A recital ‘Then and Now’ of chamber works by composer Douglas Knehans

PROGRAM

Watching Glass I Hear You (2021) (World Premier)—Now
A new song cycle for mezzosporano and piano to haunting texts by Katarina Knehans.
1. Hear
2. See
3. Touch
4. Feel

…de la fumeé, des voix… (1985) (World Premier)—Then
Way back last century a colleague of mine asked for an LP length work for harpsichord and electronics. Prior to finishing the work, the commissioners situation changed and he no longer had the ability to produce the work. Thus, the piece wound up languishing until I started to prepare all of my works for my new publisher Donemus in the Netherlands. This luckily coincided with the interests of a brilliant young harpsichordist Michael Delfin, who enthusiastically wanted to perform it. So this afternoon’s performance will be the world premiere but of a quite old piece!

Five Songs to Poems of Sylvia Plath for soprano and ensemble (1983)—Then
These five songs were the first thing I wrote after graduating my Bachelors degree. Plath’s searing, imagistic words were just the vehicle I sought for a new song cycle.
1. The Couriers
2. Poppies in October
3. You’re
4. Poppies in July
5. Ariel

Red Silk, Black Water for amplified viola, fixed electronics and video (2016)—Now
This work incorporates the reading of an original poem, amplified solo viola, fixed electronics and video. It is like a little concerto for viola: flashy and virtuosic in parts and expressive and elastic in others. The video is a kind of abstraction as well but also contains the words of the poem.