ROBERT ASHLEY : Improvement (Don Leaves Linda)

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Format: 2CD [LCD5002]
Shipping Weight: 0.12lbs
Label: Lovely Music

3,199円

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'Like John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678), Improvement (Don Leaves Linda) is an allegory for an individual's self-realization. The opera takes its imagery from the history of the Jews --beginning with their expulsion from Spain in 1492 and ending 500 years later in the United States. Improvement (Don Leaves Linda) was first conceived as a recording for Nonesuch Records (1991). Ashley followed with three other operas, making up a quartet or tetralogy under the name Now Eleanor's Idea (LCD 1009CD), and all four operas were performed often during the first half of the 1990s.

The opera was revived in 2018-19, with a new cast: Gelsey Bell as Linda; Brian McCorkle as Don, Mr. Payne, and Companion; Paul Pinto as Junior, Jr.; Aliza Simons as Now Eleanor; Dave Ruder as The Doctor; Amirtha Kidambi as Mr. Payne's Mother; Robert Ashley (on tape) as Narrator I; Amirtha Kidambi and Aliza Simons as Narrator II. Improvement (Don Leaves Linda) was presented by the Kitchen, February 7th through 16th, 2019. Live Sound and Processing: Tom Hamilton. Live cast recording by Eric Sherman and Tom Hamilton. CD mixed by Tom Hamilton.'

Tracklist
1-1 The Argument (Prelude) 1:30
1-2 Sunset at the Turnoff (Scene 1) 1:17
1-3 The Airline Ticket Counter (Scene 2) 1:30
1-4 The Correspondences Text (Scene 3) 2:57
1-5 The Ride to Town (Scene 4) 6:37
1-6 The Airline Ticket Counter (Scene 5) 1:30
1-7 The Indifference Text (Scene 6) 4:35
1-8 Back Home... (Scene 7) 2:02
1-9 Mr. George Payne (Scene 8) 2:15
1-10 The Contents of Her Purse (Scene 9) 10:22
1-11 Supper with Mr. Payne's Mother (Scene 10) 3:45
1-12 Golf Left-Handed (Scene 11) 4:07
1-13 A Moment (Very Late)... (Scene 12) 1:39
2-1 The Big City (Scene 13) 4:37
2-2 The Doctor (Scene 14) 8:13
2-3 The Good Life (Scene 15) 5:09
2-4 Trouble (Scene 16) 4:00
2-5 A Place in the Country (Scene 17) 3:06
2-6 Happiness, Prosperity and Forgetfulness (Scene 18) 8:44
2-7 The Bridge Game (Scene 19) 5:02
2-8 North (Berlin/A Tango) (Scene 20) 2:03
2-9 East (River Rouge) (Scene 21) 0:30
2-10 South (Campo Dei Fiori, Rome) (Scene 22) 1:40
2-11 West (Atlantis) (Scene 23) 1:09

Credits
Composed By ? Robert Ashley
Lighting Director ? David Moodey
Music Director, Mixed By, Recorded By ? Tom Hamilton
Producer ? Mimi Johnson
Recorded By ? Eric Sherman
Stage Manager ? Annie Arthur
Voice [Don, Mr. Payne, Linda's Companion] ? Brian McCorkle
Voice [Junior, Jr.] ? Paul Pinto
Voice [Linda] ? Gelsey Bell
Voice [Mr. Payne's Mother] ? Amirtha Kidambi
Voice [Narrator I] ? Robert Ashley
Voice [Narrator II] ? Aliza Simons, Amirtha Kidambi
Voice [Now Eleanor] ? Aliza Simons
Voice [The Doctor] ? Dave Ruder

Notes
Act II opens with a song on the radio, "Tarzan," with voices recorded by Sam Ashley during a trip to South America and the Caribbean. The singers were from the Venezuelan Sanuma and Ye-kuana tribes, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.