“The poet Walt Whitman proudly described his sound a ‘barbaric yawp,’ but composers of symphonies and songs have some other ideas about him and his fellow great American writers, as evidenced this summer at the Aspen Music Festival,” writes Andrew Travers in Thursday’s (7/11) Aspen Times (CO). “The opening weekend of the festival last month included baritone Zeki Nadji performing composer Kurt Weill’s settings of Walt Whitman’s war poetry…. The following week, the Aspen Chamber Symphony opened its Friday concert with Gustav Holst’s ‘Walt Whitman Overture.’ … This summer season at the Aspen Music Festival … concerts are showcasing direct vocal adaptations from the texts of poets like Whitman and Emily Dickinson as well as instrumental works inspired by American authors…. The Aspen Music Fest … is joining in [Aspen’s [Bauhaus 100] yearlong centennial celebration of the Bauhaus art school and movement] festivities with five concerts this summer.… The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble on July 20 will stage a solo piano piece by Bauhaus associate Arnold Schoenberg…. On Aug. 5, the festival’s Percussion Ensemble will perform George Antheil’s ‘Ballet mécanique,’ which originally scored an experimental 1926 film by the French cubist and Bauhaus-adjacent artist Fernand Léger.”
Posted July 15, 2019
In photo: Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Herman Melville, three of the American writers being spotlighted during this summer’s Aspen Music Festival.
