Darius Milhaud Concert

Mills Music Now
Friday, October 2, 2020 — 8:00 PM PDT
Presented by Mills College Music Department and Center for Contemporary Music

Sara Parkins and Sarah Thornblade, violins
Maggie Parkins, cello
Melissa Givens, soprano
Genevieve Feiwen Lee, piano

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Darius Milhaud:

Deux poèmes d’amour, Op. 30 (1915) – Rabindranath Tagore
1. Love, my heart longs day and night
2. Peace, my heart!

Les soirées de Petrograde, Op. 55 (1919) – René Chalupt
VIII. Les journées d’août
IX. Monsieur Protopopoff
X. Le convive

Erik Satie:La statue de bronze, from Trois Mélodies (1916) – Léon-Paul Fargue

Ms. Givens and Ms. Lee

**

Arthur Honegger:
Sonatine for 2 violins (1920) dedicated to “Darius Milhaud”
Allegro non tanto
Andantino
Allegro Moderato

Darius Milhaud:
Sonatine for 2 violins, Op. 221 (1940) dedicated to “My students at Mills College”
I. Vif
II. Barcarolle
III. Rondo

Ms. Thornblade and Ms. Parkins, violins

**

Darius Milhaud:The Household Muse (La muse ménagère), Op. 245 – excerpts
(composed July 5–11, 1944 at Mills College)
The Awakening (Le Réveil)
Household Cares (Les soins du ménage)
Poetry (La poésie)
Cooking (La cuisine)
Fortune Telling (Cartomancie)
The Son who Paints (Le fils peintre)
Reading at Night (Lectures nocturnes)
Gratitude to the Muse (Reconnaissance à la Muse)

Ms. Lee, piano

**

Zeena Parkins:
Sistere for Solo Cello and Electronics (2017-2020)

Maggie Parkins, cello

**

Darius Milhaud:
Sonatine for Violin and Cello (1953)
Vif
Modere
Vif

Sara and Maggie Parkins, violin and cello

**

Darius Milhaud:
L’amour chanté, Op. 409 (1964)
III. Sonnet (Louise Labé)
IV. De sa peine, et des beautés de sa dame (Joachim du Bellay)
IX. Le lai de Chevrefeuille (Marie de France)

William Bolcom:
The Song of Black Max (as told by the de Kooning boys),          
from Cabaret Songs (1985) – Arnold Weinstein

Burt Bacharach:
What the World Needs Now (1965)

Ms. Givens and Ms. Lee

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Recorded in Mable Shaw Bridges Hall of Music at Pomona College, Claremont, CA.

We thank Jeff Gauthier for running electronics in Zeena Parkins’ Sistere, and Pomona College’s Barry Werger for recording the concert.

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This concert is funded by the Class of 1945 Darius Milhaud Performance Endowment. Established in 1995 by the Class of 1945 at its 50th Reunion, the endowment supports annual concerts featuring the music of Darius Milhaud. The Class of 1945 was among the first to graduate during Milhaud’s tenure at Mills. Their vision and generosity is a fitting tribute to his inspirational teaching and artistry. The Music Department is grateful to the Class of 1945 for ensuring that Milhaud’s music will continue to exert a strong influence at Mills in the years to come.

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Song Texts and Translations

Deux poemes d’amour (Two Love Poems)
(Rabindranath Tagore)

I.
Love, my heart longs
day and night for the meeting with you,
for the meeting that is like all devouring death.
Sweeping me away like a storm,
take everything I have,
break over my sleep and plunder my dreams,
rob me of my world.
In that devastation,
in the utter nakedness of spirit,
let us become one in beauty.
Alas for my vain desire!
Where is this hope for union,
except in thee, my God?

II.
Peace, my heart!
Let the time for the parting be sweet!
Let it not be a death, but completeness;
Let love melt into memory,
and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end
in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands
be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O beautiful end, for a moment,
and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp
to light you on your way.

**

Les soirées de Petrograd
(René Chalupt)

VIII. Les Journées d’août
C’est vous qu’au Palais de Tauride,
Funeste privilège,
J’évoque par ce jour torride,
Princesse de collège.

J’oublie Ouvriers et Soldats
Pour vous, Iphigénie,
Et la fraîcheur de ce soda
Me paraît infinie.

IX. Monsieur Protopopoff
Regardez ce Monsieur qui va
Monter en limousine
Et cause avec Viroubovo
Que l’on dit sa cousine.

L’Esprit l’a comblé de ses dons
Et parle en sa parole;
Il enchante les guéridons
Et charme les consoles.

X. Le Convive
Elles t’aiment plus que la vie;
Tu les mettrais au désespoir
Si tu ne venais pas ce soir
Au souper où je le convie.

Viens!

Il y aura sous mon toit
Les plus belles de les campagnes,
Des roses rouges, du champagne
Et une surprise pour toi.

Petrograd Evenings

VIII. The Days of August
It is you, at the Palace of Tauris,
Fateful privilege,
Whom I evoke on this sweltering day,
Princess of the Academy.

I forget Workers and Soldiers
For you, Iphigenia,
And the coolness of this soda water
Seems infinite lo me.

IX. Mister Protopopoff
Look at this gentleman who is
About to get into the limousine,
Chatting with Viroubova,
Who is said to be his cousin.

The Holy Spirit has showered him with his gifts
And speaks through his words;
He delights the fancy tables
and charms the little ones.

X. The Dinner Guest
They love you more than life;
You would drive them to despair
If you did not come this evening
To the dinner I am inviting you to.

Come!

Under my roof there will be
The most beautiful of your companions,
Red roses, champagne
And a surprise for you.

**

La statue de bronze
(Léon-Paul Fargue)

La grenouille du jeu de tonneau
S’ennuie, le soir, sous la tonnelle…
Elle en a assez!
D’être la statue
Qui va prononcer un grand mot: Le Mot!

Elle aimerait mieux être avec les autres
Qui font des bulles de musique
Avec le savon de la lune
Au bord du lavoir mordoré
Qu’on voit, là-bas, luire entre les branches…

On lui lance à coeur de journée
Une pâture de pistoles
Qui la traversent sans lui profiter

Et s’en vont sonner
Dans les cabinets
De son piédestal numéroté!

Et le soir, les insectes couchant
Dans sa bouche…

The Bronze Statue

The frog of the barrel game
Grows weary at evening, beneath the arbor…
She has had enough!
Of being the statue
Who is about to pronounce a great word: The Word!

She would love to be with the others
Who make music bubbles
With the soap of the moon
Beside the lustrous bronze tub
That one sees there, shining between the branches…

At midday one hurls at her
A feast of discs
That pass through without benefit to her

And will resound
In the chambers
Of her numbered pedestal!

And at night, the insects go to sleep
In her mouth…
– Translated by Shawn Thuris, n.d. Used with permission.

**

L’amour chanté

III. Sonnet (Louise Labé)
Je vis, je meurs: je me brûle et me noie.
J’ai chaud extrême en endurant froidure:
Ma vie m’est et trop molle et trop dure.
J’ai grands ennuis entremêlés de joie:

Tout à coup je ris et je larmoie,
Et en plaisir maint grief tourment j’endure:
Mon bien s’en va, et à jamais il dure:
Tout en un coup je sèche et je verdoie.

Ainsi Amour, inconstamment me mène:
Et quand je pense avoir plus de douleurs,
Sans y penser je me trouve hors de peine.

Puis quand je crois ma joie être certaine,
Et être au haut de mon désiré heur,
Il me remet en mon premiêr malheur.

IV. De sa peine, et des beautés de sa dame
(Joachim du Bellay)

C’est mon feu, c’est ma cordelle,
Mon froid, ma flèche mortelle.
C’est mon aigle dévorant,
Qui m’ard, lie, englace et blesse,
Et qui dévore sans cesse,
Mon coeur sans cesse mourant.

IX. Le lai de Chevrefeuille
(Marie de France)

D’eux deux il était ainsi
Comme du chèvre feuille était
Qui au coudrier se prenait.
Quand il s’est enlacé et pris
Et tout autour le fût s’est mis,
Ensemble peuvent bien durer.
Mais qui les veut ensuite désunir
Le coudrier meurt bien vite
Et le chèvrefeuille avec lui.
“Belle amie, ainsi est de nous.
Ni vous sans moi, ni moi sans vous.”

Love sung

Sonnet

I live, I die: I burn and I drown.
I feel extreme heat and enduring cold:
My life is both too easy and too harsh.
I feel great boredom mingled with joy.

Suddenly I laugh, and then I weep.
And in pleasure I endure many torments.
My treasure disappears, and lasts forever:
All at once, I wither and I flourish.

So Love incoherently does lead me.
And when I think, I am full of sadness,
When I do not think, I find myself at peace.

Just when I feel certain of my joy,
And have achieved my greatest desires,
Love throws me back into my former grief.

His pain and the beauties of his Lady

It is my fire, it is my twine,
My weakness, my mortal arrow.
It is my devouring eagle,
Which burns, binds, freezes, and wounds me,
And which ceaselessly devours,
My endlessly dying heart.

The Song of the Honeysuckle

Tristan and Isolde were so much
Like the honeysuckle
Clinging to the hazel tree.
When it has intertwined, and grasped,
And wound itself around the hazel’s trunk,
The two can truly endure.
But if someone were to separate them,
The hazel tree would quickly die,
And the honeysuckle with it.
“My beloved, it is the same with us.
Without you, I cannot live, nor you without me.”

**

The Song of Black Max
(as told by the de Kooning boys)
(Arnold Weinstein)

Song of Black Max
He was always dressed in black,
long black jacket, broad black hat,
sometimes a cape,
and as thin as rubber tape:
Black Max.

He would raise that big black hat
to the big-shots of the town
who’d raise their hats right back,
never knew that they were bowing to
Black Max!

I’m talking about night in Rotterdam
when the right night people of all the town
would find what they could
in the night neighborhood of
Black Max.

There were women in the windows
with bodies for sale,
dressed in curls like little girls
in little dollhouse jails.
When the women walked the streets
with their beds upon their backs,
who was lifting up his brim to them?
Black Max!

And there were looks for sale,
the art of the smile—
(only certain people walked that mystery mile:
artists, charlatans, vaudevillians, men of mathematics, acrobatics and civilians).

There was knitting needle music
from a lady organ-grinder with all her sons behind her,
Marco, Vito, Benno
(was he strong! Though he walked like a woman),
and Carlo who was five.
He must be still alive!
Ah, poor Marco had the syph, and if
you didn’t take the terrible cure those days
you went crazy, and died, and he did.
And at the coffin
before they closed the lid,
who raised his lid?
Black Max!

I was climbing on the train
one day going far away
to the good old U.S.A.
when I heard some music
underneath the tracks.
Standing there beneath the bridge,
long black jacket, broad black hat,
playing the harmonica, one hand free
to lift that hat to me:
Black Max.

**

What the World Needs Now Is Love
(Hal David)

What the world needs now is love, sweet love;
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.
What the world needs now is love, sweet love;
No not just for some but for everyone

Lord, we don’t need another mountain.
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross
Enough to last till the end of time.

What the world needs now…

Lord, we don’t need another meadow.
There are cornfields and wheatfields enough to grow
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine
Oh, listen Lord, if you want to know.

What the world needs now…

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Performer Biographies

Melissa Givens
American soprano Melissa Givens moves and excites audiences and critics alike with a rich, powerful tone, crystalline clarity, and intelligent musical interpretations. Especially noted for her expressiveness and elegance on the stage, she’s been hailed as a singer whose music making is “consistently rewarding” and “a pleasure to hear.” Givens is also an extremely versatile artist, regularly performing repertoire from the Baroque era through music of the 21st century.

Recent performances include George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children, the premiere of Die Schöne Mullerin Report, by Tom Flaherty (both with Pomona College faculty and guest artists), Mahler’s Symphony #4 (chamber version) with the Greenbriar Consortium, and True Witness (Goble) with the Claremont Colleges Joint Music Program. Upcoming events include a joint recital with baritone Timothy Jones.

An Assistant Professor at Pomona College, Givens remains in demand on concert series throughout the United States and abroad, and counts Grammy© winning Conspirare: A Company of Voices as a frequent collaborator. Her solo appearances on their major label releases have received enthusiastic reviews. She can also be heard on her solo CD, let the rain kiss you.

Genevieve Feiwen Lee
A versatile performer of music spanning five centuries, Grammy® nominated Genevieve Feiwen Lee has thrilled audiences on the piano, harpsichord, toy piano, keyboard, and electronics. She enjoys finding music that challenges her to go outside of her comfort zone to sing, speak, act, and play new instruments. She has given solo recitals at Merkin Concert Hall, NY, and the Salle Gaveau in Paris. Since her first concerto engagement at age twelve, she has appeared with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Brazil; the Vrazta State Philharmonic, Bulgaria, and The Orchestra of Northern New York. Her concerts in China appeared on Hunan State Television, and her performance from the Spiegelzaal at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was broadcast on live radio.

Ms. Lee has premiered and commissioned numerous works, and she can be heard on the Innova, Albany and Reference labels. She was nominated in the Best Chamber Music Performance category at the 58th Grammy® Awards for the recording of Tom Flaherty’s Airdancing. In the Los Angeles area, Ms. Lee has been a guest performer with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music series at Disney Hall, Southwest Chamber Music, Jacaranda, Piano Spheres and the Hear Now New Music Festival. She is a founding member of the Mojave Trio and was a member of the Garth Newel Piano Quartet when they performed in Carnegie Hall. Ms. Lee received her degrees from the Peabody Institute, École Normale de Musique de Paris, and the Yale School of Music. She is the Everett S. Olive Professor of Music at Pomona College, California, where she teaches piano, chamber music, aural skills and theory.

Maggie Parkins
An uncommonly versatile musician, cellist Maggie Parkins is equally at home in chamber music, orchestral music and the avant-garde, and has performed throughout the Americas and Europe.

Her work ranges from chamber concerts to multimedia, multi-genre collaborations. A robust advocate for new and experimental music, Parkins with the Eclipse String Quartet and Brightwork new music ensemble has commissioned or premiered numerous works from composers. Eclipse has had residencies at Mills College in Oakland and the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles.

Parkins is also a member of the Los Angeles based Mojave Piano and the Duo The Smudges. Her interest in music outside the classical tradition has led her to perform with groups including the Jazz Passengers, Billy Childs and the Anthony Braxton Ensemble.

Parkins has performed under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle and Andre Previn. Her orchestral experience also includes the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Syracuse Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Riverside Symphony and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. Parkins has recorded extensively and can be heard on the Bridge, Albany, Tzadik, Avan and Victo labels.

Parkins has performed around the world including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Festival Internacional de Musica de Cadaques (Spain), Heidelberg Castle Festival, Spoleto (USA and Italy), the Taktlos Festival (Switzerland), and the Bach Aria Festival in New York. Parkins taught cello and chamber music at UC Irvine for 19 years and since 2016 teaches cello at Pomona College.

Sara Parkins
Award winning violinist Sara Parkins is an active studio musician for major motion pictures, television and recording artists. Sara has performed at the Oscars, Grammy’s and other renown award shows. Film composers she has worked with include John Williams, James Newton Howard, Randy Newman, Thomas Newman, Michael Giacchino, Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, James Horner and many others.

As a member of the Angeles Quartet, Parkins won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for the complete recordings of the Haydn String Quartets.

Sara currently performs with two well-known chamber groups: the Grammy nominated Eroica Trio which tours internationally and the Eclipse Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to the music of living composers. Eroica Trio has performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with orchestras throughout North America and Europe. The Eclipse Quartet has premiered numerous works by composers including: Zeena Parkins, Sean Heim, Carla Kihlstedt, Tom Flaherty, and Billy Childs.

As a violinist with diverse interests, Sara has toured the world as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. She has participated in the Bravo Festival, Strings in the Mountains, Highlands Festivals, Santa Fe Chamber Music, Oregon Bach Festival, Taktlos Festival/Zurich, Unlimited Festival/Wels, Austria, SWR Festival, Bavaria/Germany, and Orchestra de Cadeques.

Sara had a memorable experience performing at a unique concert featuring Arabic music with musicians from different cultures in the United Emirates at the Sharjah Biennial. In Los Angeles, Parkins is currently principal second violinist of the Pasadena Symphony.

Ms. Parkins is a graduate of The Juilliard Pre-College, attended the Curtis Institute of Music and has a Masters Degree from Stonybrook University in New York.

Sarah Thornblade
Sarah Thornblade is a violinist dedicated to chamber music and the love of making music with others. She is the associate principal second violin of the LA Chamber orchestra and a member of the Eclipse Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to performing 20th century and contemporary music. The quartet is the recent recipient of an Aaron Copland Fund recording grant and has recorded works by composers such as Zeena Parkins, Morton Feldman, Frederic Rzewski, James Tenney and most recently Matthew Sargent for Tzadik, New World, Cold Blue and Bridge recording labels.

Sarah is a former member of the Denali Quartet and a former founding member of the Arianna String Quartet, which has been a grand prize winner at the Fischoff National, Coleman and Carmel chamber music competitions. She has also performed with Camerata Pacifica, Jacaranda Music and Auros Group for New Music (Boston). Sarah has performed throughout the country and abroad at festivals including the Tanglewood and Spoleto music festivals; the Look & Listen and Oregon Bach festivals; and the Norfolk, Steamboat Springs, Banff and Portland chamber music festivals. She has collaborated with artists such as Gilbert Kalish, Jeffery Kahane, William Winant , Beck, Andres Cardenes, Caetano Veloso, Randall Hodgkinson and Warren Jones.

Sarah is on the faculty of Pomona College and is also an active recording musician for film and television. She holds degrees from Indiana University and Northern Illinois University and studied with Miriam Fried, Mathias Tacke and Shmuel Ashkenasi.