Clare Shore - July Remembrances

Clare Shore's July Remembrances for soprano and chamber orchestra

Date of completion: January, 1981; Approximate Duration: 17'

Program Notes

"In July of 1980 I began searching for poems, for a planned song cycle, which expressed my feelings of
despondency, so poignantly echoed by the desolate sound of foghorns in the Cape Cod night. David Diamond,
with whom I was studying, was an invaluable guide in both selecting the poetry and writing the music;
July Remembrances is dedicated to him. I arranged the poems to cover a single July day, from dawn to
midnight, so that they alternate between moods of desperation and hope, and end with ambivalent resolution.
The cycle is shaped into a modified arch form with the fifth song, the climax of the cycle, standing by itself.
The final bars of the last song summarize the emotional progress of the entire work, recalling essential
elements of the earlier songs."

July Remembrances was premiered at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on October 30, 1981, with
Daureen Podenski, soprano, and a Juilliard orchestra, conducted by Patricia Handy. The work was given
its first professional performance by Ms. Podenski and The PRISM Orchestra, conducted by Robert Black,
at New York City's Merkin Concert Hall on March 24, 1987.

Publisher

E.C. Schirmer Music Company, Inc.
(available from (sheetmusicplus.com)
or call E.C. Schirmer toll-free:1-800-777-1919

Commercial Recording

Owl Recordings CD-34 (available from Amazon.com)
Listen to excerpts from July Remembrances

Reviews

COMPOSER/USA, Marshall Bialosky: "July Remembrances" is not a random collection but rather
a real cycle with seven distinct songs...a substantial and unusual amount of unity...Shore's ability
to use quasi-diminution is really quite breath-taking...personal...She ends up with very expressive
music...thrilling...excellent contrapuntal textures...very vocal, even operatic...In sum, here is an
expertly constructed song cycle...appealing to a general audience without compromising
its musical beliefs one whit..." (Spring, 1991)

THE PALM BEACH POST, : " " (1/1/11)

SUN-SENTINEL, nd: "...initing..." (1/1/11)

WUTC (Chatanooga), Tony Happel: "The Clare Shore pieces are wonderful..."

Biography Reviews Works Recordings Listening Room Publisher Info Links Main Page

design by Watchfyr Productions
(561) 586-0532watchfyr@aol.com