War Scenes, Five Songs, Four Dialogues for Two Voices and Two Pianos Ned Rorem: War Scenes • Five Songs • Four Dialogues — PHCD 116 — Phoenix USA - Phoenix USA RecordingsPhoenix USA Recordings

	Name	Credit
	Ned Rorem	Composer
	Donald Gramm	Bass-Baritone
	John Stewart	Tenor
	Anita Darian	Soprano
	Eugene Istomin	Pianist
	Richard Cumming	Pianist

Overview

PHCD116

Ned Rorem

War Scenes

Five Songs to Poems of Walt Whitman

Four Dialogues

Donald Gramm, bass-baritone War Scenes

Eugene Istomin, piano Five Songs to Poems of Walt Whitman

Anita Darian, soprano and John Stewart, tenor

Four Dialogues (For Two Voices and Two Pianos)

Richard Cumming, piano

Ned Rorem, piano

1	War Scenes: A Night Battle	04:18
2	War Scenes: A Specimen Case	02:21
3	War Scenes: An Incident	01:41
4	War Scenes: Inauguration Ball	01:33
5	War Scenes: The Real War Will Never Get In The Books	02:25
6	Five Songs To Poems of Walt Whitman: As Adam, Early in the Morning	01:17
7	Five Songs To Poems of Walt Whitman: O You Whom I Often and Silently Come	00:25
8	Five Songs To Poems of Walt Whitman: To You	00:35
9	Five Songs To Poems of Walt Whitman: Look Down, Fair Moon	02:07
10	Five Songs To Poems of Walt Whitman: Gliding O’er All	00:46
11	Four Dialogues For Two Voices And Two Pianos: The Subway	03:15
12	Four Dialogues For Two Voices And Two Pianos: The Airport	04:11
13	Four Dialogues For Two Voices And Two Pianos: The Apartment	05:23
14	Four Dialogues For Two Voices And Two Pianos: In New York and Spain	05:22

Ned Rorem’s vocal music stands at the center of American art song, blending clarity of text setting with emotional directness and refined musical craftsmanship. This Phoenix USA release brings together three major cycles: War Scenes, a stark and deeply personal response to wartime texts; Five Songs, showcasing Rorem’s lyrical gift; and Four Dialogues, written for two voices and two pianos, exploring intimate emotional exchanges with dramatic immediacy. Featuring Donald Gramm, John Stewart, Anita Darian, Eugene Istomin, and Richard Cumming, PHCD 116 offers authoritative performances of some of Rorem’s most compelling vocal works.

The texts for the cycle, WAR SCENES, were very freely excised from Walt Whitman’s diary of the Civil War titled “Specimen Days.” The music was designed for Gerard Souzay who first performed it, with pianist Dalton Baldwin, in Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C., October 19, 1969. The published score contains the following dedication: “To those who died in Vietnam, both sides, during the composition: 20-30 June 1969.”

The “Five Songs to Poems by Walt Whitman” were all composed in the summer of 1957 in Hyeres, France. they were commissioned by Walder Luke Burnap who premiered them, self-accompanied at the viginals, in New York the following spring.

The late Frank O’Hara conceived the words to “The Quarrel Sonata” (as he first called the FOUR DIALOGUES) expressly to be set by me for the unique combination of two voices and two pianos. This was accomplished early in 1954, mostly in London and Paris. The premiere took place on March 23rd of the following year at a private concert in the Contessa Pecci Blunt’s Roman palazzo. This lavishly somnolent old-world decor seemed gorgeously anachronistic to our glib non-poetry and vulgar music which, in their comic-strip tightness, pre-dated Pop Art by a decade.

Donald Gramm — bass‑baritone
John Stewart — tenor
Anita Darian — soprano
Eugene Istomin — piano
Richard Cumming — piano
Ned Rorem — composer