Performed on November 7, 2015 by Sharan Leventhal, violin, and Patricia Ann Metzer, soprano, for the concert Chorus Pro Musica: With Strings Attached.
Stafford Diptich op. 417
- News Every Day
- Some Things the World Gave
Since first setting a poem by William Stafford in 1991, I have returned many times to this late poet’s direct and thought-provoking informal verses. When Adam Grossman invited me to compose something for The Master Singers, I quickly unearthed this pair of contrasting “Staffords,” attractive as much for playfulness as for their startlingly serious flashes.
I took it as a challenge to write for the choir with a sole violin as a performing partner; as a pianist, it is always hard for me to remove the keyboard from a conception. Here, the violin soloist is entrusted with many “stage settings,” creating, sustaining, and changing attitudes and directions according to the poems’ varying terrains.
Boston Classical Review says of the piece:
It was time again for something bracing, and choir and violinist Leventhal delivered in style with Stafford Diptych, Op. 417, by John McDonald… The chorus effectively intoned the wry, ironic texts by William Stafford in gently jerky rhythms and dry harmonies that favored the hollow sound of open fifths. Violinist Leventhal led the way throughout, alternating with the chorus in spiky, virtuosic, multiple-stopping violin solos, which backed off at times into affecting, dissonant laments. Her vivid playing provided the most arresting music of the evening, rivaled only by the exotic choruses of the Betinis piece.
I thank composer/conductor Adam Grossman, violinist Frank Powdermaker, and The Master Singers of Lexington for bringing this poetic pairing to initial musical life in 2004, and conductor Jamie Kirsch, violinist Sharan Leventhal, and Chorus pro Musica for performing the work anew in 2015.