Piece-by-piece, putting Sondheim together (again)
In October 2010, when composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim turned 80 years old, a cavalcade of celebratory events took place in this country and overseas. Numerous productions of his Tony and Pulitzer prize winning shows - "Sweeney Todd," "Sunday in the Park with George," "Into the Woods" to mention only a few - were produced to widespread acclaim.
His two books, "Finishing the Hat (2010)," and "Look, I Made the Hat (2011)," drew praise, with the New York Times declaring, as if for the first time, "He has wonderful arrangements, writes supremely intelligent lyrics and music that is more melodic than he is given credit for." And on West 43rd street, in the heart of Broadway's Great White Way, the former Henry Miller's Theatre was renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.
But wait: there's more. At a lavish birthday gala at Avery Fisher Hall in New York that year performers Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald and others further trumpeted Sondheim's life and works. Anthony Tommasini, chief music critic for the New York Times, recorded an online video tribute to Sondheim, marveling at the heartfelt accessibility of his work, while also declaring that what's so fascinating about Sondheim's music are the many levels of enjoyment - and complexities - that can be gleaned just by listening closely to the themes, colors and subtexts within his works.
Loudly celebrating Sondheim
Amidst all these tributes, accolades and grandiose displays of affection, Anthony de Mare, a New York-based pianist, was quietly working away at a project he had started years before, to add his own hosanna and those of his musical colleagues to the chorus now loudly celebrating Sondheim.
Like many who followed Sondheim's work from his early collaborations with Leonard Bernstein on "West Side Story" to his later achievements, de Mare, who was born and raised in Rochester, New York and has training in theatre and dance, was bit by the Sondheim bug early in life. Now 54, he currently serves on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and NYU.
"I worked on an adaptation of one of Sondheim's pieces when I was living at an arts colony, and I played it at a music festival and then I shelved it," de Mare said. "And then, in the 1990s, I approached a few composer friends,shared my work, and they encouraged me to continue the project. In 2006 I approached them again this time with the idea that they participate in the project by adding their own interpretations of Sondheim's songs. That's when the project took shape."
"Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano," is a music tribute to Sondheim which was begun in earnest in 2005, and now has been fully realized. Working in consultation with Sondheim himself and producer Rachel Colbert, de Mare contacted 36 established and emerging composers -Steve Reich, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Mason Bates, and others - and commissioned them to create solo piano pieces based on Sondheim songs of their own choosing.
Band leader and pianist Herbie Hancock undertook a similar project re-interpreting the music of folk artist Joni Mitchell by bringing together a disparate group of composers, musicians and poet/songwriter Leonard Cohen to participate in the acclaimed "River: The Joni Letters," a jazz album which earned Hancock a Grammy award in 2007.
"While collaborations like this happen all the time in the music world," de Mare said, "this project was particularly daunting because it involved not only working with a number of musicians, composers and others, but also undertaking the fundraising for the project to actually pay for the commissions."
Unique compositions
Pianist de Mare lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan with his partner of 8 years, his dog and a 1908 Steinway grand piano. Last year he hosted one of the fundraisers there, with Sondheim himself paying a visit to hear some of the pieces and help spur on the project. His previous recordings include several classical music albums, an album of duets with cellist Maya Beiser titled "Oblivion," contributions to a "Gay American Composers" album, and a recording that demonstrates his theatrical training titled "Speak! The Speaking-Singing Pianist," (Innova), wherein he provides oral and musical interpretations of the work of Laurie Anderson, Derek Bermel, Meredith Monk, and others.
"For the 'Liaisons' project, at first we envisioned between 20 and 25 commissions," de Mare said. "And then it grew to 30. And then we asked Sondheim himself for input, and he had the idea to include some other musicians/composers we hadn't contacted, so we added a few more to the list. But we're stopping now at 36.
Each composition is unique and reflects the style of the composer, but some composers found the original Sondheim work to be so pleasing and perfect, that they ended up making very few changes to his original work."
All of de Mare's hard work has come to fruition. This month the pianist will embark on a national tour of "Liaisons," beginning on January 21 at a concert in Hudson, New York, at the Hudson Opera House. He will then travel to Fort Worth, Texas, and then onto San Francisco, California, before returning east and premiering the work in New York at Symphony Space on April 21.
For that performance, Stephen Sondheim will be in attendance and will be interviewed by Mark Horowitz about his work and legacy. The first leg of the concert tour concludes on May 1-2, 2012 at a music festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan but will continue in the coming seasons as an ongoing tour and international project.
In an interview recently, de Mare said that while working on the project has consumed much of his time and energy, the result has been extremely gratifying, both personally and artistically.
"Stephen Sondheim has achieved much over the years, and is now being recognized internationally for the highly imaginative and creative artist that he is," de Mare said. "He is finally getting his just rewards. It is a privilege to be working with his music."
For a complete schedule of the "Liaisons" project and further details about his performances, visit Anthony de Mare's website.