This past Friday, Oct. 3, found me clip-clopping across the Bridge on my way to Skinner Hall. I was joining the throng of students, faculty and community members to see “The Songs of David Alpher,” a concert hosted by the Vassar Music Department in the Martel Recital Hall. Composer and faculty pianist David Alpher was joined on stage by vocalists Sharon Harms, Robert Osborne and Countenay Budd—Osborne and Budd also serve in the Vassar vocalist faculty—as they played their way through an hour of Alpher’s original work spanning more than four decades.
I settled into my seat just as the lights went down. I was excited but nervous. My concert experiences in the past were almost entirely Broadway shows and pop concerts. I cannot say I knew what to expect at a show that was exclusively “art songs.” However, I can say that I was genuinely enamored throughout the show or, as I exclaimed more colloquially to a few friends after, “I was amazed. It blew my mind.”
The compositions were an emotional journey of intricate form set to a diverse array of poetry. Alpher’s work featured a curated selection of verse from a multitude of American poets and writing styles. This included everything from the Transcendentalists to the Beat Generation. Despite this plethora and variety, Alpher seamlessly connected his compositions into sets of five to 10 songs, each centered around various abstract themes.
Alpher explained that his selection was largely dependent on the music he was trying to write. “Commissioned works, like ‘Between Twilights,’ was a collection of Marsden Hartley. So it was simply a matter of reading the book and choosing poems that suggested a musical treatment.” Alpher explained, “On the other hand, ‘Songs on the Passage of Time’ was a concept of mine. So I went to the library, again and again, reading book after book of poetry, almost randomly, looking for anything that had anything to do with time’s passage.” The result is a gloriously diverse collection that reflects the versatility of Alpher’s composition and Harms, Osborne and Budd’s exceptional vocals. Each set of music was remarkably unique while still carrying a level of expertise and personal flair that I, merely beginning my journey into classical music, could only appreciate in awe.
I must admit, art music has always felt a little scary to me—something too refined and elevated for me to properly partake in. And while I am sure there were rhythms and progressions that were lost on me, listening to what can only be described as art itself, I felt remarkably grateful. I loved the unbridled emotions of Budd and Alpher as they respectively sang and played their way through “Songs of Transcendence” and the humor Osborne infused as he skillfully scatted in the “Kerouac Songs” collection. I was blown away by the honed technique of each vocalist and the stage presence they all maintained—along with the music itself, of course.
After the show, I was able to catch a quick moment with Alpher, flushed from his effortless playing, although he insisted he was anxious leading up to the show. I asked him how he was feeling, and he told me, “Both exhilarated and exhausted!” A pretty good description of my own emotions, and I was merely viewing.
For one final question, I asked Alpher what he would want someone to take away from the show. He thought about it and said, “I would want people to know that the 250-year-old art song tradition is alive and well, and adaptable to many contemporary treatments, including jazz.” As I walked back towards the dorms, listening to laughter and an animated discussion on Walt Whitman’s best works, I had to agree.
For all those who were unable to make it on Friday, Alpher’s album will be out shortly—a date is forthcoming—containing both the show’s music and more. I know I will be listening to Alpher’s album as I continue to explore, and probably get lost, while making the journey over to Skinner again to listen, learn and enjoy more music.