Time is Not an Option

commissioned by and written for the Voices Up! project of Fordham University ric h ard d. russell

R ICHARD D. R USSELL

time is not an

Option Three songs of elisabeth Frost

Soprano r Piano DESIGN FOR LIGHTNING MUSIC WWW . RDRUSSELL . COM RICHARD . RUSSELL @ MAC . COM

Performance Notes Throughout this song cycle, whenever a meter change occurs the eighth note should remain constant. h

In the first movement, the metronome marking is one beat per second; the pulse of a second hand ticking around the clock. The musical intention is that this pulse, coupled with a pp dynamic in the accompaniment’s left hand (until ms. 22), should convey a subconscious sense of the inevitability of time moving forward. The singer might be oblivious to this inexorable movement; there is a musical irony to the repeated line time is not an option, as time, after all, continues forward despite protestations to the contrary. The allargando climax (second half of ms. 24 – 26) should be slightly slower, but not exaggerated. h

The second movement is marked by contrasts of mood, dynamics, and atmosphere. Tentative, dissonant piano passages contrast with measures of crisp rhythm. For instance, the line sacrificing your spontaneity is almost vaudeville in character, contrasted immediately with a mp return to distantsounding harmonies. The sense should be one of rhapsodic daydream interrupted by everyday realities. Think back-and-forth, give and take. Note in ms. 38 the voice speaks now that’s success! h

In the third movement, the first line attempts at constancy is the key to interpretation. Note the ways the music is and is not constant. Expectations of constancy are hinted at, and then the music moves in unexpected directions. In ms. 47 the trill is between C-Db.

Richard Russell New York City March 2010

commissioned by and written for the Voices Up! project of Fordham University

TIME IS NOT AN OPTION 1. An

Inch of Time is an Inch of Gold

ELISABETH FROST

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RICHARD D. RUSSELL

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Elizabeth Frost

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DESIGN for Lightning Music (ASCAP) Phone: 646-484-8187 mail:!

3725 Henry Hudson Pkwy #11C

" Riverdale, NY 10463

r ic h ard r u ssel l

R ICHARD R USSELL

web:!

RDRussell.com

!

RDRussellConcerts.blogspot.com

Works performed at (selected list) • Symphony Space Thalia, New York • Merkin Hall, New York • Bar-Ilan University, Israel • Naval House, Varna, Bulgaria • Ethical Culture Society, New York • CAMI Hall, New York • Saint Peter’s Church @ Citigroup Center, New York • New York University • Mannes College of Music, New York • Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew, Brooklyn

Richard D. Russell, composer (b. 1968, Illinois) A multi-ASCAPlus winner, Richard Russell’s music has been performed internationally and at prominent venues in New York. Highlights include a September 11, 2002, memorial performance of Remembrances at Merkin Concert Hall, and a performance of Design for Lightning by trombonist Haim Avitsur in Israel.

As well, his music has been performed in Bulgaria and, in New York, Symphony Space, New York University, the Ethical Culture Society, and Mannes College of Music.

• The Lucy Moses School, New York • The LGBT Community Center, New York Works commissioned by (selected list) •Alaria Chamber Ensemble •Prismatic Productions (NY) •Bell and Barter Theatre (NJ) •Sofia Dimitrova, soprano •Aurora Borealis Duo •Ollom Dance Company (NY)

Richard Russell has been awarded commissions by several professional, amateur, and student musicians. His work is published by Design for Lightning Music (ASCAP). He publishes Creativity and Composition, a blog for composers.

•Haim Avitsur, trombone

He began writing songs at an early age, beginning formal piano and composition study at 13. He earned his BA in Music Composition from Blackburn College (Illinois), graduating magna cum laude. He has also studied musical theater at New School University and participated in the BMI Musical Theater Workshop. He is currently pursuing his Masters at SUNY Empire State.

Selected Works

Richard Russell has been active in the New York Composers Circle for several years, having served on its Steering Committee and acted as Managing Director.

Currently, he is the NYCC webmaster and In The Loop newsletter editor.

• Two Rilke Songs, for sop, vln, pno

•Tonal Center Trio

• Spirals, for piano trio • Harpsichord Sonata, for harpsichord • Fast Tides, Slow Tides, for flute and piano • Three States of Water, for flute trio • The Duel, for sop, marimba, bass cl • Three Elegies, for sop and percussion • When Time is Over, for sop and piano

download scores and learn more at

RDRussell.com subscribe to Creativity and Composition blog at

RDRussell.wordpress.com

• Balance, for trombone and electronics • Design for Lightning, for trombone and electronics • Violin Sonata, for vln and piano • NeverSummer, for flute, clarinet, piano • complete works at RDRussell.com

Elisabeth Frost, poet A poet and critic, Elisabeth Frost is the author of a volume of poetry, All of Us (forthcoming in the Marie Alexander Series of White Pine Press); a chapbook, Rumor (Mermaid Tenement Press, 2009); and a critical study, The Feminist Avant-Garde in American Poetry (Iowa, 2003). She is also co-editor (with Cynthia Hogue) of Innovative Women Poets: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry and Interviews (Iowa, 2006).

Her poems have been published in The Denver Quarterly, Poetry, The Yale Review, and other journals, and she has received grants and awards from the Fulbright Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, and the MacDowell Colony.

Her collaborative works with the artist Dianne Kornberg have been shown in a number of venues, including the Chicago Cultural Center and the Portland Museum of Art. An associate professor of English and Women's Studies at Fordham University, she is founder and editor of the annual Poets Out Loud book prize with Fordham University Press.

Elisabeth Frost始s webpage at Forham University

http://tinyurl.com/ElisabethFrost