Songs Without Words - Pause Animations for World Mental Health Day

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Description

Performed by Bretton Brown (Vocal Studies tutor)

This project is about the desire to connect during a crisis when we are asked to be alone. The piece is built from a chain of classical songs — each begun by a pianist as expected, each breaking off the moment the singer should come in. The pauses that follow have been recorded by friends and family in 17 international cities, including Amsterdam, Hobart, Madrid, New York, Paris, and Sarajevo. These pauses symbolise the physical absence of others from our lives during lockdown, the unanswered questions of the piano like the one-sided conversations we imagine having with those unreachably far away.

Music was used from the following composers:
1. Claude Debussy, Soupir (Sigh) from 3 poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé
2. Hugo Wolf, Seufzer (Sigh) and Gebet (Prayer) from Mörike Lieder
3. Franz Schubert, Ave Maria
4. Joaquín Turina, Por mayo era, por mayo (May, it was in May)
5. Ottorino Respighi, Egle (Aegle) from Deità silvane
6. Émile Paladihe, Psyché
7. Clara Schumann, Geheimes Flüstern (Secret Whisperings), Op. 23/3
8. Hector Berlioz, Le spectre de la rose (The Spectre of the Rose) from Les nuits d’été
9. Giacomo Puccini, Storiella d'amore (Love Story)
10. Johannes Brahms, Sind es Schmerzen, sind es Freuden (Are they sorrows, are they joys?) from Die schöne Magalone
11. Franz Liszt, Pace non trovo (I find no peace)
12. Shen Yiwen, I had no time to hate from Three Emily Dickinson Songs
13. Richard Strauss, Ruhe, meine Seele (Be still, my soul) Op. 27/1
14. Gustav Mahler, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I am lost to the world) from Rückert Lieder
15. Joaquín Turina, Nunca olvida (Never forget) from Poema en forma de canciones
16. Bernard Foccroulle, Your sweet smell of jasmine from Zauberland
17. Joaquín Turina, El Pescador (The Fisherman), Op. 26/2
18. Franz Schubert, Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-gurdy Man) from Winterreise
19. Gabriel Fauré, L'hiver a cessé (Winter is over) from La bonne chanson
20. Juliana Hall, The cricket sang from Night Dances [Excerpt from “The cricket sang,” from Night Dances by Juliana Hall. Music © Copyright 1987 Juliana Hall Music, and transferred 2017 to E. C. Schirmer Music Company, Inc. www.ecspublishing.com. All rights reserved. Used with permission.]
21. Franz Schubert, Nachtstück (Night Song), D672
22. Claude Debussy, Recueillement (Meditation) from 5 poèmes de Baudelaire
23. Richard Strauss, Morgen! (Tomorrow!), Op. 27/4

Pauses collected by friends and family in: Amsterdam, the Netherlands | Carpinteria, CA (USA) | El Sobrante, CA (USA) | Germantown, MD (USA) | Hobart, Tasmania | London, UK | Madrid, Spain | Murray, KY (USA) | New Florence, PA (USA) | New York City, NY (USA) | Paris, France | San Leandro, CA (USA) | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina | Stuttgart, Germany | Tianjin, China | Tunbridge, VT (USA)

Pause Animations
These 25-minute animated sound works were composed at the start of the 2020 lockdown. The six pieces aim to encourage listeners to take a pause with meditative sounds and visuals, and include sound recordings made during the first months of the lockdown period.

Animation by Lucy Harper

About the artist
Bretton Brown is an American-Japanese pianist based in London. He has given recitals in Europe and throughout the United States, and has performed with Mark Padmore, Julia Bullock, and Renée Fleming, with whom he made his UK debut at Wigmore Hall. He works closely with Sir George Benjamin, including on the world premiere of the composer’s Lessons in Love and Violence at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and also assisted in the preparation of André Previn’s final work, Penelope, written for Ms. Fleming and first performed at the Tanglewood Music Festival.
He graduated with prizes in music and poetry from Yale and Juilliard and is a vocal coach at Guildhall School.