Confessions is available at Yarlung Records, HDTracks, Amazon, Spotify and Apple.
Tim Bostwick interviewed soprano Laura Strickling for NATS in 2020, asking her thoughts on surviving as a musician during Covid-19. It is a terrific interview, and you can find it here.
Toward the end of Tim’s article, he reviews Laura’s new album Confessions, available as a physical CD, in high res as a download and on myriad streaming services.
The article describes the album in glowing terms:
Confessions includes “four song cycles and two additional numbers. Clarice Assad’s Confessions provides the title and the initial cycle. Next, Songs of Lament and Praise by composer, visual artist, and singer, Gilda Lyons, followed by Tom Cipullo’s How to Get Heat Without Fire. Amy Beth Kirsten’s stand-alone To see what I see gives a powerful setting to Shakespeare’s Ophelia from Hamlet. In a lush portrayal of Sara Teasdale poems, Michael Djupstrom’s Three Teasdale Songs proceeds Libby Larsen’s tomboyish Righty, 1966.
“When we spoke again, I asked Ms. Strickling why it was important for her to release this album now. She said it was her mission to “Find songs that people should know and that they might not have exposure to—unless I record it and make it available. It is a temporal art. So I want to bring a sense of timelessness into that relationship with the audience.” She noted that it is especially important 1) to find avenues of creation in this time period and 2) to cultivate relationships with the public. The three titular pieces, written by Clarice Assad, were the initial motivation to record and share this music with the public.
“Confessions is a wonderfully personal look into three familiar aspects of human nature; feelings of self-consciousness, temptation, and the fear of old age. The melodic line shows Assad’s own vocal prowess and is elegantly executed by Strickling. Equally compelling is Schreier’s ability to create a tapestry of a dream-like state juxtaposed in the final piece with the jazzy language of Turn back the Clock. My favorite piece for the pandemic has to be Fixation. Who can’t relate to the difficult decision between cake or pie?
“The album is also deeply personal for Ms. Strickling. She notes that any recording of hers would be incomplete without including Libby Larsen and Tom Cipullo, whose works Strickling has performed on numerous occasions. However, Songs of Lament and Praise by Gilda Lyons offers Strickling an additional outlet to intimately demonstrate our shared grief in these difficult times. Each of the five songs in the cycle delves into archaic texts but balances the musical language between a modern and chant-like vocal line with a continually crescendoing piano accompaniment. Of these songs, Deidre’s lament is a highlight. The preceding piece is acapella, whereas Deidra’s lament gives a timid, fearful heartbeat in the piano to accompany a hauntingly sublime melody. It is important to know that where the female texts are lamenting, the male (attributed) texts offer praise. Yet, the praise will appear contrived and hollow versus the honesty of its female counterparts. This is especially exhibited in the final piece of the cycle, An even-song. The combined forces of a piano and a voice that never quite arrive together seem to be climbing yet fall over and over. The ending of this piece is stunning on three fronts: composition, singer, and pianist. It is an ending to be savored.
“Tom Cipullo is like coming home for Ms. Strickling. He has been a friend for many years and when the pandemic struck Ms. Strickling was getting ready to perform The Parting. His How to Get Heat Without Fire is the perfect set to move from the beautiful simplicity of Lyons. It begins with a dream-like piece, Why I keep my hair long. And moves into a nostalgic Saying goodbye. Most famous in this work is The pocketbook in which both Ms. Schreier and Ms. Strickling shine. The piano gives a fanfare that demonstrates the obsessive nature that the soprano has for the pocketbook. This musicality is built on by Ms. Strickling and given a character that is absurdly comical.
“Amy Beth Kirsten’s “Ophelia” is a scrumptious setting of Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This romantic composition could easily be at home in any opera (and one may hope that it will be someday). The text painting that Kirsten writes, and Strickling executes, brings Shakespeare’s language to life. The musical language used is insightful, dramatic, and dynamic. The only question left is, when can we have more of this?
“Strickling is passionate about art song and introducing new music to the world. And what a delightful introduction Confessions is! Michael Djupstrom’s Three Teasdale Songs is another highlight of this recording. Though the first compliment must be to Schreier. Her transcendent touch on the keyboard provides the perfect Impressionistic landscape for Strickling. Above this landscape, Strickling’s shimmering voice offers an animation that blends and lifts these songs off the page into another world. These three aspects of composer, vocalist, and pianist create the type of special moment so often sought after in the world of song.
“Libby Larsen’s Righty, 1966 brings the album to a beautiful close. In a time when the world is troubled and life can be difficult, Larsen takes a look at the innocence of a girl that loves baseball. In this piece, Schreier and Strickling are joined by Sarah Eckman McIver (flute). The ending material is cleverly comedic, while leaving listeners wanting more; lingering not just in the music but also in a return of innocence and a nostalgia for times past.
“The title of the piece, Confessions struck me while thinking about the album as a whole. At first, it appears that the ‘confession’ is one of guilt; be it eating cake and pie, or buying that luxury handbag. However, when you listen to the care of execution that the performers and composers brought to this work of art, it is clear that this is not a confession of guilt. It is a confession of faith. Faith that music and art are what will get us through this pandemic. When initially writing Ms. Strickling’s interview we titled it “Waiting for the Light.” And her confession of a belief in art through this music has given us illumination.”
–Tim Bostwick
Many thanks to Randy Bellous, executive producer.
Confessions is available at Yarlung Records, HDTracks, Amazon, Spotify and Apple.