26: Berryman and beyond

This is what happens when you convene a chorus on Halloween: you record Poe, Pound, Berryman, Amy Lowell, a Kraftwerk Dickinson, and Stevens.

To begin, two versions of John Berryman’s very Shakespearean Dream Song 147, in which Henry talks of Gertrude. “He looked on the world like the leavings of a hag.”

Dream Song 147, anguished tornado version:

Dream Song 147, stoical version (more of the “surveying the troops” spirit of Animula):

…It’s not Parallel Octave unless the core group does another performance demo of “Emperor of Ice-Cream.”

But wait! There’s more:

Metrocard version of Ezra Pound’s “In A Station of the Metro,” in which the poem goes under the wheels of a subway train:

Amy Lowell’s “Patterns,” in a stately self-chorus version (doubling of the same speaker’s voice). We looked at this poem after observing that most of the narrators of our choruses were male. “Patterns” is a sentimental and, perhaps, self-indulgent poem, but it is a pretty good dramatic monologue.

Synthesizersthesia: Emily Dickinson’s “588” with pitch-shifting and a robot:

And, yes, we did record part of “The Raven,” in an alternating-voice storytime version.

All recorded on Sunday, October 31st on Abell Street, except for “The Raven” and “In A Station Of The Metro,” which were recorded at the Free School.

Chorus (Berryman, Stevens): Stephen Edwards (piano, flute), Richard Goldberg (vox), Joe Martin (drums, mus. dir.), Daniel Schwartz (guitar), Dara Weinberg (vox, dir)

Chorus (Lowell, Dickinson, Poe, Pound): Joe Martin (vox, guitar, piano, drums, mus. dir.), Dara Weinberg (vox, dir, backup guitar/drums)