Éros

Joseph Rebman
Release Date: May 31, 2024

Joseph Rebman’s debut album, Éros, is an exploration of emotion and memory by eight living composers through the lens of solo harp: Carly Sage, Nailah Nombeko, Kyle Wernke, Joseph Rebman, Daniel Perttu, Mackenzie Jacob LaMont, Seolhee (Snow) Kim, and Catherine Neville. Love and romance are common threads throughout the album led by the titular track which is one of the many Greek words for love. These eight works explore the sonic landscape and intrinsic character of the classical harp.

Program Notes

Drinking Coffee on the Front Porch on a Sunny Winter Morning

This piece was written, as the name suggests, as a love letter to the times when the composer was able to sit on the front porch at her childhood home and drink coffee with her mother in the mornings. This time was extremely peaceful and quiet and the music is meant to capture the nostalgia that comes from those slow, beautiful, blissful moments. - Carly Sage

A Day in Columbus Park - Quiet Morning

This piece was inspired by Columbus Park in Chinatown, NYC. My aim was to capture the calmness and peace that was felt in the park during the summer months at around 7:45 am before all of the hustle and bustle began. Usually at this time women were practicing Tai Chi and stretching. - Nailah Nombeko

Four Scenes from Marquette, MI

My wife’s home town of Marquette, MI has become a second home for me over the years we have been together. This piece explores my deep love for Marquette and the experiences I have had there: seeing the sunrise over Lake Superior; the delicious treats available at Doncker’s Candy Shop; sunset on Presque Isle where my wife and I were married; and the old ore dock we snuck into to get an incredible wedding picture. - Kyle Wernke

Éros

The inspiration for this piece came from a dance in which two friends or lovers are shown right when one betrays the other, and the emotion that comes after a betrayal from a loved one. In this piece I have attempted to portray the complex emotions one goes through after such a betrayal, as well as the aftermath when one must decide whether to linger or move on. In my mind I imagined a metaphor with a music box, which provided some of my sound material. - Joseph Rebman

Stay For Me

In 2014 I wrote “He Would Not Stay: Seven Poems of A.E. Housman”, a song cycle for baritone and chamber ensemble which tells the story of a gay couple separated by World War I in England. This piece has always had special meaning for me, but since I am not a singer I cannot perform it myself, so in 2018 I decided to create a solo harp version. Through this process I realized I had unknowingly written a piece that loosely follows the Kübler-Ross five stages of grief, so I used similar terminology to name the movements. - Joseph Rebman

Poetry by A.E.Housman (1859-1936)

He would not stay for me, and who can wonder?
He would not stay for me to stand and gaze.
I shook his hand, and tore my heart in sunder,
And went with half my life about my ways.

Shake hands, we shall never be friends, all's over;
I only vex you the more I try.
All's wrong that ever I've done or said,
And nought to help it in this dull head:
Shake hands, here's luck, good-bye.

But if you come to a road where danger
Or guilt or anguish or shame's to share,
Be good to the lad that loves you true
And the soul that was born to die for you,
And whistle and I'll be there.

III

The street sounds to the soldiers' tread,
And out we troop to see:
A single redcoat turns his head,
He turns and looks at me.

My man, from sky to sky's so far,
We never crossed before;
Such leagues apart the world's ends are,
We're like to meet no more;

What thoughts at heart have you and I
We cannot stop to tell;
But dead or living, drunk or dry,
Soldier, I wish you well.

If truth in hearts that perish
Could move the powers on high,
I think the love I bear you
Should make you not to die.

Sure, sure, if stedfast meaning,
If single thought could save,
The world might end to-morrow,
You should not see the grave.

This long and sure-set liking,
This boundless will to please,
-- Oh, you should live for ever,
If there were help in these.

But now, since all is idle,
To this lost heart be kind,
Ere to a town you journey
Where friends are ill to find

Oh were he and I together,
Shipmates on the fleeted main,
Sailing through the summer weather
To the spoil of France or Spain.

Oh were he and I together,
Locking hands and taking leave,
Low upon the trampled heather
In the battle lost at eve.

Now are he and I asunder
And asunder to remain;
Kingdoms are for others' plunder,
And content for other slain.

When he's returned I'll tell him -- oh,
Dear fellow, I forgot:
Time was you would have cared to know,
But now it matters not.

I mourn you, and you heed not how;
Unsaid the word must stay;
Last month was time enough, but now
The news must keep for aye.

Oh, many a month before I learn
Will find me starting still
And listening, as the days return,
For him that never will.

Strange, strange to think his blood is cold
And mine flows easy on:
And that straight look, that heart of gold,
That grace, that manhood gone.

The word unsaid will stay unsaid
Though there was much to say;
Last month was time enough: he's dead,
The news must keep for aye.

VII

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.'
But I was one-and-twenty
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.'
And I am two-and-twenty
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

Serenade

This piece was written to capture the mysteries conjured by music being played outside at night, as was typical of serenades. Music at night can be extremely evocative of otherworldliness, and this composition is meant to convey those sensibilities. - Daniel Perttu

Water Triptych

Water Triptych invites the listener to hear their own perceptions of water during the three movements of the piece. Those who wish to hear a specific correlation to an occurrence in nature may do so (as suggested by the movement titles), or the piece may be enjoyed as an abstract exploration of water. - Mackenzie Jacob LaMont

Glittering Afternoon

Writing this piece, “Glittering Afternoon”, I pictured the essence of a delightful surprise, much like the unexpected joy found in an unfamiliar place you happen to visit or a lovely cafe on a spontaneous choice of a different way back home. I delved into the transformative power of such experiences and how they can infuse a radiant sparkle into our ordinary day. With this composition, I want to evoke magical moments, hoping that the piece can cast a twinkle upon your afternoon. - Seolhee (Snow) Kim

A Year Later

This piece is a meditation on living through momentous historical change; the quiet that follows when day-to-day survival gives way to adaptation to a new reality. The music traces feelings of grief but with optimism, loss mixed with hope, sadness and recovery. - Catherine Neville