Three Places I've Never Been
Three Places I’ve Never Been – This composition for mandolin and soprano is a short song cycle based on the poetry of Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes had the ability to write poetry that could simultaneously be light and witty and deadly serious on a very deep level. His work always fascinated me and transported me to another world. I though it would be interesting to set a few of his poems that dealt with places I had never been, but could visit through his work. The poems are: “Havana Dreams,” “Heaven,” and “Danse Africaine.” Three Places I’ve Never Been won first prize in the Classical Mandolin Society of America’s composition contest and was performed at their convention at Brown University in 1995. It also won an award from the Society of Composers, Inc. and was performed at their convention at Penn State University on October 2nd,1993. This work is published by NL Productions, Inc. and is available through the Plucked String, Inc. website located at:
It was recorded on the CD Mandolin X4, also available from Plucked String, Inc. Below are mp3 files of the first two songs of the cycle from the Mandolin X4 CD.
