VIDEOS
These videos are by David Humphrey for music by Kurt Rohde. They were originally performed at Roulette Intermedium on September 6, 2022.
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece has 9 movements.
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.
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1 - Stairwell
Here the weariest
come to rest
in the swirl
of light and time and water
water and air
blues, teals
a twisting wisteria
seems to wrestle
the trellis
of its own trail
tier on tier
climbing its wires
of air
After the war
in his atelier
a fog, a silt
filming each iris
Monet twisted the laws
of landscape and paint to raise
the real
into a kind of stairwell
to tease
his Parisians out of the sterile
trials of war
to rest
not to erase
but ease
let them stare
and stare-Donna Masini
This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 1 Stairwell
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece have 9 movements:
Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau. -
2 - Tangle
trying to sit
still
at the rail
of my attention, wait
(what can I take for later?)
(in the bookstore, retail
retail!)
(outside the swelter)
six hours behind me my sister lies
in a tangle of wires
and sweat
can’t eat, then rallies, tires
In a week I’ll
open a book: Art
I’ll give her Art
prayer, the clinical trials
and all
will
be well
all
will be all
will will will
too late
in a year she will
(erase)
(this can’t be real)
Later
when I buy myself a sweater
I buy one for her as well
-Donna Masini
This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 2 Tangle
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece have 9 movements:
Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau. -
3 - Sink
After the allies
after the serial
trials
the lies
his real
aim was to make a
“pond that remembers all”
not to paint “it”
rather “the air
that touched it”
-Donna Masini
This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 3 Sink
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece have 9 movements:
Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau. -
4 - Painting
Later
my sister became too ill
for the clinical trials
but there was a tease
around Easter
we could still
hope, more will
than possibility, a straw
false lease
I began to tell
her about the Water Lilies
watched her stare
at each panel as if I
were a merchant unfolding my wares
to make them so real
so literal
she might climb the tiers
of painted air the way lilies
rise
out of shit and silt
So Monet writ
his “terrible blizzard of loss that will
even erase
her features” John Berger writes
of the portrait of his young wife’s wrestle
with death; saw
painted light unlike the real
is not transparent—more a wall
and she, now, a corpse on an easel
-Donna Masini
This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 4 Painting
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece have 9 movements:
Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau. -
5 - Ruins
the air’s alert
a Parisian jumps at the least
sound, it’s the law
of hatred, rule of Ares
a sewer of ire
a weary aisle
of fear, the stairwell
climbs down or up its
own dark rails
Fear has a long lease
retails
see it in the child’s welts
the wallets
of suffering and riot
suffering in the east
the west
What is an iris
to that? A lily? A star?
A sweet
roll from the now-dark café? It’s
the last straw
a waiter (writer)
says (in French); Ariel’s
attack of fear; he wears
he says, a sweater
of refugees, the late
bombed-out sites
The aria
of war
je suis allé
he says, why write?
-Donna Masini
This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 5 Ruins
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece have 9 movements:
Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau. -
6 - Coins
Water Lilies 6
like straw
in a storm, you are still
at the least
provocation, aswirl
almost real
like the water
Monet painted what we can’t see
then the lilies
like coins spilling out of water
trees, will-
ows, bent at the waist
hair falling, weeping trees
air and water
water and air
and you, sister, still
reel after reel
against all laws
aswirl
-Donna Masini
This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 6 Coins
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece have 9 movements:
Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau. -
7 - Skin
Water Lilies 7
suddenly welts
weals, wrestle
onto my skin, a series
of trails
I am my own walls
my body’s rash atelier
rails
something writes
from inside, tells
retells
my sister dragging the tail
of her oxygen tank; the weariest
days, shadows, trees
ills swell
nothing to erase
nothing to ease
I come to the wall
and the wall
all welter, swells
-Donna Masini
This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 7 Skin
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece have 9 movements:
Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau. -
8 - Wallet
Water Lilies 8
Clear morning with will-
ows that will
never wilt
leaves, water-
plants, lilies
open like wallets
and wars
Who tallies
who reels in the literal
corpses? It’s the law
of will
art of waste
the world reels
late stars wobble on the easel
-Donna Masini
This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 8 Wallet
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece have 9 movements:
Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau. -
9 - Words
(Water Lilies Floating)
water
lilies
will
air wait
air
iris
air
east
wars
water
teals
west
wisteria
trees
write air
water
will- lilies
laws
ows swirl
aisle
air
reels
-Donna Masini
This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 9 Words
Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.
These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.
In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.
The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.
The piece have 9 movements:
Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)
The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.