GEORGE LAM
FOG ARGUMENT two songs for tenor and piano on the poem by Mark Doty
MANCHESTER LIGHTHOUSE MUSIC
GEORGE LAM
FOG ARGUMENT two songs for tenor and piano on the poem by Mark Doty
MANCHESTER LIGHTHOUSE MUSIC
FOG ARGUMENT (2004, Revised 2005) was commissioned by Robert Maril, and was premiered by Robert Maril at the Peabody Conservatory of Music on May 1, 2004. The work uses the original poem by Mark Doty of the same name, published in the collection Atlantis, used here by permission of the author.
Fog Argument from ATLANTIS, by Mark Doty © 1995 HarperCollins, used by permission of the author 1. Jade Of course I know it ends. I know there’s a precise limit where salt marsh gives way to fogged water’s steel. But from here, from moor’s edge where the tide pond doubles the swallows, it doesn’t seem to; blonde acres vanish at the rim into the void, a page on which anything might be written, though nothing is. What I love is trying to see the furthest grassy extreme, that fog-marbled horizontal . . . rippling strokes, a few high dunes hung on the edges of the page like Chinese brushstrokes, barely there, and out on the far shore the sea gone a clouded mint, gone without edges, horizon erased, a single silken exhalation the color of mown grass,
unripe persimmon, gooseberry, juniper, sage green shadow in the hollow of collarbone, love, I know, it ends, you don’t have to remind me, though it seems a field of endless jade. 2. Beach Roses What are they, the white roses, when they are almost nothing, only a little denser than the fog, shadow-centered petals blurring, toward the edges, into everything? This morning one broken cloud built an archipelago, fourteen gleaming islands hurrying across a blank plain of sheen: nothing, or next to nothing --- pure scattering, light on light, fleeting. And now, a heap of roses beside the sea, white rugosa beside the foaming hem of shore: brave, waxen candles . . . And we talk as if death were a line to be crossed. Look at them, the white roses. Tell me where they end.
for Robert Maril
FOG ARGUMENT Two songs for tenor and piano on the poem by Mark Doty
MARK DOTY
GEORGE LAM (2004)
1. J A D E Andante-Moderato q = 96
f Of course I know it
know
there's a pre - cise
mf
p
p
3
mf
3
p
p
to
3
gives way
3 fogged wa - ter's steel. But from here, f p 3
where salt marsh
f
I
li - mit
3
ends.
f
3
p
from moor's edge
where the
Fog Argument, from Atlantis by Mark Doty ©1995 HarperCollins, used by permission of the author.
2
3
tide
pond
dou - bles the swal - lows,
it does - n't
p
seem to;
blonde ac - res va -
3 mf
3
(falsetto)
mp
f
-
nish
p
at
the
rim
in - to
the
3
mf
a
3
page
on
which
- ten,
void,
a - ny - thing might be writ
mp
mf
f
p
p
though no - thing is.
f
(ad lib.)
p
3
3
3 3
3 3
3
3
3
try - ing to see
What I
love
3
is
f pesante 3
-
that
3
fog - mar - bled ho - ri -
More relaxed q = 80
tal...
ff
3
zon
3
f
3 3 f 3
the fur - thest gras - sy ex - treme,
3
rall. 3
f
3
3
3
3
3
3
mf
p
mf
(no pedal)
4
3
rip - pling
strokes,
a
p
far
3
mf
shore
mp
3
p
the
3
and
3
on the
3
f pesante
a
clou - ded mint,
out
(ad lib.)
gone
f
f
bare - ly there,
sea
hung on the
Tempo I q = 96
ed - ges ofthe page like Chi - nese brush - strokes,
3
dunes
Rubato, Flexible
high
mp
3
few
3
3
gone with - out
5
ed - ges, ho - ri - zon e - rased, 3
mf
3
3
3
3
3
3
ju - ni - per,
sage green
3
3
in the hol - low of col - lar bone
f
q = 72
ex - ha - la - tion the
goose - ber - ry,
ken
f
-
3
rall.
sha - dow
3
sil
un - ripe per - sim - mon,
co - lor of mown grass,
sin - gle
3
f
a
3
3
ff
mf
loco
6
3 pp
3
mind me,
mp
it ends,
though it seems
a field
of
end
-
less
jade.
mf
(until the end of the movement)
3
3
you don't have to re -
p
p
3
I know,
f
mf
3 (ad lib.)
love,
p
p
f
f
7
2. B E A C H R O S E S Hurried, but not too much q = 185
mf
What
p (a bit separated)
are they, the white
ro - ses,
pp
p (no pedal)
they are al
-
on - ly
pp
p
f
p f
p
p
pp
-
p
lit
p
sha
p
no - thing,
a
when
p
f
most
den - ser than the fog,
pp
tle
-
dow cen - tered
pp
mf
8
pe
-
tals
blur -
ring,
ed - ges,
-
to
pp
f
pp
pp
the
mf
ev - ery - thing?
mp
to - ward
in
f
pp
mf
p
f
p
mf
mf
pp
p
This
mp
mf
one bro - ken
p
cloud
f
f
built
ff
an
mf
ar - chi -
pe
-
mf
f
p
mf
pp
mor - ning
mp
p
9
-
la
-
go,
3
f
ff
ff
Adagio q = 70
a
blank
p
plain
-
mp
thing,
or
p
mp
no
f
mp
sheen:
pp
p
of
p
Più mosso q = 80
hur - ry - ing a
p
p
to
no
next
mf
p
p
cross
four - teen glea - ming is - lands
p
10
-
thing
mp
accel. p
pure
q = 110
3
scat - ter - ing,
light
on light,
11
fleet - ing.
f
More relaxed than the beginning
p
p
a
q = 175
mf
And
2"
now,
q = 110
2"
rall.
f
(* improvise, using qs and es, accelerando and crescendo, moving towards the highest octave of the keyboard.)
pp
pp
p
heap
of
ros - es
be - side
ppp
mf
the
mf
sea,
p
white
pp
ru
-
12
go - sa
be - side
p
p
the
foam
-
ing
f
hem
of
pp
Tempo I
q = 80
q = 175
p
talk
as
mp
brave,
f
f
p
And we
pp
pp
f
f
p
p
Freely
shore:
wa - xen can - dles...
if
death
were a
line
to
be crossed.
pp
mp
mf
pp
mp
f
me
where
they
mp
mp
pp
pp
mf
end.
pp
mp
ppp
13
the white ros - es.
p
f
Tell
p
mf
Look at them,
mp
(like an echo)
pp
pp
Revised 22nd July 2005 Durham, NC