A boy sits on the stairs, reading a book about war as he also observes his mother below in the kitchen, where she has placed her head on the table and is not moving. Perhaps not breathing? So begins the first of ten songs in My Mother in Love, newly released by Bridge Records (9588), with lyrics by the composer, and performed by soprano Tony Arnold with Cygnus Ensemble.
Also included are two pieces of chamber music: Love Story in Six Parts, for oboe and strings, features oboist James Austin Smith and the Daedalus Quartet. The Eight Lost Songs of Orlando Underground, for clarinet and strings, features Romie de Guise-Langlois and the Lark Quartet. A rock guitarist who yearned to compose concert music, Orlando Underground left behind a group of “songs” composed for instruments. Is it easier to imagine stylistic yearning originating on the “classical” side, and pointed in the direction of rock? Orlando didn’t think so.