A Mountain Symphony, originally a poem, is an unusual hybrid blending poetry, recitation, vocalization and piano music. Optimal effect and substance can be achieved when recitalist and accompanist are inspired to improvise and play off each other, adding nuance to their own forms of expression. Any such performance can transcend what was written, taking an audience to a different sphere of performance art altogether.
A Mountain Symphony is an earlier version of “An Alpine Panorama” printed in this poetry book, The Bomb That Blew Up God and Other Serious Poems.
Here’s an excerpt of the final version:
Massive, snowcapped, inaccessible and alone,
The mountain stands, watching the night.
No man will tread this region now,
For towering darkness sits on every ridge and peak.
Ages unfold—
Eras go by
For eons on end. The mountain rests.
Flanked by granite chasms, giant ice walls,
The summit rushes to the stars!
No barriers to audacity
Confront this bold intent, and nothing seems too high.
Heaven beckons—
Heaven waits.
Only of heaven the mountain dreams.
Slowly looming, coming from some different world,
The sun ascends the morning sky.
Grandly the night retreats, and soon
Its shadows follow, fading where the light is born.
Dawn has risen—
Dawn is here,
Banning the dark from the mountain range.
I’m extremely thankful to my accompanist and composer Nathanael Zumstein on piano, for inspiring me to explore realms of beauty beyond this world’s.
View also a review of an earlier performance of some Tone Poems by Diana Rugh.
