CD: Riders to the Sea chamber opera, Kyrie by Marga Richter

Marga Richter
Riders to the Sea, Kyrie

Riders to the Sea (59:15), a chamber opera in one act by Marga Richter, is set in the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland more than 100 years ago.The libretto, which comes with the CD, is by John M. Synge who, along with W. B. Yeats and Augusta Gregory, founded the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The CD has 12 tracks, with 11 of them allocated to the opera. Kyrie (7:30) is for string quartet and double bass.

Musicians: Daijiro Ukon, conductor; Susan Holsonbake, soprano (Nora, younger daughter); Anna Tonna, mezzo-soprano (Cathleen, older daughter); Melissa Maravell, contralto (Maurya, mother); Aram Tchobanian, tenor (Bartley, son). Assisting vocalists: Julie Nord and William George. Orchestra: flute/piccolo, percussion (bells), harp, accordion and strings. Kyrie is performed by the MOTYL String Quartet with Pawel Knapik, double bass. Leonarda CD #LE358. Duration: 66:45.

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Riders to the Sea (chamber opera), audio samples

mp3 Nora: He went down to see would there be another boat (:21)

mp3 Bartley: Let you go down each day (:25)

mp3 Cathleen: It's the life of a young man (:25)

mp3 Cathleen: Let you go down now to the spring well (:30)

mp3 Maurya: In the big world the old people do be leaving things (:32)

mp3 Cathleen and Nora: She's gone now (:45)

mp3 Maurya: And some of them were found (:36)

mp3 Maurya: And you can hear the surf is in the east (:43)

mp3 Maurya: It isn't that I haven't prayed for you (:35)

Kyrie audio sample (:37) mp3

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Production: Recording, Post Production and Graphic Design: Marnie Hall. Musical Producers: Marnie Hall, Marga Richter. Cover Photo, Design: Melissa Maravell. Recorded at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, New York City, May and September, 2006. DDD. Special thanks to Dilly Patrick, Gerald Morgan, Jr. and forty-five other contributors who helped make this recording possible.

Rights: Copyright © 2011, Leonarda Productions, Inc. Made in the U.S.A. All rights reserved. Performing Rights: ASCAP. Music Publishers: Riders to the Sea: Carl Fischer. Kyrie for String Quintet: Shrewsbury Press. See margarichter.com for complete publisher information. For additional information, see www.margarichter.com.

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