poems: James Purdy

music: Theo Hoogstins
    Don't let the snow fall
    or the sun give up its flame
    keep his heart from freezing
    in the bitter sting of the grave.
from the poem "Don't let the snow fall"
by James Purdy
    In 1996/1997 I have put the volume of poems "The Brooklyn Branding Parlors" by James Purdy to music, financially supported by "Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst", a dutch foundation for composers grants. James Purdy is a novelwriter/playwriter/poet from New York, who’s  collected poems have been published in Holland in 1990. 

    The volume "The Brooklyn Branding Parlors" consists of  6 poems:
     

    • Seasalt
    • Don’ Let The Snow Fall
    • I have Told You Your Hands Are Salt
    • He Watched Me
    • The Wounder
    • The Brooklyn Branding Parlors 
    The music is a combination of composed and improvised music, and will be performed by an improvisation trio consisting of saxophone, double bass and percussion, a saxophone quartet, and a vocalist (tenor). I used Peter Schat’s tone clock, to come to a balanced harmony in the chromatic scale. More about this can be read in the article about the tone clock. 

    Biography of James Purdy
     

 design & properties: Theo Hoogstins. info@hoogstins.com