Come Down Heavy (1994)
recorded by Quorum on "Cold Water Dry Stone" and by Kyle Horch on "Anglosax," previews on Amazon.com
Ev'ry mornin' at six o'clock–
there were twenty tarriers a-workin' on the rock,
and the boss comes 'round and he says "Keep still–
and COME DOWN HEAVY ON THE CAST IRON DRILL..."
The title Come Down Heavy! is taken from a line in the folksong Drill Ye Tarriers upon which the last movement of the piece is based. I grew up listening to my parents singing folksongs--this piece was inspired by memories of my father beating on his guitar, belting out John Henry, and the quiet sadness in my mother's voice as she sang me to sleep. To me, folksongs are not quaint, naive or innocent, as they've often come to be misrepre-sented--they are powerful, sometimes gritty, bitter and ironic, full of the sadness and longing of life. Although these particular songs are part of my past, they are also part of my present–my goal was to avoid casting them in a cloud of nostalgic mist or nationalistic fervor, and to capture some of the raw, rough energy and genuine ache of the music. These are not "arrangements" of folksongs, but rather settings or treatments of them; while the tunes are present, they are often transformed, extended, and even abandoned.
The first movement, Steel Drivin' Man, is based on the African-American worksong John Henry, about the mighty African-American railroad man and the legendary contest pitting his mythical human strength against that of the steam-drill. The style is based upon my father's full-tilt performances of the song and is dedicated to him, (with tips of the hat to Huddy Leadbetter, Dave Van Ronk and Doc Watson).
I Gave My Love A Cherry or The Riddle Song is dedicated to my mother; it is one of her favorite lullabies. I've treated it as a mountain lament that uses an unusual violin tuning taken from Scottish fiddle playing.
Oh lovely Appearance of Death was written by the Reverend George Whitefield in 1760. It was a song that my Grandmother used to sing as a lullaby, and I learned it from my father. Although the words are quite morbid, (dealing with a deeply religious aesthetic reaction to death as a release from worldly suffering) I've always been haunted by the melody. It receives the simplest and most unadorned treatment of the songs in this work.
The piece is also informed to a large extent by my involvement with tradi-tional Irish music--the worksong Drill Ye Tarriers is itself rooted firmly in the Anglo-Irish tradition, and is presented first as a modified Irish reel, and later as a jig, layered with the song Patsy on the Railroad. (It is also finally transformed into a wild tarantella, no doubt a direct influence of my wife's Italian-American family!)
The work was written for James Umble and the Cleveland Duo, and was given its premiere recording by Carolyn Stuart, Tim McAllister, and Midori Koga on Cold Water Dry Stone new music with traditional roots available on Albany records.
recorded by Quorum on "Cold Water Dry Stone" and by Kyle Horch on "Anglosax," previews on Amazon.com
Ev'ry mornin' at six o'clock–
there were twenty tarriers a-workin' on the rock,
and the boss comes 'round and he says "Keep still–
and COME DOWN HEAVY ON THE CAST IRON DRILL..."
The title Come Down Heavy! is taken from a line in the folksong Drill Ye Tarriers upon which the last movement of the piece is based. I grew up listening to my parents singing folksongs--this piece was inspired by memories of my father beating on his guitar, belting out John Henry, and the quiet sadness in my mother's voice as she sang me to sleep. To me, folksongs are not quaint, naive or innocent, as they've often come to be misrepre-sented--they are powerful, sometimes gritty, bitter and ironic, full of the sadness and longing of life. Although these particular songs are part of my past, they are also part of my present–my goal was to avoid casting them in a cloud of nostalgic mist or nationalistic fervor, and to capture some of the raw, rough energy and genuine ache of the music. These are not "arrangements" of folksongs, but rather settings or treatments of them; while the tunes are present, they are often transformed, extended, and even abandoned.
The first movement, Steel Drivin' Man, is based on the African-American worksong John Henry, about the mighty African-American railroad man and the legendary contest pitting his mythical human strength against that of the steam-drill. The style is based upon my father's full-tilt performances of the song and is dedicated to him, (with tips of the hat to Huddy Leadbetter, Dave Van Ronk and Doc Watson).
I Gave My Love A Cherry or The Riddle Song is dedicated to my mother; it is one of her favorite lullabies. I've treated it as a mountain lament that uses an unusual violin tuning taken from Scottish fiddle playing.
Oh lovely Appearance of Death was written by the Reverend George Whitefield in 1760. It was a song that my Grandmother used to sing as a lullaby, and I learned it from my father. Although the words are quite morbid, (dealing with a deeply religious aesthetic reaction to death as a release from worldly suffering) I've always been haunted by the melody. It receives the simplest and most unadorned treatment of the songs in this work.
The piece is also informed to a large extent by my involvement with tradi-tional Irish music--the worksong Drill Ye Tarriers is itself rooted firmly in the Anglo-Irish tradition, and is presented first as a modified Irish reel, and later as a jig, layered with the song Patsy on the Railroad. (It is also finally transformed into a wild tarantella, no doubt a direct influence of my wife's Italian-American family!)
The work was written for James Umble and the Cleveland Duo, and was given its premiere recording by Carolyn Stuart, Tim McAllister, and Midori Koga on Cold Water Dry Stone new music with traditional roots available on Albany records.