For at least the third year in a row, I am not in my home country for the Fourth of July. Both this year and last the plan was to be in Granville, Ohio, for the carnival downtown and for the fireworks and flag waving. But fate finds us stuck in Bologna for another few weeks, and we’ll have to try again next year. Distance does not, however, preclude a small contribution to the festivities on my part. So, enjoy this rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” on ocarina (Do3, by Claudio Colombo).
Live audio from the world premiere of The Shepheardes Calender. May 15, 2019, Harold Acton Library, British Institute of Florence
Poetry: Edmund Spenser
Original Music, Piano: R. David Salvage
Narrator, Film: Andrea Argentieri
Albumleaf 161: June 5, 2019 (Bologna)
The first of three projected ‘leaves about rooms in Bologna where the walls and ceilings are painted to make it seem like you’re outside in a garden or forest This one comes from Palazzo Hercolani’s sala boschereccia, which is a particularly echo-y space. The music starts as a hallucination of a real forest before dissolving into a tamer, indoor atmosphere.
Albumleaf 160: April 4, 2019 (Bologna)
To demonstrate the absent Colin’s skill in song, Hobbinol, who loves him, sings Collin’s lay for Eliza, the queen of shepherds.
Albumleaf 159: March 6, 2019 (Bologna)
Thomalin explains to Willye how he knows that Cupid is afoot, even though the spring has not quite arrived.
Albumleaf 158: February 21, 2019 (Bologna)
“The Awkward Marionette”
Albumleaf 157: February 12, 2019 (Bologna)
Cuddie, a herdsman’s boy, and Thenot, an old shepherd, argue the merits of youth and old age in coping with the winter cold.
Albumleaf 156: January 30, 2019 (Bologna)
Based on the medieval French drinking song.
R. David Salvage composes and performs all the music on this blog, unless otherwise indicated.
SCORES to some of the music on this website are posted here.
Albumleaves is also featured on the album Lock and Key (Navona 5881).
Some of Salvage’s larger compositions can be found on SoundCloud. He is also the author of Getting Back to Music: A Dialogue About Music Appreciation.