"Dual Visions" is a collaborative recording from Artistic Producer Kurt Westerberg and Southport Composers Series Executive Producer George Flynn. George Flynn - Songs of Destruction - Text by George Flynn George Flynn, piano - Leila Bowie, soprano - Mark Baldin, trumpet Dramatic duos for voice and piano (TR 1 - 17:) Let's Go Kill a Man; Before the Long, Dark Deluge; World of Serenity; In the Great Night; Death Has Won the Soul (39:21) The original (unfinished) versions of my five "Songs of Destruction" are dated 1974. They were one of a number of pieces I worked on around that time as part of my anti-Vietnam war activities... I consider these songs quasi-operatic in nature, requiring virtuoso interpretation on the singer's part, and virtuoso performance by the pianist. To me they are dramatic duos for voice and piano. -George Flynn, August 2013 ................................................ Kurt Westerberg - Vision and Prayer - on a Text by Dylan Thomas DePaul University Ensemble 20+ - Michael Lewanski, conductor - Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano A setting of Thomas' twelve-verse, shaped poem for solo voice, back-up voices and a 13-piece chamber ensemble. (TR 18 - 30) 30:26 The Ensemble: Dalia Shin, flute and piccolo; Megan Kyle, oboe; Elizabeth Weber, clarinets; Kirsten Alfredsen, bassoon; Max Pankau, horn; Violetta Todorova, violin; Rebecca Rudy, viola; Molly Goforth, cello; Jason Wells, double bass; Christopher Wendell Jones, piano and synthesizer; Abigail Langhorst, percussion; Joseph LaPalomento, percussion. Melanie Lunardi, Michele Kruske, Amy Dorner, sopranos; Catherine Hall, Michelle Boggess, Christine Roberts, altos. I have known Dylan Thomas' poetry since childhood and often wanted to set this particular poem but avoided it because of its length and because it had been previously set to music by composers Milton Babbitt and Bernard Rands. However, its imagery and shaped strophes consistently intrigued me. "Vision and Prayer" represents the poet balancing, juggling and struggling with creation, birth, salvation, making love, Jesus, God, and so on. - Kurt Westerberg, September 2013 # # # George Flynn - composer and pianist "Of his peers, only Cecil Taylor and Frederic Rzewski have created works which are of an equally impressive scale, as copiously detailed, technically challenging, and passionately expressive..." -on George Flynn from A Fickle Sonance, a column by Art Lange in the online music journal Point of Departure. George Flynn chaired Musicianship and Composition at DePaul University (Chicago) for 25 years. He has composed over 100 works in all media, including over five hours of piano solo music. His music is performed internationally, and has appeared on several recordings, including four recent CD's on the Southport Composers label. As a pianist, Flynn has performed and recorded new music for many years throughout the US and Europe. # # # Kurt Westerberg - composer and pianist "...at times this cool surface seems to barely mask seething rage." "Westerberg and Flynn share some compositional approaches and thematic preoccupations--their piano pieces are heavily, weirdly percussive and resolute." Ted Shen, The Chicago Reader Kurt Westerberg has been on the faculty of DePaul University's School of Music since 1987, where he was fortunate to have George Flynn as a colleague and significant mentor, and is currently an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Musicianship Studies and Composition. Having composed over 100 works for solo keyboard, solo voice, chamber ensembles, choral ensembles, electronics, wind ensembles, and orchestral ensembles, Westerberg's works have been performed nationally and internationally in a variety of venues. "Winter Light" for orchestra, "Piano Trio", "Fantasy" for violin and piano, and "Concerto for Wind Ensemble" were recorded and released on a Southport Composers Series CD entitled "Uncertain Light" in 2010. Westerberg is also an experienced pianist, organist and conductor and has been Director of Music at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Evanston since January, 1998. # # # Acknowledgements include DePaul University School of Music and Dean Donald Casey; Julie DeRoche; Judy Bundra; Joe Clark; Matt Amos. The recording of Vision and Prayer was make possible in part by a fellowship with the DePaul University Humanities Center, Jonathan Gross, Director and Anna Vaughan Clissold, Associate Director. "Vision and Prayer" by Dylan Thomas, by permission of Harold Ober Associates. Project Producers: Joanie Pallatto & Bradley Parker-Sparrow, Southport Records. Art Direction and Graphic Design: Al Brandtner. Includes 28 page booklet with notes from the composers and complete texts. © 2014 Kurt Westerberg (hagenmusic, Chicago, IL) ASCAP and © 2014 George Flynn (Imprimis Music, Chicago) ASCAP