Eric Nathan - "Some Favored Nook"
Eric Nathan - Some Favored Nook
Some Favored Nook, the latest release by composer Eric Nathan, is a dramatic, fifty-minute long song cycle for soprano, baritone and piano. Using a libretto by Mark Campbell, Some Favored Nook dramatizes the relationship between poet Emily Dickinson and abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson, using Dickinson's poetry and various letters as source material. The extended song cycle features some incredible performers, who do their best to salvage the music. Tony Arnold, soprano, and William Sharp, baritone, trade off songs all accompanied by pianist Seth Knopp.
In his music, Nathan favors the use of space and recitative-style text setting. Often it results in him being too careful. Clearly he is favoring simplistic lines in order to ensure the text is understood immediately. Unfortunately, his choice works against him. The vocal lines are forgettable and plain boring, with the added space breaking the natural flow of the text. Similarly, the piano accompaniments are empty, in a limited range of the instrument, and predictable, providing little in terms of emotion.
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