New York, NY (Top40 Charts) February promises an abundance of traditional saccharine fare as it moves toward Valentine's Day, but that doesn't mean heartache doesn't loom as well. Mortally Wounded, a new song cycle inspired by the poetry of Federico García Lorca, had its official release on February 1st; with music for tenor & piano by composer Michael Markowski.
A first-time collaborative venture between Markowski and tenor Timothy Stoddard, the work was composed and workshopped long-distance during the pandemic, fine-tuning sections of music via cellular video and audio clips. The final studio recording took place in Pittsburgh with pianist
Ellen Fast joining the collaboration. The work heralds Markowski's first foray into classical vocal writing after a stretch of compositional acclaim in the world of band music.
As Markowski puts it, "When concerts and gigs started getting cancelled in early 2020, I think a lot of us turned to collaborating with our closest friends, albeit remotely. For me, that was Tim. Then, when I discovered Lorca's heartbreaking surrealist poetry, I couldn't help but connect it to the anguish and loneliness we were all facing in our own newly bizarre world."
Mortally Wounded features English-language settings of three poems of Spanish poet Federico García Lorca; texts that invoke and weave ideas of unrequited love, nature, and mortality. The song cycle has an eclectic breadth of stylistic influence, from roots in traditional art song, sensibilities of contemporary musical theater sounds, as well as a nod to the cante jondo of Flamenco that was influential in the writing of Lorca. The piano writing ranges from virtuosic to intimate to rhapsodic, at times echoing the articulation of a guitar. The expansive vocal line features a high-lying tessitura for the tenor peppered with an aching angularity and moments of soaring lyricism.
The EP is made possible by a skilled team of creative professionals, namely Jay Dudt, recording engineer of Audible Images Recording Studio, Brian Losch of Losch Recording, who mastered the audio, and album design by Chile-based artist María González. Mortally Wounded can be found on Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon as well as most major streaming platforms.
