VOCAL - Nature Calls (1999)
Duration - 17:00
medium voice and piano
Text by Wendy S. Walters
“Derek Bermel’s “Nature Calls” (1999) had a very wittiness and playful theatricality.”
“Bermel set the texts inventively [“Nature Calls” / “Three Songs on Poems by Wendy S. Walters”]. Vocal lines moved effortlessly from song to speech to halfway between. The scores even seemed to ask for the dramatic movement and gestures that Timothy Jones used to make his performances almost magical.”
Score & Parts Rental
Find all of Derek Bermel’s works on Peer Music Classical.
Program Notes
In 1999 I was commissioned by the Cactus Pear Music Festival in San Antonio, Texas to write a cycle of songs for baritone Timothy Jones and pianist Jeffrey Sykes. For texts I chose nature themes by poets from several generations, thus the title "Nature Calls". "Spider Love" was a commissioned lyric from the American poet Wendy S. Walters, "Mushrooms" is an eerie forecast by the great poet Sylvia Plath, and "Dog" is a serene reflection by San Antonio native Naomi Shihab Nye.
The cycle was premiered in July 1999. Many thanks to Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio, who helped this work come to life.