Love Song by H. Leslie Adams presented by the Wisconsin Chamber Choir

Описание: Love Song by H. Leslie Adams

I could take the Harlem night
And wrap it round you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem's heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day –
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.

Excerpt from our program notes by Dr. Robert Gehrenbeck:

“Composer H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932) is best known for art songs, choral music, and solo piano works, reflecting his own training as a singer, choral conductor, and pianist. His 1969 setting of the poem Juke Box Love Song from Hughes’s Montage is typical of Adams’s style, featuring soaring, lyrical melodies and jazz-inflected harmonies. At the words “Put it on a record / let it whirl” Adams spins a web of counterpoint that seems almost improvisational, but which is, in fact, carefully planned out. The overall impression is one of tender beauty in the midst of a bustling urban landscape—“passages sometimes in the manner of a jam session, sometimes the popular song,” to quote Hughes’s prologue once again. A Cleveland native, Adams earned degrees from Oberlin Conservatory (where he studied voice with Robert Fountain, who later directed the choral program at UW-Madison); Cal State Long Beach; and Ohio State. In addition to the intimate vocal works which are his trademark, he has also composed large-scale instrumental works and an opera.”