Kenneth Frazelle's large-scale song cycle, SONGS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR, for voice and piano, received two very different performances in the spring of 2010. On May 5, acclaimed tenor Anthony Dean Griffey performed the song cycle, with pianist Warren Jones, in a Vocal Arts Society recital at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. And on March 26, folksinger Laurelyn Dossett performed with the composer on piano at Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC.
Part road trip and part childhood reminiscence, SONGS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR is an evocative and haunting musical portrait of Southern life and art. The work grew out of a fascination with the artistic progeny of humble Hale County, Alabama. That ragged land was home to the depression-era sharecroppers depicted by James Agee and Walker Evans in their classic book of prose and photographs, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men." And beginning in the 1960s, Hale County’s decaying architecture and shifting landscape were captured in the celebrated photographs, sculpture and paintings of Alabama native William Christenberry. When Frazelle undertook his own journey in the artists’ footsteps he not only found new sources of inspiration but unexpectedly unearthed many poignant, nostalgic and often turbulent memories from his own Southern childhood.
With Frazelle’s unique synthesis of folk song and art song, SONGS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR takes listeners on a journey past abandoned barns, tangles of kudzu and evangelizing road signs. We enter the bleak farmhouses of the poor, and we peer into the troubled home of a sensitive young boy. The work’s ten songs are united by refreshing harmonies, coloristic piano writing, and the undulating rhythm of the highway.
SONGS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR is one of Kenneth Frazelle’s most ambitious works. His previous compositions for voice have reached international audiences through performances by Dawn Upshaw, Odetta, Jan DeGaetani and Cassandra Wilson.
Grammy winner Anthony Dean Griffey won rave reviews for his portrayal of the title role in Britten's Peter Grimes at the Metropolitan Opera in 2008. He sang the role of Mitch in the world premiere of Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire with the San Francisco Opera. Along with his frequent operatic roles, he is a regular guest with the world's leading orchestras.
As a performer with her popular band Polecat Creek, Laurelyn Dossett has recorded three albums, toured extensively, and appeared on A Prairie Home Companion. She has been a soloist with the North Carolina Symphony. Her own songs have been recorded by such esteemed musicians as Levon Helm.