Vocal(/Choral) Composition of the Day, Installment 6:
"An Easy Decision"
for
Mezzo-Soprano Solo (or Unison Chorus) and Piano
(2006);
Text by Kenneth Patchen
Albeit brief, "An Easy Decision" is the most humorous vocal(/choral) composition in my catalog of works for voice(s). For eighteen years, I have been trying to figure out why practically no one is performing this piece, either in the version for mezzo-soprano (or unison chorus) and piano, or in the version for SATB chorus and piano, as the reason does not lie with the entertainment value of either the text or the music.
I have finally come to the conclusion that it has to do with the times in which we lived until very recently during which conformity was stressed in favor of nonconformity. Thankfully, the time for conformity is ending, and the time for nonconformity is beginning. Read the text, and I believe that you will see what I mean.
AN E A S Y D E C I S I O N b y K e n n e t h P a t c h e n
I h a d f i n i s h e d m y d i n n e r
G o n e f o r a w a l k
I t w a s f i n e
O u t a n d I s t a r t e d w h i s t l i n g
I t w a s n ' t l o n g b e f o r e
I m e t a
M a n a n d h i s w i f e r i d i n g o n
A p o n y w i t h s e v e n
K i d s r u n n i n g a l o n g b e s i d e t h e m
I s a i d h e l l o a n d
W e n t o n
P r e t t y s o o n I m e t a n o t h e r
C o u p l e
T h i s t i m e w i t h n i n e t e e n
K i d s a n d a l l o f t h e m
R i d i n g o n
A b i g s m i l i n g h i p p o p o t a m u s
I i n v i t e d t h e m h o m e
“An Easy Decision” by Kenneth Patchen,
from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF KENNETH PATCHEN,
copyright © 1957 by New Directions Publishing Corp.
Used by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
In 2007, ECS Publishing Group published both versions of "An Easy Decision" under its BMI-affiliated imprint, Ione Press, Inc. The catalog number of the version for mezzo-soprano (or unison chorus) and piano is 6748 (link to product page https://www.ecspublishing.com/an-easy-decision.html), and catalog number of the version for SATB chorus and piano is 6747 (link to product page https://www.ecspublishing.com/an-easy-decision-hoffman.html).
I have no live recording of the version for mezzo-soprano (or unison chorus) and piano. However, I do have one of the version for SATB chorus and piano which gives the listener a very good idea of how the other version sounds.
Follow the next link to my website to listen to a performance of that version by the Philovox Ensemble, Jane Ring Frank, conductor, Scott Nicholas, pianist.
Follow the next link to watch a humorous music video of that version on my YouTube channel.
I hope you have fun listening to "An Easy Decision". Thank you for your time and attention and, for goodness' sake, enjoy freedom from conformity wherever you are, and if you are not yet free from it, then I recommend that you free yourself from it as soon as possible.
TO LIBERTY! (#PerformMe)
Stanley M. Hoffman, PhD
Link to my website: https://www.stanleymhoffman.com
Biography Published in Grove Music Online (The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Oxford University Press)
The "Stanley M. Hoffman Special Collection" was established at The Berklee College of Music Library Archive in January 2025. It will take whatever time is necessary for the archive to catalog my collection and make it available to the public.
Website: https://archives.berklee.edu
תגובות