Singing Songs of the Half-Light
Charlie:
What comments are there to make about the Half-Light songs. Where did you come across the Berkeley
songs?
Elizabeth:
That’s mainstream stuff. Lennox
Berkeley is a revered British composer.
The songs are right up my ally vocally.
They were perfect for me. They
were an interesting challenge for Felix and we performed them a lot, we loved
those.
Charlie:
What about Thea Musgrave?
Elizabeth:
She’s a prominent and respected composer here in America. She lives in California. The pieces were very worthwhile so we did them. We performed those a lot too.
Charlie:
They were written for guitar already?
Elizabeth:
Yes, Half-Light is an album of songs written for guitar and high voice
and not arrangements.
Charlie: How
did you come across the Daniel Pinkham pieces?
Elizabeth: I
worked with Danny all during school days in Boston. I asked him if he had any voice and guitar pieces and he
responded with Antiphons. He literally
handed them to me.
Charlie: How
did you learn about the Confiding songs?
Elizabeth: I was asking around for British or American pieces. Gunther Schuler recommended I look into those.
(Interview with Elizabeth Parcells 2005)