St. Cecilia is the patron Saint of music and it is said that on her feast day, November 22, angels come to earth to listen to her play. The angels were well entertained when soprano Nicole Aldrich Clouser sang art songs by Richard Strauss, Henry Cowell, Arthur Honegger and John Harbison at a Familiar Faces program at Virginia Wesleyan College on Friday, November 22, 2002 in the intimate space of Hofheimer Theatre.

      From the program notes written by Ms. Clouser we read "Contemporary music has always been a love of mine, both as a pianist and singer. For many the term conjures up images of bone-jarring dissonance, strange extended techniques, and music that is just plain difficult to listen to ...In my explorations ... I have found a great wealth of beautiful, sensitive, creative music."

      The most recently written piece Mirabai Songs by John Harbison (b.1938) was first performed in Boston in September, 1983. The text is by Mirabai, a Hindu Saint who wrote this ecstatic religious poetry in 16th century India. Harbison, using a Robert Bly translation, was captivated by the story of the evolution of her consciousness. Left a widow at age 20, she decided to live and devote her life to the God Krishna, rather than join her husband on the funeral pyre as was the custom. She wrote poems to Krishna and sang and danced them in the streets. For this she was criticised. She answers her critics in some of these poems. Harbison wrote in program notes for a recording: "Her deeper answers involve the ecstatic, the erotic, the devotional and the artistic, but her independence and resolve, and her dancer's vitality lead my setting toward narrative and characterization, unused territory for a song cycle." (From the Nonesuch CD D173954. Dawn Upshaw, soprano and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Highly recommended).

      We attended this recital with Lorna St.George, a friend who is open to new musical experience. She writes: "Contemporary music composition often challenges a novice listener with its aural complexity. Ms. Clouser approached her program with such color, clarity of melodic tone and joyous expression that she captured even this naive listener."

      Lorna continues "Of particular interest was Henry Cowell's Vocalise for voice, flute and piano. Joined by the polished performances of Valerie Gould and Lee Jordan-Anders, Ms. Clouser mesmerized." Henry Cowell (1897-1965) was co-author of a biography of Charles Ives and a proponent of his music. Ives furnished the financing for Cowell's magazine New Music and was the "grand old man" of American music in the 1930s as the European composers arrived in America to escape the Nazis. Vocalise was written circa 1940 by Cowell while he was in prison on a morals charge. It is a demanding song for the pianist. Ms. Jordan-Anders had to damp the strings of the piano with one hand while playing the repetitive and percussive accompaniment. This combined nicely with the singer's directions "stress the accents heavily by sudden thrusts of the diaphragm." Add to this the flute of Ms. Gould and you have a full musical experience with the flavor of minimalism and the exuberant percussiveness of Renaissance dance music.

      The Richard Strauss (1864-1949) selection was three songs with text by Clemens Brentano: An die Nacht (To Night), Ich wollt' ein Sträußlein binden (I wanted to tie a nosegay), and Säusle, liebe Myrthe! (Rustle, Dear Myrtle). To quote our friend Lorna once again: "Nicole Clouser possesses an approachable, accessible manner that delights her audience." The singer's face before the song begins has a look of calm repose and from this calm comes a lovely rich voice that brings the song to life. Strauss with his long lyrical phrases makes a great demand on the singer and Ms. Clouser met every challenge.

      The song cycle, Six poemes de Guillaume Apollinaire - set by Arthur Honnegger (1892-1955), was beautifully sung. The first three songs with moody texts of a funeral procession, love and shadows in a garden and fog give way to a happier mood in Saltimbanques (Acrobats). L'Adieu is a song of lovers parting, while Les Cloches (The Bells) is whimsical and all about an afternoon tryst with a gypsy that will be the town's gossip tomorow. Ms. Clouser's powers of emotional expression were well displayed in this music. Her voice is well suited to art song.

      Nicole Aldrich graduated summa cum laude from Virginia Wesleyan College in 1996. While here she concentrated on piano studies but went on to earn a masters degree in conducting from Northwestern University. Currently Ms. Clouser divides her musical time among singing, teaching, conducting and playing. Ms. Clouser taught applied voice at the University of Delaware for two years and continues there as director of the University Singers and University Women's Chorus. She often appears as soloist, pianist and accompanist in the Delaware/New Jersey area. We look forward to hearing further art song recitals by this beautiful and talented young woman.

      Valerie Gould, flutist, is a senior Music Education major at the University of Delaware and often performs. She is both talented and strikingly beautiful. Pianist Lee Jordan-Anders is artist-in-residence, Professor of Music and Chair of the Humanities Division at VWC. She began the Familiar Faces concert series in 1986 and served as Director through 1997. A well known recitalist and accompanist in our area, we often hear Ms. Jordan-Anders and know that hers will always be an excellent, accurate and spirited performance.