Frank Russo

Just in time for spring. I've written a piece for 2 pianos called The Porch. It's about the time I spend on my porch in Asheville, North Carolina looking and listening to the birds, watching the squirrels look play or fight, watching the the chipmunks nervously running about also looking for food, and listening to the crows caw and chase the hawk away. It's about having friends and loved ones on the porch and sharing the green of the plants and trees while rocking back in forth in a rocking chair with some ind of drink in hand. And, every now and then, it's watching the bears walk across the front of the porch looking for food. (I've been known to sneak behind the door when the door when they visit.) Most of all, its about hopefullness in these undertain times.

Hello.

If you're getting this email it's because you are on subscriber on N1M and have listened to my music.

Today, I've downloaded 3 recordings. The first is Hommage to John Lennon for solo flute. This is a recording from around 1984 at a concert of my music performed in New York City. The performer is Carol Wincenc, flutist. The next two recordings are the first and second movements from my String Quartet. There is a third movement but I did not include that here. I wish I could give you the names of the performers. They were from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. They really did a great job given 1 or 2 rehearsals before performance.

Note: The recordings are from master cassettes and were transferred to CD only recently. At times you can hear the loss of tone quality, but the idea still comes across.

I hope you enjoy listening to them.

Yours,

Frank Russo, Composer

I've downloaded today a version of my most recent composition. It was originally written for soprano but it hasn't been performed yet so I can't present to you the vocal version. The text is from Psalm 57, King James Version and that's where the title comes from. The original score is written for drum, cymbals, triangle, harp, soprano (clarinet this version), violin and cello. The meter is 7/8. This piece was dedicated to Nancy Steffa posthumously.

Today I'm adding the third movement to the string quartet I wrote back in 1982. After it's first performance I didn't really look at it again until late 2021. It sat in a drawer, then a box in storage. The I took a look at it again and said, 'Why hasn't this been looked at in so many years?' So what I did is tweak it, rewrite it, expand some ideas to it, while trying to keep it simple and elegant. I hope you like it. Give me some feedback.

Again, thanks for listening to this music.

Hello.
I've been looking at some of my earlier works that have been in paper format only. This piece, LUMEN, was written in the late 1980s into the 1990s. I can't tell you when I actually started it or finished it but it was the only piece in the 1990s that occupied a great deal of time.
One would say I was trying to find my own language, my own sound, and at the same time trying to find meaning in life. During these difficult years was the AIDS crisis with the loss of many friends.
LUMEN is a discovery of trying to see light through music. The musical language may be uncomfortable to some and/or disliked by others. I ask that if you listen to the piece try to listen to the entire piece. Close your eyes and imagine looking through a prism focused on some source of light -- a candle, light or sun.

I am adding today a composition I wrote in the early 1990s for voice and piano. This version is for viola and piano.

A little history about this piece. While I was living in Manhattan, NY during the 1990s there were many artists and friends who were dying from AIDS. It was a very difficult time emotionally and spiritually. I wrote 4 songs to the poetry of Perry Brass. These songs were performed once in California back in the 1990s. I don't have a recording of that performance. But I love this song. I tried to find the right instrument to bring out the pathos and beauty of the melody and I thing the viola does that well. Enjoy.

Hello.

Today I've downloaded a composition called, PEACE for Organ. This was originally written for a great friend and organist named Donald Joyce back in 1984. He played it at concerts in Manhattan, NY and in Europe when he was on tour. It has not been heard in many years and I'm happy to resuscitate it -- to bring it back to life.

Also, I think the name of this piece and the music itself is befitting the times. We're on the edge of war internationally and tensions in the United States aren't lessening.

I hope you like PEACE for Organ.

Frank Russo

Dear Subscribers/Listeners:

In celebration of having achieved 900 listeners I will download 3 new pieces called, Three Movements for Piano. These pieces have a history that I’d like to share with you.

In 1975 I moved to Paris, France to study with Nadia Boulanger, a great pedagogue of music education. I was very lucky to work with this 89-year-old woman who had known great composers such as Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky, the many of the French School of Composers and teacher of many American composers. During the time in Paris, she reviewed with us Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, both volumes. She told us that she had memorized these pieces by the time she was 5 years old.

Before I left for Paris, I visited my first cousin, Dale, who was in the hospital. We were extremely close during our childhood but as we grew up into our later teens he started surfing while I studied music. I didn’t realize how sick he was and found out that he had cancer. Some months into my time in Paris I received a communication that he had died. I felt I needed to express my grief and wrote these three pieces which are unnamed and go by I, II, and III movements.

In 1977 I returned to the United States and moved to New York City. At that time, I started to work with the composer, David Diamond. I reworked these pieces with him. Most recently, I was going through some boxes of my music and found these pieces. They have never been performed. I reworked them again and present them here for your listening and enjoyment.

Frank Russo

Dear Listeners: Today I've added a new piano composition called Humoresque. This is a digital version of the composition but it's what I have to offer you. The composition is an unusual departure for me in that it is very chromatic and yet remains 'tonal'. What does all that mean? I'm playing around -- hence the title, 'Humoresque.' I also think it might reflect some of what has gone on in the last year.

I hope you enjoy it. I like to hear feedback so don't hesitate to make a comment.

Frank Russo

Hello subscribers. When I look at the list of people who have subscribed to listen to the music I've composed, I'm excited to see where everyone comes from. I'm also curious as to why anyone is listening to 'Classical' music anymore. But that's a subject all to its own and I won't go there.

I've added a number of pieces. I have to apologize that much of it is digital. Some of my performances are on old formats that I can't download. Or, in many cases, the music has never been performed.

Of those pieces that have been performed or rehearsed and recorded are the vocal pieces from the MASS IN THE TIME OF WAR. A little history on that. It was at the beginning of the First Gulf War that I decided to write it. I knew that the title and the music could live forever because there is always war and I really tried to write a Latin MASS that was beautiful. I have downloaded two more movements so now there are three movements on N1M. There are a total of 5 movements but the recordings on the other two are of poor quality. Kyrie, Gloria, and Agnus Dei are what you'll find downloaded under my vocal compositions.

Two pieces that I just added are Appalachian Dance and Ballad for violin solo. There were some of the first compositions I wrote after moving to Asheville, North Carolina in 2010. Being up in the mountains and often hearing banjos and country music being played publicly was such an influence. However, the real impetus for these compositions was the death of my favorite uncle's wife and so these compositions were dedicated to her.

PRIMUM MOBILE for 2 flutes and 13 stringed instruments has been recorded but I don't know if I can download them for copyright reasons. So, I've downloaded a rendition that can give you the flavor of the composition. I wrote this composition in the early 1980s and the bequest of conductor, Laurine Fox. It had a bit of a following in the first few performances. It was also performed elsewhere in the United States. If you look up Dante's Paradiso, Primum Mobile, you can get an idea what I was trying to do.

Hope all stay safe during Covid-19.

Just wanted to send you a thank you for listening to my music. A little picture about me. In 1974 I left San Francisco to study with Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau and then moved to Paris where she continued her teaching. There I met other American and foreign students who were in awe and in fear of this great teacher. One thing to share. If you did an exercise wrong, she would fling her left arm against your right. There was nothing more shameful than that. I can still feel the swing when I think about it. Otherwise, when in class she played Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, there was nothing more angelic than listening to her 89 year old fingers make the piano sing. It was a difficult period of study but one that gave me a firm foundation in musical composition.

Frank Russo