# ned rorem



## norman bates

_A paradox haunts Rorem's career. He insists that he has no interest in making "Major Statements," yet he has always longed to be taken seriously-to have major statements made about him. He has grumbled many times in print over the genuflections rendered toward an atonal showman such as Elliott Carter, who happens to be celebrating his ninety-fifth birthday this year (and looks eighty). Indeed, Carter has benefitted from a version of the intentional fallacy, according to which any music that is complex in design is automatically held to be complex in effect.* Rorem's scores seem, by comparison, modest and naïve, but this description applies only to their surface, and not to their emotional or psychological import. Rorem resembles such latter-day figurative painters as Fairfield Porter and Jane Freilicher, who followed the onslaught of Abstract Expressionism with landscapes and still-lifes. Their deceptively conventional images conceal large, ambiguous worlds of feeling.*_

http://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/04/ned_rorem_1.html

Maybe it's strange but before read to that i was thinking that his music has something that reminds in some way the quiet complexity of painters like Edward Hopper or Emily Carr, so i think that this article really nails the nature of his music. 
But i've listened only two collections of songs















so i'd like to hear more of his work (and more of his songs), any suggestion?


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## mensch

I bought this CD several years ago for the Violin Concerto by Philip Glass. The concerto turned out to be a typical Glass affair, which is the reason I'm not particularly fond of him anymore.

The Violin Concerto by Ned Rorem, also on the album, was a pleasant surprise, however and it's the reason why I still listen to the album once in a while. The chromatic second movement (Toccata-Chaconne) is very nice.


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## StlukesguildOhio

Rorem is almost unquestioned as the reigning American composer of art song. This classic collection is especially fine... as is that Susan Graham disc:










Neither would I avoid his larger compositions:


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Thanks. I'll give the last three Naxos CDs a listen at some stage to taste.


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## Manxfeeder

My first exposure to Ned Rorem was his piece *Lions, a Dream*, when I was asked to perform that with our local symphony. I always have a special fondness for it, partly for the piece and partly for the memory of the concert.


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## Vaneyes

I had the Naxos symphonies CD, but it didn't stay long. That's probably the end of my Rorem experiment.


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## Sid James

I think he's great & another excellent songwriter of Ned Rorem's generation (roughly) is William Bolcom. I have heard Rorem's songs on poems by Whitman (for baritone & piano), and they describe those small details in our relationships which do have significance, but they aren't always apparent to us. Elevating the mundane to a higher level. I also like Rorem's writings & interviews reflecting on the music scene - esp. new music scene - in the post-war world & the place/role of composers today.


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## norman bates

@StlukesguildOhio and Manxfeeder: thanks for the suggestions.


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## norman bates

Sid James said:


> I think he's great & another excellent songwriter of Ned Rorem's generation (roughly) is William Bolcom. I have heard Rorem's songs on poems by Whitman (for baritone & piano), and they describe those small details in our relationships which do have significance, but they aren't always apparent to us. Elevating the mundane to a higher level.


i know only his rags and i like them, anyway have you hany particular disc to reccomend?


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## suffolkcoastal

I'm a great admirer of Rorem's music, it doesn't go for the big, flashy or grand gestures but always IMO succeeds in what it sets out to do.


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## StlukesguildOhio

I'm not blown away by Bolcom's songs... outside of his brilliant and incredibly varied cycle setting William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Personally, I find it to be an grand, audacious, sprawling (if flawed) masterpiece.










Closer to the manner of Ned Rorem is Jake Heggie, Rorem's heir apparent in the role of the great American art song writer. _Passing By_ and _Faces of Love_ are both marvelous collections.



















You only need to look to the names of the soloists to recognize just how respected Heggie is among contemporary vocal music writers.


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## Romantic Geek

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Rorem is almost unquestioned as the reigning American composer of art song.


Ehhhhh...I'd question that. Don't get me wrong, Rorem's art songs are amazing. He's definitely in the very top echelon of art song composers in America. But I'd give Ives and Barber an edge over Rorem ever so slightly.

As far as Rorem CD's, I bought this collection which includes 5 Naxos CDs. It's a great collection of his larger works.


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## Operadowney

One of my colleagues is learning the Nightingale for an undergraduate recital and was singing this in rehearsal while studying for a history exam. She apparently performed it beautifully as well.


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## StlukesguildOhio

I'd give Ives and Barber an edge over Rorem ever so slightly.

Ummmm... I hate to be the bearer of bad news... but... ummm... Barber and Ives are both dead.


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