St. John Passion - J. S. Bach

Recorded live with the Bach Society of Minnesota, March 24, 2012

Cantata 170: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust by J. S. Bach

Recorded live with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, January 9-10, 2016

Conducted by Delta David Gier. Many, many thanks to the SDSO for the recording and permission for its use! 

Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust

Movement 1: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust (Aria)

Movement 2:  Die Welt, das Sündenhaus (Recitative)

Movement 3:  Wie jammern mich doch die verkehrten Herzen (Aria)

Movement 4:  Wer sollte sich demnach (Recitative)

Movement 5:  Mir ekelt mehr zu leben (Aria)

Vang vang trời vào xuân (Spring Reverberations)

by Cung Tiến, poetry by Thanh Tâm Tuyền 

with Mary Duncan, piano

Recorded live.

This song cycle, Spring Reverberations, uses the poetry of Thanh Tâm Tuyền, who was a prisoner of war in a north Vietnamese "re-education camp" after the Vietnam war and eventually made his way to the United States and settled in Minnesota until his death.

The themes of the poetry run along friendship, childhood, and being free amidst constraints.

Written and sung in Vietnamese, this song cycle was given to me by the composer himself in 2001. It wasn't until 2011 that this song cycle was finally presented in its entirety in St. Paul, Minnesota; I was the first singer to do so and, to everyone's delight, with the composer in attendance. (Picture right:  Mary Duncan, Cung Tiến, me.)

Cung Tiến passed away in 2022. The Vietnamese language obituary his family published can be read here: https://nhacxua.vn/vinh-biet-nhac-si-cung-tien-tac-gia-cua-hoai-cam-thu-vang/ and another article about his passing, in English, can be read here: https://vgt.vn/chan-dung-nhac-si-cung-tien-cha-de-cua-ca-khuc-huong-xua-vua-qua-doi-tai-my-ihyes-20220606t6480051/?lang=en .

You can easily hear the easy blending of western music with traditional eastern music and how it expresses these unforgettable texts.

Listen to four clips below. 

Vang vang trời vào xuân (Spring Reverberations)

1.    Long Giao - Long Giao

2.    Trăng tù - Prisoner’s Moon

3.    Hái chè dưới trời mưa tháng bảy - Picking Tea Leaves in the July Rain
4.    Trưa tháng chín trên đồi cọ - September Afternoon on the Palm Trees Hill
5.    Bài hát tự do - The Final Freedom
6.    Nhổ cỏ hương nhu nhớ bạn - Picking Lavender Grass and Missing You

7.    Chiều cuối năm qua xóm ngèo - On a Year-End Evening, Passing Through a Poor Hamlet
8.    Chiều nắng hang trên đồi hương nhu - Late Afternoon Sun on Lavender Hill
9.    Ngã trên núi khi đi vác nứa - Falling on the Hill While Carrying Sharp Bamboo
10.  Vang vang trời vào xuân - Spring Reverberations

Independent Recordings

In 2010 composer Catherine Dalton and I collaborated on a project to record three of her solo pieces, "Siana," "Maybe So," and Fly With Me." We released them on CDBaby.com, however CDBaby.com no longer sells directly to the public. (I know, how disappointing.)

Instead, you can stream the songs on Apple Music, Spotify (R), pandora (R), YouTube, Shazam (R), Instagram and Amazon Music.

And no, we hardly get paid anything for having released our music on these streaming platforms; in fact, the vast majority of payments we receive for streaming these songs are for exactly $0.00.

If you like a song, please buy it instead. I'd prefer you buy it and keep it so you can listen to it whenever you like. Here are the three song covers so you know what to look for:

And thanks very much for supporting independent music. It's another way to shop small.