Caroline Shaw take on Schubert’s An die Musik. Also, they adapt the folk hymn I’ll Fly Away, to an electric drone, tolling piano and an ebow inside the piano. That’s from their collaborative album Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part. There’s also an adaptation of the text from the traditional Scottish song, “The Parting Glass”, from their most recent collaborative record, Rectangles and Circumstance.
Plus, listen to a reworking of a shape note song by the late composer William Duckworth, in an effort to translate Southern Harmony tunes from a church to a concert setting. Also, guitarist Gary Lucas and the late Jeff Buckley adapt Edith Piaf, and more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4902, Rewritten Songs (First aired 7/10/2024)
ARTIST: Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Ringdown
WORK: The Parting Glass [1:00]
RECORDING: Live at WNYC, May 2024
SOURCE: The work appears on Rectangles and Circumstance
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/rectangles-and-circumstance
ARTIST: boygenius, Ye Vagabonds
WORK: The Parting Glass [:30]
RECORDING: The Parting Glass
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0doPriEMi2o
INFO:https://boygenius.lnk.to/ThePartingGlass
ARTIST: Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Ringdown
WORK: To Music [5:56]
RECORDING: Rectangles and Circumstance
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/rectangles-and-circumstance
ARTIST: Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion
WORK: Some Bright Morning [5:57]
RECORDING: Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: http://smarturl.it/letthesoil
ARTIST: Kat Edmunson
WORK: Summertime (Gershwin) [5:12]
RECORDING: Take to the Sky
SOURCE: Convivium
INFO:https://katedmonson.shop or via AppleMusic, Amazon.com, YouTube
ARTIST: Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi
WORK: Menotti/Nina Simone: Black Swan [4:18]
RECORDING: there is no Other
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Jeff Buckley / Gary Lucas
WORK: Edith Piaf: Hymne a L'Amour [10:50]
RECORDING: Songs To No One
SOURCE: Evolver Entertainment
INFO: Available via Amazon.com, AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube
ARTIST: Anonymous4
WORK: Amazing Grace [New Britain] [:25]
RECORDING: American Angels
SOURCE: Harmonia Mundi
INFO: https://www.harmoniamundi.com/
ARTIST: Anonymous4
WORK: Amazing Grace [Jewett] [:25]
RECORDING: American Angels
SOURCE: Harmonia Mundi
INFO: https://www.harmoniamundi.com/
ARTIST: The Gregg Smith Singers, chorus; assisted by The Rooke Chapel Choir of Bucknell University
WORK: William Duckworth: Hebrew Children [3:28]
RECORDING: Southern Harmony
SOURCE: Lovely Music - #2033
INFO: http://www.lovely.com
ARTIST: Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Ringdown
WORK: The Parting Glass [3:51]
RECORDING: Rectangles and Circumstance
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/rectangles-and-circumstance