I’ve begun to upload a few sound bytes of my playing. The first upload is from this past February at Katherine Bonner’s “MAD TUBA” recital. We performed Vaughan-Williams’ Ten Blake Songs for oboe and voice, with the trombone as the oboe and the tuba as the voice. The performance went well, and I’ve included the live recording on the site. I really enjoyed working with Katie, and working on these pieces. William Blake wrote his “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” in the late 18th century. Many composers have since written songs based off his poetry, including Britten, and Vaughan-Williams, and American composer William Bolcom has composed the entire set of songs. These ten by Vaughan-Williams are great, and actually for the most part translate well to low brass. I encourage all brass players to take a look at these and try them in different combinations.
You can listen to them in this post – or listen at the sounds page!
- Ten Blake Songs – I. Infant Joy
- Ten Blake Songs – II. A Poison Tree
- Ten Blake Songs – III. The Piper
- Ten Blake Songs – IV. London
- Ten Blake Songs – V. The Lamb
- Ten Blake Songs – VI. The Shepherd
- Ten Blake Songs – VII. Ah! Sun-flower
- Ten Blake Songs – VIII. Cruelty has a Human Heart
- Ten Blake Songs – IX. The Divine Image
- Ten Blake Songs – X. Eternity