Soprano and Piano
Text: Poem by Jane Shore
Duration: ca. 3.5 minutes
Publisher: Margun Music, Inc. (MP1065, available from Shawnee Press)
Northeast Reservation Lines (1984) was commissioned by soprano Beverly Morgan and premiered by her in December 1984 with pianist Mark Pakman at Merkin Concert Hall. As I recall, Ms. Morgan had requested a piece that would be “funny and/or bizarre.” In looking through an old magazine that was published for a limited time during the late 1960s, I came upon Ms. Shore’s poem, which seemed to fit the bill on both counts more than adequately. In keeping with the form of her poem, the musical setting consists of three statements of a rather quirky (to say the least) theme, followed by increasingly twisted variations, the last of which is a parody (an affectionate one) of a Webernian or post-Webernian style, with the attendant exaggerated dynamics, wide leaps, etc.